Celebrating St. Basil's Day

Today Greeks celebrate the feast of St. Basil. Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great,  was the bishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Basil was known for his care of the poor and underprivileged. He was the first bishop to establish orphanages and hospitals and old age homes.

New Year is perhaps even more festive and important than Christmas as it is the main day for gift-giving and for stories of St Basil's kindness to children and the stories of how he would come in the night and leave gifts for the children in their shoes. He is sometimes associated with Santa Claus, known by some as “Agios Basilis”.

In many Greek homes, a special cake is baked on the eve of St. Basil's Day with a gold or silver coin hidden inside. In the evening, just before midnight strikes and the new year begins, all the lights are turned off for a minute to signify the dawning of a New Year. Wishes for "A Happy New Year!" are given and the cake, or vasilopita (St. Basil's cake) is cut: one slice for St. Basil, one for each family member, one for each of the pets, and then the largest slice of all is cut for the poor people of the world. In one of these slices is hidden the coin, which brings blessings to its recipient throughout the year.

I didn't have time to make a cake for today, so instead will be trying out something entirely different. Cake balls. You turn dried out cake (in our case, rum cake!) into crumbs and mix with frosting. Chill. Roll into balls and dip into melted chocolate. Eat. Sounds decadent even to me!

If the excitement of Christmas is over and you want to have some fun, this is a day to do it. Make the gifts come from either a dollar store or be homemade. Nothing fancy, nothing extravagant, just fun.

Other fun traditions to do include Hogmanay (with your First Footer) and traditional foods of blackeyed peas and collards. You can find recipes for those (including Hoppin' John) here and here.

From my house to yours:  'Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit!' A prosperous New Year!

Happy New Year!

Whew! 2011 was a pretty good year for me, but I'm never sad to see a year end. I always view the new year as a time for celebration; a time for new beginnings.

After watching the awesome fireworks display we are usually treated with in our neighborhood, we start each new year off with our favorite First Footer crossing our threshold after midnight.

Yes, it is my gorgeous son - tall, dark and handsome! He walks through the front door with alcohol in hand (traditionally whiskey, but we use whatever we have, which in our case is typically wine!), usually some shortbread and a firestarter. To ensure good luck for the house for the year ahead the actual first footer into a home should be a dark haired male carrying these gifts. The symbolism of these items is:

a lump of coal (firestarter) - for a year of warmth and health
shortbread - for a year of plenty
whiskey (or wine!) - for a year of jollity and not melancholy

My family and any attendant guests then toast the new year with our hopes for what we'd like to see coming our way. My standard toast is Health, Wealth and Happiness!

On the actual New Year's Day itself, we dine on traditional foods of black eyed peas and collards. The peas are said to bring prosperity and the greens money. This year I added red cabbage to the mix.

You can find the recipes here.

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~T.S. Eliot

May this new year bring your everything you desire!