Eliá - olive

On New Year's Eve, housewives used to decorate the front doors of their house with twigs from an olive tree. This custom of Byzantine origin brings happiness and drives away goblins. The green twig of the blessed olive tree remains there throughout the festivities as a rather particular Christmas tree (Yangoullis 2008, 54).

In Kalopanayiotis village, one of the birth customs was that when a boy was born, a wreath made of olive leaves would be hung on the front door of the house; when a girl was born, a white cloth would be hung on the door.

According to analog magic, the water that a baby would drink for the first time, would contain an olive leaf so that the baby would not be thirsty but cool like an olive tree. They would make a cross with two blessed olive leaves and put it under the new mother's pillow. In other villages, they would put three olive leaves instead of two, which symbolised the Holy Trinity and they would then use these leaves in their home censer. At the same time, after the delivery, they would call the priest to visit the new mother's house and bless her. Usually, a bowl with water with olive, basil, rosemary, rosemary or rose geranium twigs would be ready for him to perform the holy blessing (Protopapa 2009, 163, 170, 278, 414).

Before and immediately after a wedding ceremony, the bride was always arched, that is, she would sit with her head covered and would be very modest. The family had to persuade the bride to behave so, using various reasons. One of them was that if tshe was modest, then a good year for olives and wheat would follow. Just as the bride would be arched, so would the olive trees as they would bear a lot of olives (Protopapa 2005, vol. A, 353). In most regions of Cyprus, olive tree twigs were used to weave the wreaths of newlyweds until the beginning of the 20th century. The use of olive tree twigs for the wreaths indicates an attempt to transmit the tree's fertility, vigour, growth to the newlyweds. It was believed that the olive tree in particular would bring blessing for it was also blessed. Its use on the wreath would also bring peace between the newlyweds. People would, first, use the twigs of the olive tree and the vine to form the base for the wreath, and then they would attach some leaves as well. They were careful with both the number of twigs and leaves, as well as with where to position them, so as to form a cross or the Holy Trinity symbol. In some villages of Tylliria, the olive twigs for the wreaths were cut in an impressive way. The olive tree to be used had to meet certain conditions. In some villages, they were careful not to use twigs from a wild olive tree in order to ensure that the couple would have a peaceful life. In other places, they would choose a tree that was far from the village or that could not be seen from the sea, as otherwise the newlyweds would be harmed. In other places, they believed that the newlyweds should not see the olive tree for at least forty days.

In the villages of the Paphos region, they would collect leaves from the olive tree in the churchyard so that they would be blessed. The event involved the whole community so many people would gather to bring the olive twigs; the relatives, the best men and the musicians would definitely attend. The relationship between the people and the olive tree is very interesting: they would treat it as a person and have a dialogue with it. First they would greet it: "Good morning, my olive tree" if it was morning and "Good day" if it was noon. Then, they would announce to it that they were going to cut some twigs for the wedding wreaths. They would take with them wine, halloumi, meat and a bun. First of all, they had to treat the olive tree, so they would pour wine on its branches and say "Here's to you, my olive tree" or "Drink up, my olive tree, for giving us the wreaths." And while music was playing, a man would go up the tree and cut the twigs, dropping them on a piece of cloth which was spread out on the ground. Before cutting the twigs, they would form three circles and dance around the olive tree and then dance with while holding in their arms the twigs they had cut. Olive twigs as well as a red thread would be placed on the tray with the wedding wreaths that would be carried to the church. Starting from the beginning of the 20th century, the wreaths were made using white wax, but they always had olive leaves so as to be blessed (Roussounidis 1988, 25; Protopapa 2005, vol. B, 17-23, 27-29, 97)

The consolation meal served following a funeral consisted of black olives and bread. The perception was that the olives due to their black colour, symbolised the deceased and that is why they were served together with bread (Roussounidis 1988, 35-36).