CONCERT OF THE THESSALONIKI FRIENDS OF MUSIC SOCIETY YOUTH CHOIR

The Carols are an integral and principal part of the festivities for the Twelve Days of Christmas (Christmas Eve until Epiphan), rooted as far back as antiquity. Then, between 15 December and 15 January – a period that coincides with the ancient month of Poseidon – the children performed the custom of ‘eiresioni’, singing songs in the streets holding the eiresioni, an olive or laurel branch adorned with fruits or threads of wool (eiros or erion: wool). Singing good wishes and paeans they would deliver the message of good luck and fertility the houses they visited. Similar songs can be found in the Roman period, when the Romans and Greeks would celebrate the saturnalia or kronia and the calends. Not surprisingly, during the Byzantine period the official Christian church reacted strongly against the idolatrous remains, which were integrated into its own customs over time. In fact, the carols (kalanta) appear to have been named after the Byzantine Calends.