Greek New Year's Day

The people of Greece hail1) September １as their New Year's Day because it marks the start of the Greek sowing2) season，a time of hope and promise．

 

To start things off right，farmers' families take plates of seeds to church for the priest to bless．On the island of Kos，people fashion first－of－the－year wreaths3) of pomegranates4)，grapes，quinces5)，garlic bulbs6)，and plane－tree leaves－－all of which are traditional symbols of abundance．Just before dawn on September １，island children carry their house－holds' wreaths down to the shore，the old year's wreaths and the new ones，and they throw the old ones out to sea．They briefly immerse the new ones，for luck．Then they carry sea－water and pebbles7) home in a jar，to serve，along with the new wreath，as protective devices．Tradition calls for exactly forty pebbles and water collected from the tops of exactly forty waves．This is also a time of trepidation．One old folk belief is that on this day the Angel of Death writes down the names of all those unfortunates destined to die within the coming year．