A Birthday In Crete, Greece

by Alex Mak
(Indiana, USA)

In Greece, we celebrate our own or our relatives' birthdays on our saint's name day instead of the date of our own birth. We are Greek Orthodox so we are named after saints.

Each saint has his own day, and we celebrate the year we are born on our saint's name day.

Granted, we do remember when our birth date is, and we do call to wish him or her a happy birthday. But instead of celebrating our birth dates, we celebrate our name days. For our “birthday” we usually go to church and celebrate on Sunday.

Some friends and family will take the birthday person out to the club or to the beach during the day to have some fun. Then we go to the person's house where we will have a great feast, with even a lamb cooking on a spit. We will have music and drink.

If you are from a village in Greece, you might celebrate by shooting guns into the air... perhaps stay until early morning before leaving.

In Crete where I am from, that’s how we celebrate our name day, the day we recognize as getting a year older.

It may not be that exciting to everyone, but I love celebrating birthdays in Greece the way my family in Crete does.