Tradition

The American ambassador to Athens, Geoffrey Pyatt, has issued a statement marking the 16th International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 76th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, as the United States pays tribute to the six million Jews and millions of others murdered by the Nazi regime.

The passage to a new year has been accompanied since ancient times by customs and rituals that are being observed even to this date, particularly in Romanian villages.

The true origin of a tradition

Athenians are seen strolling on the forested Hymettus mountain in the district of Kaisariani on Friday, to mark Labor Day - known in Greece as Protomayia. The holiday is traditionally celebrated by going to the countryside to gather flowers and make wreaths. [Pantelis Saitas/ANA-MPA] 

Today, Bulgarians are celebrating Baba Marta (Grandma March) holiday, which is observed each year on March 1.

On this day, people greet each other with "Happy Baba Marta" and exchange adornments called "martenitsi" (named after the month of March).

National Hug Day was created by Reverend Kevin Zaborney in Caro, Michigan in 1986 as an antidote to the reverend's perception that many American were afraid to display affection in public.

A folkway and ritual dating back to the medieval times, the night of Bocuk is a quasi-Halloween tradition for Turkish people. People, wearing costumes, celebrate traditional Bocuk Night in the Çamlıca Village of Edirne's Keşan district on Jan. 18. (AA Photo)

Nearly 87% of Bulgarians will celebrate Christmas. Those who declare that they will not celebrate are mostly representatives of religious societies. For 35% of people, Christmas is a more important holiday than New Year's, but the largest share (43%) believe that the two holidays are equally important.

An annual parade by school children to mark Greece's rejection of an Italian ultimatum and its entry into World War II on October 28, 1941, was underway in central Athens on Monday.

The parade, which takes place in front of the Parliament on Syntagma Square, started at 11 a.m.. Streets in the surrounding area are closed to traffic until it is finished.

Kostas Arvanitis, the 70-year-old fisherman who saved dozens of people who ran into the sea to escape the deadly wildfires at Mati in eastern Attica last year, was given a state funeral Tuesday in Halandri, northern Athens.

Arvanitis, who died last Saturday after a long battle with cancer, saved at least 70 people. He is survived by his wife and son.