Christmas celebrations in Albanian culture are relatively
new, at least from the perspective of recent history. Since the Apostle Paul
preached the Gospel “as far as Illyria” and since Albanians are descendants of
the Illyrians, they celebrated Christmas in some fashion from the beginning.
But, thanks to 500 years of Ottoman domination, Christmas celebrations were replaced
by Islamic traditions. Then, from the mid-twentieth century, Albania was ruled
by a paranoid, isolationist, Communist dictator who insisted that there was no
God; churches were closed and Christmas celebrations not allowed.
When we lived in Albania, despite the fact that Communism
had fallen a decade earlier, a revisionist version of the holiday “myth” still remained.
Ingeniously, the atheistic culture captured the essential social functions of a
modern Christmas story and rewrote the script from a secular standpoint. By merging
the popular Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve narratives, children anticipate
the arrival of the “Old Man of the New
Year” - a cross between Father Time
and Santa Claus - who brings gifts to good children. Since few Albanians are
Christians, the Good News of the coming of the Christ Child in Bethlehem is
celebrated by only a small number of Orthodox, Roman Catholic and evangelical
believers in Albania.
Until recently, Christmas day in Greece was a minor holiday, when compared with Easter. The pervasiveness of the Orthodox Church, with its preference for celebrating the Feast of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors (December 8), where presents are exchanged and the Feast of Epiphany (January 6), where young men dive into cold waters to retrieve a cross that has been blessed by a priest, makes December 25 less important.
On Christmas Eve and sometimes later, children travel from house to house, singing “kalanda,” Christmas carols. With small triangles and drums, they receive sweets, figs, nuts or coins. Greeks attend midnight mass and return home for a big family meal. Lamb and pork are roasted and “christopsomo” (Christ bread) is made in large, sweet loaves, with various shapes and decorations, reflecting the family profession. The main symbol of the season is a shallow bowl with wire suspended across the rim, from which hangs a sprig of basil wrapped around a wooden cross. Water is kept in the bowl. Once a day, the mother dips the cross and basil into holy water, sprinkling every room of the house, to keep away the “kilantzarof,” (bad spirits) which appear only during the 12-day period from Christmas to Epiphany.
In recent years, secular Christmas, with trees, Santa
images, bright lights and retail sales has arrived in Greece. The largest
Christmas tree in Europe is now erected in Syntaugma Square; unfortunately, due
to riots, the tree was burned a couple of years ago!
When our kids come this Christmas, we'll attend the Christmas Eve
service at our Greek Evangelical church and will sing hymns, read Luke’s account
and hear the old, old story of how God loved us enough to come and dwell among
us. In Greek, we’ll wish them “Kala
Christougenna” and in Albanian, we’ll say ““Gezuar Kristelindje!” “Merry
Christmas!”
