Friday, January 06, 2006

The holidays are over

Today marks Theophany in Greece, which Orthodox Christians observe as Jesus' baptism. It is yet another in a string of religious holidays here in Greece, and seems to officially end the holiday season here. Kids are back to school next week, and you know that when the kids are back in school, the holidays are over.

The nice thing about living in a country where church and state have no separation is the plethora of holidays, both religious and secular. However, days like today are altogether confusing, as January 6th means different things to different religions. To Catholics, apparently, it is the visit of the three Wise Men, to others it is Epiphany, and while I know what the word means, I have no idea what the religious connotation of it is. My family always referred to it as Twelfth Night, but had no particular religious association carried with it. I think there is some sort of pagan holiday associated with the 6th or 7th as well (but of course there must be, because there seems to be a pagan holiday that preceeded every Christian holiday because the Christians just had to steal everything).

At any rate, I'll simply enjoy my husband being home for a long weekend, make a good lasagna, and have a relaxing day. Happy TheoEpiTwelfthphany everyone.

1 comment:

Cynthia Rae said...

We should do a study to see who has the most Church holidays, Italy or Greece (I bet it would be a close race). They have holidays here that I have never heard of!

Cyn