Christmas and New Year carols

On Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, children sing carols from house to house, to their family, to their relatives, to friends and acquaintances, to their neighborhood.

To this end, they wake up very early, to catch up with the other carol singers and get more money, because as the hours go by at noon, most people have already heard the carols many times, and do not want to hear them again or have not other money to offer or both.

Αs soon as noon comes, the money is divided equally among the children who sang and everyone gets his share.

When I was a child and I used to sing carols, with the money I collected, I would go and buy toys. In the center of my city, there was a very nice shop that sold toys and there I got with my own money, the gifts I wanted. In the past, when people were poorer, they did not give money to children who sang carols, but sweets, fruits and nuts.

Each place has its own carols, which although they may look similar in terms of words but differ in music. Depending on the musical tradition of each place, there is also music for Christmas and New Year carols. Of course, there are carols of the Epiphany , but they are not heard so often, as most children do not know them.

The songs about the carols talk about the birth of Christ and Santa Claus and are intended to make people happy and to convey messages of love, hope, happiness, health, good luck, longevity and joy.

People always hope and wish the new year to be better than the previous one and they want what they have not managed to achieve so far, to realize in the new year.

Of course, what everyone wants above all is to have health of themselves and their loved ones and then to have everything that will make them cheerful  and happy.

So let us hope this year, 2022, is better than last year and that each of us is healthy and fulfills his personal goals.

Happy new year to all of you!

Anthoula P. Veziri