JUST like any other Christian country in the world, Greece has its own peculiarities during Christmastime. And more so because Greece is mainly an Orthodox Catholic country, meaning it does not adhere to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church in the Vatican City. By the way, the Roman Catholic Church in itself is divided into various sects. There’s what we call as the fundamentalist Catholics, those ultra-conservative ones and some of its most famous members are Hollywood director Mel Gibson and Hollywood actor James Caviezel.

With this foreground, we can note that there are a lot of Christians around the world with very diverse traditions. In Greece for example, they open their Christmas gifts only on January 1. Whereas Catholics celebrate this event as the feast of the Queenship of Mother Mary (the mother of Christ), Greece Orthodox celebrate the event as the feast of St. Basil, the patron saint of Greece and the patron saint of Catholic sailors (the Roman kind).

Also during St. Basil Day, holy water is renewed blessing. In the Roman Catholic world, holy water is blessed during Holy Week so there’s the difference of the customs there. But there are commonalities however. In Greece, as in all Christian places around the world, children also go caroling. They carol the most to vacation homes where foreign visitors stay so go easy on them. After all, Christmas is a celebration for children because it is a celebration of the birth anniversary of Jesus, the Messiah for Christians.

Anyway, that’s just one part of the year that Greek children will go caroling in your house. The other part is during Halloween but I don’t think you’ll gonna be spending the whole year in Greece unless of course that you’re assigned here. But if you’re assigned here in Greece, then this will be entirely an adventure for you so here are some tips to maximize the enjoyment of your stay here.

Greece of course as we know is a country where crime virtually does not exist. People here are good-natured happy. And Greece has the largest Christmas tree in Europe smacked right in the middle of Athens thanks to the city government there under dynamic Mayor Dmitris Avramopoulos. Right now, it’s the first week of December already but there are still a few flights left for Greece. Go rush now, click that keyboard to the websites of either Expedia or Travelocity for a few deals left for Christmas. There are lots of bundled deals available online (i.e. round trip air tickets, hotels, car rentals and guided tours).

Greece is connected to Eastern Europe but theoretically, it is part of the Western World since it follows Western traditions. It is also a signatory of the Schengen agreement so if you come here via your own car from Albania or Macedonia, then your papers need not be checked. To the east lies Turkey, one of two countries in the world which lies on two continents – Europe and Asia. Have a merry Christmas in Greece!