It's Your Name Day?

Did you know that you might have a name day?  In Greece, your name day is as important as your birthday. Your name day (if you have one) is related to the saints day.  So if you have the name of a saint, as most people do in Greece, then you have a name day.  You know who else has name days?  Churches.  They celebrate the name day of their churches namesake.  In Greece, a churches name day is celebrated with a huge street festival that goes all day, and well into the night.  They have all kinds of stuff for sale at these celebrations, including some awesome snacks.

As you might expect from a festival, classic carnival snacks such as cotton candy and popcorn are available.  

But they also have all kinds of local treats as well.  One of my favorites is the giant platters of Halvas.  This particular breed of halvas is very gelatinous but it melts in your mouth so nicely.  It's also full of nuts to ad the perfect crunch.

However the best Greek treat at these festivals is the Greek donuts or Loukoumades.  Most of the time these donuts come with a honey or chocolate topping, but at this name day festival I found this cart that offered so many more choices.  Most of them I couldn't even identify, but they all looked so tasty.

CC