In the newspaper “Tachydromos” of Thielpi Lefkia in the local press collection of the Public Central Library of Mytilene, such days in 1930, Pl. Koutrellis describes with nostalgia, New Year’s customs in the Mediterranean village of Agia Paraskevi in ​​central Lesvos. Along with quoting these largely forgotten customs, the columnist also expresses his concern for the lesbian folklore that is being lost.

So on New Year’s Eve, along with the king cake, the housewives also cut a watermelon that they had kept hanging in a net from the ceiling of the warehouse. That night, the housewife took, in addition to a plate of food, a slice of watermelon, a glass of wine, and Saint Basil’s piece of the king’s pie. He put everything together under the icons of the house, and it was Santa’s treat, to find something to eat when he passed by the house in the middle of the night. Also, Santa Claus, according to tradition, would also visit the animals of the house. Which had to be well fed because he would ask them if they had any complaints from their bosses.

At home on New Year’s Eve, they threw large pieces of wood into the fire, into the “parachuti” and into their coals an olive leaf saying: “If we are strong, jump and thunder and if we are not strong, burn and wither” .

On New Year’s morning, housewives would go to a public tap to get “the silent water”. Without talking, with a new pitcher, the “kumari” and a piece of royal cake that they left in the tap. Inside the pitchers they had to have a wad with roots or three pebbles for good measure. The children brought a reed from the forest and placed it over the door of the house saying: “Like the reed I will lie down, like the tree I will take root and we will have a good year.”

The compilation of the description of the old New Year’s customs of Lesvos from the newspaper “Tachydromos” of Mytilene in 1930, was done by the librarians of the Public Central Library of Mytilene Maria Grigora and Fani Maronitou.

More information in the digital repository of D.K.B. Mytilene