Kolyva Recipe

This year for Saturday of the Souls (Psixo Savvato), I will be making kolyva for the first time. Most of the ingredients I purchased at the Supermarket but the hulled wheat (sitari) and decorations I had to go to the local Bakaliko in Hicksville.
My children assisted me and we discussed the meaning of kolyva and the prayers.
Prayer before:
Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me the commandments. Give rest, O God, to your servants and place them in paradise, where the choirs of the Saints and the just, O Lord shine like stars. Give rest to your servant who has fallen asleep, overlooking all of their transgressions.
Kolyva Recipe:
4 cups of shelled wheat
1/2 cup of sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 cups ground graham crackers
1/4 cup parsley
1 1/2 cups of slivered almonds
1 cups crushed walnuts
1/2 cup pine nuts
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup sesame seeds
decorations-silver,almonds, Jordan almonds

Rinse the wheat 2 to 3 times. Next boil for 2 hours. Drain well and then put in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, mix in raisins, pine nuts, slivered almonds, walnuts, parsley, cinnamon, sesame, and sugar. Flatten that out in your tray. Layer with crushed graham crackers, then sift confectioners sugar on top as to not see the mixture underneath. For decoration you may put a cross and or initials of the deceased.

Ending prayer:
For you, O Christ our Lord, are the resurrection, the life and the repose of your departed servants, who have fallen asleep and you we glorify together, with your eternal Father and your all holy , good and life giving spirit, now and forever unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Make sure you come into church early that day to hand in the Kolyva and write down the names of the deceased so the priest may read them off during the service.