Greeks are notorious for laying great emphasis on family ties. “My big Greek fat wedding” gives a humorous first impression of what we are talking about:
Large noisy gatherings where the extended family gets together to celebrate something and in parallel discuss about everything and eat almost everything of the many things that the participating and naturally very giving Greek mothers cooked or prepared.
Concern and care for the youngsters that borders annoyingly to intrusion - are they in love with somebody, are they thinking of marriage, are they eating properly, how are they doing at work, etc?
But also tremendous generosity whenever a member of the family is in need of support, either because he faces a difficulty, or the challenge of a new beginning. In the film Toula Vardalos receives a whole new apartment as a wedding gift and her wasp husband does not believe his eyes.
Progress and affluence over the last 15 years raised questions on all the above: should the Greek parent be so protective? Wouldn’t younger people be freer to live their lives as they please if they did not accept any support from their parents? Well the problematic is now totally out of place. The strong family bonds save the day in Greece today. And it is not necessarily in the traditional way. Today very common is the situation of children helping their parents pay out a loan which became too heavy to repay. Young couples move house and cohabitate with their parents. It is done with grace, tremendous understanding and tact. With unemployment expected to exceed 20% the good old family is “in” again. At a flat which houses 3 persons six will feel equally comfortable if they love each other.
Keep a stiff upper lip. We have seen and survived worse.
Greece goes bust; Greece will return to the drachma; Greece is bound to resign from the EU till things balance out in the Euro zone; 15 state members in the euro zone secretly agreed to expel Greece; Germany will return to the mark and Italy to the lira.
A New York ceremonial courtroom was graciously provided for an ancient Athens court session to take place with a 2.410 years’ time lap. On the 12th of May 2011 the ancient philosopher Socrates was retried and this time acquitted.
Greek film director and producer Nicos Koundouros gives us the chronologically first account of Thanassis Vengos: they both were exiled on the island of Makronissos after the end of the Greek civil war in 1949.
In January of this year Harris Ikonomopoulos, President of the British Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and Faye Leoussi, of Leoussis Advertising had a meeting with a double agenda
People from abroad who really mean well for Greece and the Greeks use the paradigm of “illness and cure” to symbolize our situation.
Zagori is an area of great natural beauty and unique architecture in the Pindus Mountains in Epirus in Northwestern Greece. The area is of about 1.000 square kilometers and contains 46 villages. Zagoria villages is called by Greeks “Zagorochoria” meaning the villages behind the mountain.
Read more...
In 1989, Professor of Byzantine Studies, Helen Ahrweiler is appointed Chairman of the Cultural Centre Pompidou in Paris