What could be better than celebrating a birthday? Nothing? Think again! It's time we learn about a very special Cypriot tradition: the celebration of name days! I promise you're in for a sweet treat... Let's get ready to celebrate!
Do you love celebrating your birthday and look forward to it all year long? Well, if you were a Cypriot child, you’d look forward to celebrating your ονομαστική εορτή, or “name day,” even more! Name days are actually considered a bigger deal than birthdays here.
But what exactly is a name day? To understand what a name day is, you first need a little bit of context, or background, information. Here, most days of the year are each dedicated to a particular saint or martyr. In the Christian tradition, saints are people recognized as holy after death, while martyrs are people killed because of their beliefs. In Cyprus, there are detailed calendars that show which days are dedicated to which saints and martyrs. Your name day would be the day that honors the saint whom you were named after or whose name most closely matches yours. For example, the name closest to my first or given name (Kirsten) in Greek is Χριστίνα (Christina), which comes from Χρίστος (Christ).
