In terms of New Years Eve, I am never particularly bothered about its significance, because I just don't get all the fuss about the second the clocks strike midnight....it happens every day and it happens every year. You could say I am a bit bah humbug when it comes to New Years Eve.
In Cyprus, no one goes out before midnight anyway. If you go out its about 1.30am and New Years Eve is no different. So unlike England where you go out to celebrate the clock turning midnight, here you go out after - something I definitely couldnt get my head around. While we forgot to document last nights proceedings in photographic format I am going to do my best to describe it and hope you will be able to visualise the madness that occurred.
As you now know, in Cyprus family is an important thing, and in keeping with that, most of the family headed over to YaYa's last night (with the exception of the ones who have babies). You will also have begun to understand the importance of food to Cypriots, so not surprisingly last night started with yet another feast lovingly prepared by Auntie Maria and YaYa; Chicken Souvlaki, Lamb, Beef stew/soup, salad, potatoes, rice, pasta and bread. Obviously I shouldn't have worn the skinny jeans. There is nothing skinny about me after two months of being fed at every possible opportunity (new years resolution will be to eat less). With several Aunties, an Uncle, some cousins and YaYa in attendance, it wasn't long before the brandy came out - accompanied by nuts, small cubes of cheese and cucumber (I asked Harry if eating cheese and cucumber, whilst drinking brandy was a Cypriot thing, but he is none the wiser) - and the madness begun.
Remember the dad from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and how he always says the origin of every word can be traced back to a Greek word, well we had the real live version of that last night. Followed by an Auntie singing Alicia Keys, New York, some men gambling and Harry getting very annoyed at loosing money to his cousin, and the dog snoring in front of the fire. All whilst watching the worst performances from the finalists of Greek X-Factor.
Don't worry we did make it to midnight, when the kissing of cheeks and several minutes of saying Καλή χρονιά! (Kalí hroñá), Happy New Year, begun. And then came more food. It is a Cypriot tradition, at midnight, to eat Vasilopita - Kings Cake - which is a sweet orange flavoured cake. The tradition is to hide a coin inside the cake before baking, which brings good luck for the new year, to the person who finds it. Thinking some good luck wouldn't go a miss, Harry and I spent a while studying the cake prior to midnight, to work out the coins location - unfortunately neither of use were successful in finding it.
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