SANTA CLAUS AND THE KING PIE

The royal pie is a custom that is directly related to the life and work of St. Basil.

In Greek tradition, New Year’s Day is inextricably linked to the feast of St. Basil, a humble Greek saint with a black beard and a dark poor coat, who comes from Caesarea in Cappadocia to bless our family and receive his share of royal pie that we make in his honor (we always cut a piece of Christ, one of the Virgin, one of St. Basil, one of the poor, one of the house, and after ours even if the penny falls to Christ, the Virgin or St. Basil , we give it to the church). According to tradition, the custom of the royal pie originated in Basil the Great, when in order to protect Caesarea in Cappadocia from a raid by other races, he made a fundraiser and collected gold coins and other valuables, to give to the enemies, in order to entice them, so as not to plunder its area. However, in the end, the enemy did not succeed in invading Caesarea and the valuables remained. Then, St. Basil said to make small pies – buns, in which they put a gold coin, or something else from all the valuables that had been collected. These pies were distributed to everyone and everyone kept what happened to them, while a lot happened to the children.

- Georgia Tsanakli