Keeping evil spirits away!

 

Keeping evil spirits away

During the Christmas period, every country celebrates in different ways according to traditional customs.

In Peloponnese, from Christmas Eve through Epiphanya on January 6, a gigantic piece of firewood called christoxylo, keeps burning throughout the holidays.

The meaning of this custom is to keep malevolent creatures away from the home. They only come out at night and are afraid of the fire, sun and holy water.

 It is necessary for every family to find the right size of wood in order to burn the twelve days of festivities. In this way, they prevent these creatures which are called kalikantzaroi from entering their homes. 

 Once the period of Christmas holidays ends, the fireplace must be cleaned of the old ashes. 

An other way to stop the kalikantzaroi from coming to the house, is to leave a colander on the doorstep at night. They can only count to two and consider the number three holy and will kill themselves. 

The kalikantzaroi sit at the doorstep all night, counting each hole of the colander until the sun rise. Then they are forced to hide.

According to Greek tradition through these ways, evil is kept away from the house during the Christmas period.

The Greek Heaven Team

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