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Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-12-31Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] Minoan Lines cancels sale of Hellenic Seaways to ANEKTo view this article please contact the ANA-MPA's subscription department at 2106400560.More details on the subscriber's page of APE-MPE | Subscription request form [02] New Year's Day celebrations in Greece(ANA-MPA) -- New Year's Day is not just the beginning of the New Year but is often viewed as a "new beginning", a day when many people around the world make pledges and resolutions to leave behind past troubles and obstacles and seek a new life.People believe that a year's conclusion often takes with it whatever bad occurred in that year, thus heralding the New Year with joyous celebration. Humanity's hopeful expectations of the New Year are best reflected in a verse of a popular New Year's Eve song in Greece: "Old Year leave now, your time is up. The New Year is here with presents, songs and joy". In the eastern Mediterranean nation of 11 million, New Year's Day many celebrations are influenced by local folkloric traditions, the Orthodox Church and the occasion of the feast day of Aghios (St.) Vassilios, who in Greece substitutes for St. Nicholas as the embodiment of Santa Claus. (ANA-MPA) One of the most quintessential of all New Year's customs in the Hellenic world has its roots in Greco-Roman traditions. A traditional cake (vassilopita) made on New Year's Eve is cut in the presence of the entire family on New Year's Day. The ancient Greek Kronia or the Latin Saturnalia were celebrated with the preparation of sweets and cakes. A silver or gold coin was baked inside the cake and whoever found the coin in their piece was the lucky one for the coming year. (ANA-MPA) The Eastern Orthodox Church linked the vassilopita tradition with the story of St. Vassilios, who in order to protect his parish of Caesarea in Cappadocia, in modern-day central Asia Minor, from the attacks of hostile tribes, gathered all gold coins and other valuables the people had in their possession to appease the would-be attackers. When an attack failed to materialise, Vassilios proposed returning the valuables in a manner that would disperse the riches as evenly as possible -- baked within cakes. (ANA-MPA) More details on the subscriber's page of APE-MPE | Subscription request form [03] Stocks lose 35.6% in 2011(ANA-MPA) -- Stocks ended the last trading session of the year with moderate losses for a total loss of 35.62 pct in the year. The composite index of the market ended 0.70 pct down at 1,413.94 points, with turnover shrinking further to 37.337 million euros.MIG (4.48 pct), Jumbo (3.78 pct), Marfin Popular Bank (3.60 pct) and Titan (3.27 pct) were top gainers among blue chip stocks, while National Bank (2.58 pct), Alpha Bank (2.31 pct) and Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling (1.88 pct) were top losers. The Big Cap index fell 0.59 pct, the Mid Cap index ended 0.53 pct lower and the Small Cap index rose 0.15 pct. The Financial Services (1.90 pct) and Personal Products (1.78 pct) scored gains, while Media (2.83 pct) and Food (1.80 pct) suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day. Broadly, advancers led decliners by 77 to 59 with another 52 issues unchanged. Ideal (18.52 pct), Koubas (16.67 pct) and Edrasi (14.29 pct) were top gainers, while Allatini Ceramics (15.87 pct), Akritas (9.26 pct) and Hellenic Sugar (8.22 pct) were top losers. More details on the subscriber's page of APE-MPE | Subscription request form Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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