The nine foods Christmas tradition of Evros

The “nine foods” of the custom are all fasting, oily or unleavened, put on the table on the last day of the fast, and symbolize the nine months that the Virgin Mary had Christ in her womb. There is also the interpretation that the nine foods symbolize the places visited by Christ, the Virgin Mary, and Joseph during Herod’s persecution.

In terms of their types, in one version the nine foods were pie (to make the grain shiny), honey (for family members to carry too many things throughout the year, like bees), wine (for the family to ‘spread out’ like a vine), saragli (to always treat friends ‘sweetly’), watermelon (to make the produce as sweet as watermelon), melon (to make the neighbours talk sweetly about the family), apple (to give the family members red cheeks, that is, good health), garlic (to protect them from insect bites), onion (to give new mothers plenty of milk).

In another version, it was oily and, usually, dry food (halvah, olives, unleavened pie, cabbage, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, pickles and salt and pepper).

Still, in many villages, the landlord used to put a sum of money under the tablecloth. The money was taken by whoever cleared the table (usually the children).