A Matter of Choice

According to the Greek Orthodox Church, every  day  of the year is dedicated to the memory of at least one (usually more than one) saint or martyr. If someone is named after a saint, then there is a big  celebration  on his or her   name day .  Since we have been in Cyprus we always have a small celebration on the boys name days, as they both have their own - Leonidas is 15th April and Loukas 18th October.  We don't celebrate them as we would a birthday but they get a card and a small present and we usually meet up with friends for a picnic in a park, and of course there is always cake! Louka loved his card, especially because it had his 'face in the circle', and his new Fireman Sam sticker book that he let Leo do with him. They spent quite a while doing it together with very little moaning between them which is a very rare occurrence in this house! The boys spent the morning playing and watching tv while I prepared some food for the picnic a...

Name days are not something I had heard of before moving to Cyprus but as I love any excuse to celebrate I thought it best to try and embrace the local tradition! The custom originated with the Greek Orthodox calendar of Saints and people named after a particular saint would celebrate on that day. Traditionally children will celebrate both their birthday and name day equally, with some differences but as they get older they tend to just focus on one.   (according to Wikipedia anyway!)   In previous years Leo has had no idea of it being his name day as he was too young too understand, even birthdays were not really understood, but this year I knew he would appreciate it more. At school he often receives a small chocolate or sweet from various children as they take them to hand out on their respective days.   Leo was very excited to take in a bag of mini chocolate bars to hand out to his teachers and friends, and even more pleased ...

This weekend was Easter here in Cyprus as it's rarely the same time as the UK  and despite some mixed weather and potty training it's been a lovely long weekend.  On Good Friday my friend Sam had one of her always brilliant kids parties with an Egg hunt and a couple of games for the kids.  Last year was good but Leo, being a year older really enjoyed it this time. He relived the entire party on the way home in the car and was even talking in his sleep about it for half the night! The (unplanned) highlight had to be watching the kids play with a huge bowl of cornflakes and listen to their squeals and laughter.  The cornflakes had been part of a mini chocolate egg lucky dip but as much as they loved the chocolate throwing huge handfuls into the air and running about was much more fun! Weather wise Easter Sunday started of promising and was looking good for our first BBQ of the year for seven people but as the day progressed it got a bit darker and chillier and...

Here in Cyprus they like nothing more to have a reason to celebrate and if all the bank holidays were not enough you also get to celebrate your Name day, which is the day of the Saint you are named after (which most are, if you don't have your own name day you celebrate on All Saints Day so all is not lost!) It is a big day for Cypriots with feasting and visiting of family and friends, although children will celebrate birthdays and name days almost equally, as you become an adult the focus shifts towards a celebration on the name day with birthdays being a smaller personal event. Last Friday was the Name day for Leonidas, Our Leonidas received this lovely handmade card from Nana and in the afternoon we went to our friend's house for a tea party for the kiddies. It was a joint Name day celebration as one of my friends also has a little boy called Leonidas, and as if that wasn't coincidence enough they were born only 3 days apart! I spent quite a while trying ...