Cutting Vasilopita

The Vasilopita is a Greek cake that is traditionally cut on new year’s evening at midnight. What makes this cake so special is a coin called “flouri” which is hidden in it. Whoever finds the flouri in his piece of Vasilopita is supposed to have a lot of luck in the next year and sometimes even gets a small present.

The Vasilopita is blessed by cutting a cross three times in the air above it. Afterwards there is a specific way to cut the Vasilopita. First a cross is cut on the surface and then the whole cake is cut into three more slices than people around. The three extra slices are meant for Jesus, the holy spirit, and the house. Afterwards the remaining pieces are distributed to everyone starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest person.

The origin of this tradition goes back to the time when the holy Vassilis was the bishop of a village in Greece. The inhabitants of this village had not enough money to pay the taxes requested by the Romanian prefect. To solve this problem Vassilis asked some rich people to also pay the taxes of the poor inhabitants. The story says that the Romanian prefect was so surprised by this agreement, that he decided to clear the whole village from taxes. As Vassilis was left with all the gold it was impossible for him to remember what had belonged to whom. To distribute the gold in a fair way he was baking a lot of small breads and hid a coin in each of them. Every inhabitant got one bread and with it a part of the money. Since that day, a Vasilopita with a coin inside is cut at the beginning of every new year to remember Vasilis and his idea.