Don’t know what it is about this spot on our way down to the little supermarket, but we can always hear - but not see - song birds chirping like crazy as we approach. Fewer flowers to be seen in December - the jasmine is pretty well gone - but there’s no point at which we’re not treated to floral displays.
The Cyprus Mail reports the lighting of public Christmas trees and decorations. That’s a major cultural difference between North and South. The North, being mainly Muslim, doesn’t celebrate Christmas, although many expat groups do, of course. Interesting that the South observes it when it does. Traditionally the Orthodox Churches followed the Julian calendar, and the Russian and various other Orthodox Churches still do. One of the many Orthodox areas of dissent has led to the churches in Cyprus and a number of other countries adopting a “modified” Julian calendar, which allows Christmas to be celebrated on December 25 but leaves the calculation for Easter to the original Julian formula.
The strangest thing for Canadians in the South was the hybrid nature of the observance. Don’t know whether this is the same in other warm climates that we haven’t experienced, but it definitely feels odd walking through supermarkets in December listening to someone singing “let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”.
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