Vasilopita
Traditional Greek Bread, made for this coming New Year's Day.
I always make a test loaf, to make sure I don't screw it up (plus, it's sweet and makes for a perfect morning snack to wake up!) There are two competing reasons for the name:
- Named for Vassilias [king] and pita [pie], to commemorate the visit of the three kings to the infant Jesus (the day of Epiphany) or so tradition tells is.
- Baking a Vassilopita or Saint Basil’s Bread is a New Year's tradition in Greece.
January 1st is the feast day of Saint Basil, a fourth century bishop known for his generosity to the poor. St. Basil would try to help the needy by anonymously hiding gold coins in cakes that were delivered to the poor. By tradition today, we put a coin in the bread. Whoever gets the coin, gets good luck for the year. Our family recipe calls for Mastica. Mastica is made from the sap of the tree Pistachia Lentiscus var. chia which is grown only on the southern coast of Chios. Interestingly, my family roots are from there. I can trace the family tree on Chios, with every other generation of my family having a Dionysis. As in the Greek God of wine, and parties. From Chios. I'm just saying...
** The second is the story I heard growing up.** We never heard of the other reasons for naming it Vasilopita.
It's orange color seems perfect for the Color Challenge Tuesday Orange photo challenge started by @kalemandra.
More of my Color Challenge Series
Geeky Camera Stuff
Nikon d7000, 35mm, f5, 1/125th
Where we're from (at least, part of the family):
!steemitworldmap 38.504117 lat 26.089783 long Vasilopita d3scr