Traditionally, name days are the days of the year you celebrate the saint’s name you have been christened with. It is one of the most important customs in Greek tradition and dates back to the earliest days of Hellenic culture. What started originally as saint’s days, name days soon followed and are the cause of some of the biggest celebrations in Greece, combining religion, culture, family and of course: eating and drinking. In the Greek Orthodox tradition, your name day is the same as a particular saint you celebrate with and the celebration of name days are bigger than birthdays. But you needn’t worry, there is still plenty of cake and sweets to be had. And with a name day on every single day of the year – sometimes more than one on a single day – the party never ends.
Name days are steeped in both religious and cultural tradition. When you are born into the Greek Orthodox tradition, you are not only named after a saint, but you take on your family’s first name: not just the surname. When a son is born in a Greek Orthodox family, they take on the name of the paternal grandfather. A daughter adopts the name of the paternal grandmother, with the second son being named after the maternal grandfather and so on.
If you are lucky enough to have three boys or three girls, children get named after their grandparent’s siblings or even your parent’s siblings. Because of this naming convention, more often than not, you will find yourself celebrating your name day alongside plenty of cousins. This tradition still allows you to get quite creative with a child’s name, as long as the name they are christened with follows a saint’s name. This naming convention ensures that a family name lives through generations and generations. That itself is cause for celebration.
If your parents have decided not to follow this tradition and named you after a their favourite guitarist or a character off Bold and the Beautiful instead — in other words a name that doesn’t have a saint associated with it — you can still celebrate on All Saint’s Day. Also, there are variations on your name day. There could be times that your name is celebrated twice, so you need to pick which saint you align your name day with.
There are also names that rely on your marital status to celebrate. Name days are celebrated all over Greece, from the islands to the mainland. If you are fortunate enough to enjoy the festivities in Greece, get ready to celebrate alongside most of the horio, because you are probably related to them. Areas of Greece also have important saint’s names associated with them. If you meet a Danny, Dion, Dionysis – you can pretty much bet your bottom dollar he is from Zakynthos. One way to have fun with it is to call out the most prominent name in the town square in the horio and watch how many boys with the name Andrea turn around.
On a person’s name day, it is tradition to wish them hronia polla, which literally translates to “many years.” This is to wish them good luck, prosperity and health. If someone is celebrating their name day, an open house policy is employed, but it is probably better manners to ask first before you invite yourself in for the celebrations. People are also preferring to have smaller occasions with limited invites only. When attending a name day celebration, it is tradition to take a gift of some description. Something small and personal, perhaps flowers, lollies, alcohol, a book or a CD: these are all great gift ideas on a name day. In Greek, a name day is called a yiorti (feast / festival) and that’s what usually happens.
For the bigger saint’s days, a full day celebration is in order. The day is recognised in the Greek Orthodox calendar. Starting with a church service, some of the bigger churches will put on a festival with food and drink on offer. Often the best celebrations are seen at the smaller churches in remote areas. Churches who are named after a specific saint host some of the more traditional festivals.