{"id":3949,"date":"2013-05-27T20:53:12","date_gmt":"2013-05-27T20:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/?p=3949"},"modified":"2013-12-03T16:55:05","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T16:55:05","slug":"the-celebrating-of-our-name-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/?p=3949","title":{"rendered":"The Celebrating Of Our Name Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Agios<\/a>

Agios Mammas Beach<\/p><\/div>\n

In Greece, a Name Day is celebrated in a similar way to a birthday.\u00a0 According to the Greek Orthodox\u00a0Church, every day of the year is dedicated to the memory of at least one Saint.\u00a0 If someone is named after a Saint (and most Greeks are) then\u00a0it is traditional to celebrate on his or her Name Day.\u00a0 21st of May is the Name Day of Costas\u00a0and Helen, Constantina and Nadia and all derivatives thereof.<\/p>\n

I began the day by going to Agios\u00a0Mammas beach.\u00a0 The mainly middle aged\u00a0Greeks who come down to the sea for their daily bathing, instantly recognisable by their wearing of a hat and sunglasses as\u00a0they bob around in the water.\u00a0 The swallows … darting and dancing as they fly at great speed\u00a0over head.\u00a0 Paddy and Wendy arrived … after ten days straight of walking over the hill to either\u00a0Anargiri\u00a0or Agios\u00a0Paraskevi\u00a0beach, they had decided to spend the day a little more relaxed, closer to where they stay.\u00a0 It was extremely hot, the sea something of a relief but I knew I must return to the house and make ready … Costas\u00a0was taking me to the Poseidonion Grand Hotel for lunch.<\/p>\n

We sat on the verandah, with a view of the Saronic\u00a0Gulf … the menu very inviting,\u00a0using fresh local ingredients and produce from the organic vegetable garden of the hotel.\u00a0 We ordered two Fix beers … I used to drink Fix when I first came to Greece back in the 1970’s and I had forgotten how\u00a0nice it was.\u00a0 Next they brought us a basket of bread, three varieties … together with a dish containing a blend of\u00a0mayonnaise and sun-dried\u00a0tomatoes – delicious!\u00a0 Then a wonderful green salad dressed with an asian vinaigrette, followed by our main course – burgers.\u00a0\u00a0Together with these, we were given a plate on the house … an amazing salad of quinoa, peas,\u00a0spring onions, cucumber and loads of dill with anchovies on the side.\u00a0 Insisting that we should partake in a sweet to finish our meal, they brought a plate to share … balls of rizogalo\u00a0(rice pudding) floating in a plate of thick\u00a0cherry soup.\u00a0 It was a meal never to be forgotten.\u00a0 Returning home for our afternoon siesta … it was to be interrupted many times by well wishers\u00a0telephoning Costas\u00a0to wish him Kronia\u00a0Polla (many years).<\/p>\n

By 2000 hours we were both at the Bar.\u00a0 Paddy and Wendy were in early\u00a0for their pre dinner drinks … I was to stay until closing.\u00a0 All through the night, well wishers\u00a0continued to drop in with gifts for\u00a0Costas\u00a0… cakes, sweets, chocolates, alcohol, flowers, plants clothing and the telephone continued to ring right up until midnight.\u00a0 Among the drinkers was a group of young people, all staff at the Poseidonion … including the chef, the barman and the receptionist.\u00a0 When one of them decided to open a bottle of tequila and pour shots, I was in their company.\u00a0 They were surprised when\u00a0politely,\u00a0I only\u00a0had a sip then left my glass on the bar … I was quite happy to stick with my usual drink – 5 Star Metaxa and ginger ale.\u00a0 It was a great day but sorry, I did not take a single photograph.<\/p>\n

Nearly a week has gone by since our Name Day … a week which has included several visits to the beach and a number of nights\u00a0out in Bar Spetsa.\u00a0 On Friday night I caught up with our Scottish friends Ray and Heather who arrived back on the island earlier in the week from a vacation to Dubai.\u00a0 Sunday night I enjoyed a meal out with Paddy and Wendy at Exedra\u00a0Restaurant.\u00a0 Right on the sea on the road to the Old Harbour, it was where Costas\u00a0and I had our first lunch together just over three years’ ago.\u00a0 For a few nights last week, the town was full of young 18-year-old students … having just finished their High School years, they were celebrating before heading off to Universities all over the world.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I had a lovely walk to Kouzinou … leaving the house just after 1000 hours, I wanted to see how hot it would be out walking during the day as I think about making another circumnavigation of the island, as I did last year, however, this time I will go anti-clockwise around.\u00a0 It was incredibly hot yesterday … tonight feels a little cooler than it has been and so I am hopeful that in the coming days I will walk once again around this amazingly beautiful island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Greece, a Name Day is celebrated in a similar way to a birthday.\u00a0 According to the Greek Orthodox\u00a0Church, every day of the year is dedicated to the memory of at least one Saint.\u00a0 If someone is named after a Saint (and most Greeks are) then\u00a0it is traditional to celebrate on his or her Name […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3949"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4614,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3949\/revisions\/4614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}