Custom or festival
New Year’s Eve
Carols, samousades and lychnarakia, the children’s “kalichera” and the sea squill hung for good luck.
- December 31
Besides the New Year carols, the island keeps a few customs of its own.
The sweets
Lychnarakia, a kind of fried pastry, and samousades, something like baklava, are made in the frying pan. Homes also bake honey cookies, called makarounes here, kourabiedes and, of course, the New Year cake.
Kalichera
The New Year gift on the island is called “kalichera”: grandparents and uncles give the children a little money. On Elafonisos presents were exchanged at New Year, not at Christmas.
The sea squill
On the doors they hang the askela, the sea squill that grows everywhere on the island. Even after it is pulled up it keeps putting out leaves and flowers, and people believe it passes that life force on to the house. It is a very old good-luck custom, known since antiquity.
