December

Christmas Festivities – December 23rd to 26th 

Christmas preparations begin forty days in advance, with ‘spring’ cleaning, Christmas shopping and fasting. It is a treasured tradition that all members of the family have new clothes and shoes for Christmas.

As Christmas Day approaches, festivities take place all over. In Paphos, a live re-inaction of Christ’s birth takes place in the caves near Ayia Solomini on St. Paul’s Avenue.

On Christmas Eve housewives bake special bread (koulouria) and pastries (kourapiedes) while children go from door-to-door singing Christmas carols. As in Europe, children are always rewarded with a small sum of money or some delicacy or other. 
Christmas Day is a day of joy and happiness and is lived to the full. Steaming egg-and-lemon rice soup is served for breakfast, after the early Christmas Mass. The feast continues throughout the day, with friends and relatives visiting each other’s homes and enjoying traditional Christmas fare.

December 25th is the beginning of a twelve-day period marked by religious solemnity and beautiful old customs regarding love and prosperity, werewolf superstition and gourmet meals. During the Christmas period, special festivals are organised in all big hotels and night-clubs.