THE GREEK TRADITION

The tradition of vasilopita is associated with a legend of Saint Basil. According to the legend St. Basil called on the citizens of Caesarea to raise a ransom payment to stop the siege of the city. Each member of the city gave whatever they had in gold and jewellery. When the ransom was raised, the enemy was so embarrassed by the act of collective giving that he called off the siege without collecting payment. St. Basil was then tasked with returning the unpaid ransom, but had no way to know which items belonged to which family. So he baked all of the jewellery into loaves of bread and distributed the loaves to the city, and by a miracle each citizen received their exact share, the legend goes. In some tellings the sieging chieftain is replaced with an evil emperor levying a tax, or simply with St. Basil attempting to give charity to the poor without embarrassing them.

Vasilopita is a traditional New Year’s Day cake in Greece and many other areas in eastern Europe and the Balkans which contains a hidden coin (flouri) which gives good luck to the receiver. The New Year’s cake made mostly of flour, eggs, sugar, milk, is inflatable, fluffy and sweet. Usually on New Year cake is written the number of the new year. So at 12.00 midnight just changing the year, the landlord after the crucifixion the Vasilopita with a knife three times, he cuts triangular pieces offered to each attending member of the family, relatives and friends starting with a piece for the of the house [or Christ’s, Virgin Mary, and Saint Basil (Santa Claus)], the landlord, the landlady and the rest people by attending class and age relationship with the last piece of the poor people.