Best Wishes

For the last two weeks every blogger has been wishing their readers and the readers their bloggers all the very best for the coming year.  It's a positive tradition, one which brings a flash of hope and joy in this uncertain world. 

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride,

If  turnips were watches I'd wear one by my side

We need positive vibes and actions around this part of the world and having said that I could easily write ALL the world.  There  once was a saying 'the Balkans are boiling', well the *Balkans are still boiling,  and the Middle East,  and now the *Eastern med.  All far too close for comfort.

*Balkans, for those of you who don't know, and I bet there are many who have no clue about this part of the world,   are

those countries north of Greece, many part of the old Yuogslavia.  Greece is also often included in the Balkans.

*Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia (Skopje), Bulgaria, Slovenia and Romania

*Eastern mediterranean countries

Greece, Turkey, Cyrpus, Israel, Italy, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Palestine, Jordan

You get the gist 

SO

Allow me to send a few more good vibes into cyber space by wishing and hoping for you all

First of all, good health.  Good health is the first wish on every greek's list on every festive occasion, and as you know there are many, many of those during the greek year.  I used to get tired of hearing 'good health',  'ygeia, ygeia' but as you get older boy do you realise how important is good health.  If you're healthy you can acheive just about anything.

And wealth.  Money can't buy health but it can certainly help.  

Money can't buy happiness either but it sure makes me happy when I can pay all my bills, dish out a few cents to the grandchildren, buy a few skeins of wool or a piece of fatty pork to cook for a family feast.

Finally, peace, whatever that means to you.  Personally I could do with a year of peace and quiet.  That's as likely to happen as world peace.

Health, wealth, peace and joy to you all

Good luck in 2020

In our greek family  each household bakes New Years bread and a sweet New Years cake, both of which have a lucky coin poked into them.  The person who finds the coin is supposed to have good luck for the rest of the year.  We still put real money into our loaves just like my mother in law did but many use a gold coloured coin-like token.  It used to be that the coin was put on display with the family icons and used to buy incense to burn in the home.   One euro will no longer buy any incense and not everyone has icons anymore. 

This is the New Yea's loaf I made to be cut at the family meal

Son in law, the man of his house cuts the loaf

The first slice is for the Virgin Mary

Second for the house

Third for the householder

Or if you have fields and crops the third piece is cut for the vines, the olives, the sheep and goats.

Then there is a slice for each memeber of the family, from oldest to youngest

The coin in this loaf went to Junior the dog

On New Years Eve after the drinking in 2020 with a bit of bubbly we cut the sweet cake.  The coin in this one went to the house and the head of the house.

This is the cake we made for our own house

The coin in this cake was between two slices and went to 2 of the grandchildren

As the church bells chimed out midnight my daughter and her husband went outside and broke a pomegranite on the doorstep and then entered the house right foot first.  All guarantees of a year of health and happiness for those that reside within