Well today was the final day for the three kings toy drive.......I hired Daniel who is Gracie’s maids husband, he has a nice big panelled truck and we went and picked up all the remaining gifts and set out to the community of Don Francisco about 25 minute drive.
I had arranged to meet the delegate of the village at his house and we would unload the gifts there....
As you can see some of the kids know what is happening....
Sadly none of them are wearing masks😖😖😖🤔
We put all the gifts into his Casa and he thanked me so much...the kids all waved as we left.
So that is everything done..it is always a lot of work but I really enjoy doing the organizing and I want to thank everyone who made a donation this year......we were able to get gifts to over 875 children.
These photos were sent to me by the principal of the school who picked up the gifts yesterday and she delivered them herself!!
My friend Ina, who I met nine years ago when I stayed at her house in Athens, sent me this article about Three kings, very interesting!!
On the sixth of January, the Christmas holidays in Greece officially come to an end with the ‘festival of light’ (‘ton foton’ in Greek), also known as Epiphany.
This feast day in the Greek Orthodox Church is known as ‘Theophania’ which means ‘a vision of God’ or ‘Christ shining through’. It is considered a very important day for The Greek Orthodox Church. January 6th is also known as ‘Three Kings Day’ in the Western Church, a celebration of the three magi visiting the Christ child.
In the Greek Orthodox Church, Epiphany is celebrated as the revelation of Christ as the messiah and second person of the trinity, at his baptism, by John the Baptist, in the River Jordan.
Another cause for celebration in the Greek Orthodox Church on this day is that Christ’s baptism was only one of two occasions when all three persons of the trinity revealed themselves, at the same time, to humanity:
God the Father, speaking from the clouds, God the Son, being baptized in the River Jordan, and God the Holy Spirit, revealed as a dove, descending from heaven.
On Epiphany, the Greek Orthodox Church performs
the ‘Great Blessing of the Waters’.
This ceremony is usually performed twice, once on the eve of Epiphany which is performed in the church, and then again on the actual day outdoors with priests blessing large bodies of water, sea, rivers, lakes etc.
The tradition is that a priest, surrounded by brave young men and boys, throws a cross into the sea, either from the harbour or from a boat at sea; the minute the cross leaves the priest’s hand, the divers jump into the freezing water to catch the cross. The lucky one who finds and returns the cross is blessed by the priest. As the cross is victoriously brought back, the priest releases a white dove, as a symbol of the holy spirit.
This tradition is carried out to commemorate the baptism of Christ and to bless the waters.
Stay safe and healthy!!
Yashi Kochi!!
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