Name Days

When I was in Greece, people celebrated their name days instead of their birthdays. I decided that I was going to bring this tradition back with me.

Daphne's Name Day--April 1
Christine's Name Day--December 25
Jared's Name Day--November 1

We will be celebrating all of these with Greek food and some good times. Check our your name day here. http://www.namedays.gr/data/eortes/namedays_A.htm

From Wikipedia:

Name days are a tradition of attaching personal names to each day of the year, and celebrating the association of particular days with those for whom that day is named. It is common in large parts of Europe. The tradition originates from the Christian church calendar and the tradition to name children after saints, although in many countries there is no longer a connection to the church.^[1][2]

The celebration of name days has been a tradition in Catholic countries since the Middle Ages, and has also continued in some measure in the countries which adopted a reformed catholic faith (rather than strictly protestant) at the Reformation - countries such as England and the Scandinavian states. The name days originate in the list of holidays celebrated in commemoration of saints and martyrs of the Catholic Church. For example, the name Karl or Carl (celebrated in Sweden on January 28) was originally Carolus Magnus, the Latin form of Charlemagne, and a commemoration of his death on this date. The church promoted celebration of name days (or rather saints' days) over birthdays, as the latter was seen as a pagan tradition.

Greece

In Greece (especially Crete) and Cyprus, name days are celebrated in a similar way to birthdays.^[2]

According to the Orthodox Church, every day of the year has been dedicated to the memory of a saint or a martyr from the Holy Bible and Holy Tradition. If someone is named after a saint, then there is a big celebration on his or her name day. Gifts are given, festive meals and desserts are prepared, and special preparations are made for an open house in some parts of Greece. Many times, particularly in the North, name days are focused more on the saint, rather than just the individual. Greek-Macedonians commonly wait for people to come to their home for mezedes and serve their guests. It is typical to give children (up to about 14) money as a small gift. On name days and birthdays, the person being celebrated arranges parties and serves the guests, instead of the guests fussing over the honorary person. Usually, name days are on the same date, every year. These are the non-floating name days. There are some floating name days, based on the Orthodox holiday calendar, that every year are on a different date.