January 2nd, 2013
In the Orthodox Church, January 1st is the Feast of St. Basil the Great, who is pictured in the top portion of the icon above. Although he is celebrated in the West on June 14th we would not want to miss an opportunity to incorporate a custom and a recipe into our observance of the Twelve Days. And, since the West tends to prefer a limit of one feast to a day, we have moved Basil over to January 2nd. In Greece, it is the custom to bake a bread or cake called Vassilopita (Basil in Greek is Vassilis). The cake has a coin baked into it and the person who gets the coin in his or her piece of cake is destined for good luck in the coming year. Here is a link to one of the many recipes for Vassilopita, together with an explanation of the protocols for cutting and distributing the pieces. Twelve Days
I started off the New Year going for walk and then going out to dinner afterward with a friend. We went to the Jamaican Cafe in Winchester -- I had jerk chicken - hotter than hot, but great food! I drank coconut water to cool the burn -- great day.
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