Greeks are finding new and creative ways to decorate their Christmas trees. After all, the best way to decorate a Christmas tree is to let your imagination run wild and have fun with it!
Christmas tree with ouzo bottles
In Thessaloniki, a Christmas tree is decorated with bottles of ouzo that hang from its branches and mezedes in bags, the small plates of food served in Greece with ouzo, similar to tapas.
Next to the lights, one can find zucchini balls, tomato nuggets, and tarama, the salted and cured roe of the cod, carp, or grey mullet (bottarga) mixed with olive oil.
Giorgos Yiantsis, owner of the fish tavern with the tree, explains to the Athens Macedonia News Agency (AMNA) that he decided to decorate the Christmas tree that adorns his shop with humor and ingredients for an ouzo get-together.
“Last year we only had ouzo but this year we put half the kitchen on our tree,” he says noting that he decorated in this way because Thessalonians love ouzo appetizers.
“In many cases, Thessalonians order so many appetizers that they take a break and then eat the main course. They like the variety, the many dishes on the table, and the different flavors,” Yiantsis explained. “It’s in the culture of the people here and this has almost always happened.”
Ouzo: the Spirit of Greece
Ouzo, the anise-flavored drink, is probably the most social drink ever distilled. Those who share this particular flavor come closer and have more light-hearted, or otherwise revealing, conversations. Ouzo is the drink of companionship and confession.
In Greece, Ouzo drinking is an art—or perhaps it is a way of life, says Matt Barrett, an American who writes about Greece. However, it’s not the ouzo but rather the company that really makes a difference, he adds.
Literary scholars believe the name “ouzo” originated from the ancient Greek verb “to smell,” or “ozo.” However, romantics prefer to think it comes from the phrase “Ou zo,” or “Without this I can’t live.”
Others believe its roots are in the Turkish word for grape, “uzum,” or that it can be traced back to a story about a Turkish consulate doctor in Thessaly in the 18th century who tasted the local raki and cried out, “But this is Uso di Marsiglia!”
The phrase, meaning “for use in Marseilles,” was, at the time, stamped on crates of silk worm cocoons exported from Thessaly to major merchants in the French port, which had become synonymous with any product of excellent quality.