Celebrations Jubilations

20th and 21st May were huge family name days.

  

The 20th is the fiesta of Saint Lydia (and therefore a certain Poppi) and it's my name day too.  Lydia is the closest Greek name to Linda.  

It's the tradition here for the grandchildren to be named after their grandmother and father.   

So we celebrate together. 

It was also International Linda day. A day to honour those named Linda, which means beautiful in Spanish. A very special day which I knew nothing about till friend Jan sent me a message, from Facebook. Next year I'll maybe have a party. 

This year I was too busy getting ready to celebrate the family name days on the 21st.

21st May. The fiesta of Saints Konstantine and Elena. 

That's Greek husband, daughter, granddaughter and Greek sis-in-law. 

The church dedicated to Saints Konstantine and Elena. All decked out with flags and the council workers had whitewashed walls and steps and edges of the road. 

There was an evening service the night before. On the actual date of the Fiesta the icon of the Saints was paraded around the neighbourhood.  

After the service there was coffee and liqueur in the church rooms.  Sweet cakes brought by those named after the saints were handed around to be eaten then and there or stuffed into large purses to take home. 

Meanwhile back at our house there was a lot of cooking going on. 

I made a large baking dish of pastitsio, makaroni pie, to fill everyone up and to be taken home, not in large purses. You don't leave our house without feeling stuffed and with a tupper bowl or 2 for the next day. 

K cooked a medley of meat and potatoes. 

 

Jan came for lunch and I made sure I had a bottle if decent wine. 

The label read....

Dry white wine of the Peloponese. 

The severe choice of grapes and careful vinification gave a jumpy and balanced character to the wine. The Rose's flavour and the lemon blossom are perfectly combined. 

Indeed. 

Well, maybe the wine was jumpy but it made us very mellow. 

K with daughter Elli (Eleni, and also celebrating) and son-in-law Kyriakos 

People came in an orderly fashion.  One lot leaving as the next arrived.  

On a day like this, if you've got the stamina and the will, you spend an hour or 2 with one celebrant and then go onto the next. So many were celebrating. Friends, close family, neighbours. 

K got hundreds of 'Kronia polla' messages on Facebook and his phone rang every few minutes with more 'best wishes' and 'many happy returns'.