Mythical Christmas Goblins-Korinth-GREECE

The “Kallikantzari” are malicious goblins.

They live below the ground all year while they saw at the trunk of a huge tree on which rests the foundations of the world. Just when they have nearly sawn through the trunk which would make the earth collapse, they are lured to the surface by the Christmas celebrations.
They are above ground from the 25 December until the 6th of January (winter solstice). On the 6th January when all of Greece celebrates Epiphany the Priests blessings and the sprinkling of holy water around the house on this day banishes the Kallikantzari back to the underworld. During their absence from the underworld the tree has healed itself and they have to start sawing at the tree all over again and again and this is repeated every year.
During the 12 days they are on earth they are blamed for all kinds of mishaps around the house. I think this is just wonderful. There is someone else to blame during this time when housewives are usually under pressure to get everything prepared for the celebration, the house if full of children and visitors and things can get a bit hectic. So to have some goblin to blame for whatever goes wrong seems a wonderful idea. The Kallikantzari are only around at night, they disappear as soon as the first rays of sun appear, or so the story goes.
People may do all kinds of things to try and keep them away and keeping the fire going during this time is considered one of the main ways to stop them entering the house.
They are also leave bowls of sweets out because everyone knows that the Kallikantzari love sweets and this will keep them busy and hopefully stop those playing naughty tricks on the family. What do the Kallikantzari look like? Well descriptions of these creatures of the underworld vary from area to area but they are supposed to be smelly, hairy and have feet similar to goats.

"Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2010!!!"

Team of Korinth

Experimental Gymnasium of Corinth.