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What is the Name of Christmas in Greece?

By deTraci Regula, About.com

Reader Question: What is the name of Christmas in Greece?

The Greek name for Christmas is Christougena - literally Christ's birth. When Greeks say Merry Christmas, they say Kala Christougena- Merry Christmas. You can hear it spoken; sometimes the "g" sound is pronounced more like a "y".

Around the holidays, you will also hear Chronia Polla - "Happy New Year", literally "Many years", a wish for long life and happy years to come.

The more formal New Year's greeting is a tongue twister: Eftikismenos o kenourisos kronos - Happy New Year (formal)

Greek has also had an impact on the written abbreviation of Christmas, Xmas. While this is sometimes considered a disrespectful way of writing it, for the Greeks it is a way of writing the word using the cross symbolized by the "X", so it is considered to be a perfectly respectful way of writing Christmas rather than a casual abbreviation.

Planning a Christmas trip to Greece?
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