GREEK YULETIDE

There is a Yuletide custom in rural Greece that harkens back to antiquity. On Christmas Eve the Mistress of the home keeps the hearth fire burning so that malicious imps cannot use it as an ingress into the home to cause havoc. Furthermore she will take some food and place it in a corner of the roof, just as the Ancient Greeks had done for the goddess Hekate; but nowadays this is to supplicate the faeries and other spirits so they will not cause harm or other disruptions. This perhaps underscores an ancient belief that, during the Quarter of Winter, the Dead often roamed the countryside and could cause mischief.