Ooops Upside Your Head

Ooops Upside Your Head

According to the Greek Orthodox Church, every day of the year has been dedicated to the memory of a Saint.

This day carries the name of the Saint and is called a “nameday.”

If someone is named after a Saint, then there is a big celebration on his/her name day. In Greece, namedays are usually more important than birthdays. Gifts are given, festive meals and desserts are prepared, and special preparations are made for an open house.

The Greek God(zilla)’s nameday is in August.  Instead of the big party he was hopefully not expecting, Zachy and I took him out for an ice-cream and presented him with a book and an itunes voucher.

You’re Welcome!!

Zachy had a little party at Yiayia’s house for his nameday.  Leo’s coincided with Greek Easter Sunday so he tucked into a big chunk of lamb for his.  BB shares her name day with the Greek God(zilla) and Yiayia’s is on New Year’s Day.

We do try to get together for namedays if we remember can.  If nothing else, it is a good excuse to see each other and catch up over a glass of wine.  Sometimes several glasses of wine…

However, the Greek God(zilla)’s youngest sister has never had a nameday celebration of her own.

For all her 21-years* on this earth, she has not received a cake, a card or even a simple happy nameday phone call.

Having always thought her given name of Eva did not have its own specific nameday, she has missed out on this extra special birthday.

While her siblings have celebrated, she has sat quietly back and wished for a day to call her own.

So imagine my surprise, while casually browsing an online nameday calendar, I saw this:

I rubbed my tired, disbelieving eyes and clicked on the next search result…

It cannot be so, I told myself.

Wikipedia will confirm for sure…

 OH. MY. GOODNESS.

Somebody has made a bit of a boo-boo…

 *guestimate

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9 Comments

  1. Eva
    September 25, 2012 / 10:27 AM

    Goodness gracious me! It’s true! How can this have happened? I have missed out on 40 years of gifts & cake. Roll on the 25th March for the biggest ever Name Day party!

    • Grenglish
      Author
      September 25, 2012 / 3:19 PM

      haha, well at least you know now!! BIG PARTY on 25th March x

  2. September 25, 2012 / 3:16 PM

    I’m not sure I get it – surely her parents would have looked up when her name day was?!?

    • Grenglish
      Author
      September 25, 2012 / 3:22 PM

      Maybe they did… who knows in Greece!
      I will ask Yiayia when she is back in London next month 🙂

  3. September 25, 2012 / 3:50 PM

    Love this post & Happy name day to everyone. Love having two days of celebration x

  4. September 26, 2012 / 10:36 PM

    Poor Eva… I did have a bit of a chuckle!!!!

    When’s the name day for Alice?! xx

    • September 26, 2012 / 10:36 PM

      17th July! A bit too close to my birthday though (25th July…)

      • Grenglish
        Author
        October 4, 2012 / 5:18 PM

        you could call it a double bday and name celebration – get twice the presents, eat twice the cake, drink twice the wine…

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