GREEK CHRISTMAS HONEY COOKIES

The origin of the Greek word ‘melomakarona’ is ancient Greek. According to dictionaries the Italian word “macaroni” (meaning a certain type of pasta) derives from the Medieval Greek word “makarwnia”; a special funerary dinner containing pasta that blessed the departed. This particular term comes from the ancient Greek word “makaria”, a certain type of bread in the shape of the modern day “melomakarona” which used to be offered to the people who attended the funeral.
With the passage of time, the makaria recipe was somehow altered by adding honey (“meli” in Greek). Thus, the original word changed to “melomakarono”. A thing to be mentioned is that Latin, and later on Italian people, used the word makaronia as maccarone and for them it ended up meaning pasta.
Collected data and etymological roots are by Dimitris Stathakopoulos, Professor of Historical Sociology, Panteion University, Athens