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added section on Christmas Carols ("Kalanta") , rather than in a new article - section taken from Wikipedia article on Christmas Carols
*[[Pax Romana]]
*The [[Monastery at the Shepherds Field (East Jerusalem, Israel)]]
==Christmas Carols==
===Greece and Cyprus===
Greek tradition calls for children to go out with [[w:Triangle (instrument)|triangles]] from house to house on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and Epiphany Eve, and sing the corresponding folk carols, called the Κάλαντα (''Kálanda'', the word deriving from the Roman [[w:calends|calends]]). There are separate carols for each of the three great feasts, referring respectively to the Nativity, to [[Basil the Great|St. Basil]] and the New Year, and to the [[Theophany|Baptism of Jesus]] in the River Jordan, along with wishes for the household.
Longer carols follow a more or less standard format: they begin by exalting the relevant religious feast, then proceed to offer praises for the lord and lady of the house, their children, the household and its personnel, and usually conclude with a polite request for a treat, and a promise to come back next year for more well-wishing.
Many carols are regional, being popular in specific regions but unknown in others, whereas some are popular throughout the two countries. Examples of the latter are the [[w:Peloponnese|Peloponnesian]] Christmas carol "''Christoúgenna, Prōtoúgenna''" ("Christmas, Firstmas"), the [[Church of Constantinople|Constantinopolitan]] Christmas carol "''Kalēn hespéran, árchontes''" ("Good evening, my lords"), and the New Year's carol "''Archimēniá ki archichroniá''" ("First of the month, first of the year"). The oldest known carol, commonly referred to as the "Byzantine Carol" ([[w:Byzantine Greek|Byzantine Greek]]: Άναρχος θεός καταβέβηκεν, ''Ánarchos Theós katabébēken'', "God who is beyond all authority descended"), is linguistically dated to the beginning of the [[w:High Middle Ages|High Middle Ages]].
Almost all the various carols are in the common [[w:dekapentasyllabos|dekapentasyllabos]] (15-syllable [[w:iamb|iamb]] with a [[w:caesura|caesura]] after the 8th syllable) verse, which means that their wording and tunes are easily interchangeable. This has given rise to a great number of local variants, parts of which often overlap or resemble one another in verse, tune, or both.
In older times, carolling children asked for and were given gifts such as dried fruit, eggs, nuts or sweets; during the 20th century this was gradually replaced with money gifts — ranging from small change in the case of strangers to considerable amounts in the case of close relatives. Carolling is also done by marching bands, choirs, school students seeking to raise funds for trips or charity, members of folk societies, or merely by groups of well-wishers. Many internationally known carols, e.g. "Silent Night", "O Tannenbaum" or "[[w:Jingle Bells|Jingle Bells]]", are also sung in Greek translation.
==External links==
