The Importance of Family

In Greece, when you say "family," you don't just mention your mom, dad, and brother. Family means everyone, grandma, grandad, cousins, aunts, uncles...EVERYONE! Greeks who live in rural areas usually live with their parents and grandparents if their grandparents are older. They work and live together. Even after their children grow up and get married, they always come back for holidays and celebrations. This is not very common in America, I hear. But familes still do come back for the holidays. When Greeks meet other Greeks, they usually ask where they are from to see if they may have relatives from that area. Back in the old days, Greek women were responsible for their house, basically stay-at-home moms. Now in this time and day, Greek women are entering the profession of business. Family is important in Greece.

Greek Holidays!

On January 1st, we celebrate the Feast of St. Basil. It is basically celebrating the New Year like Americans. February 14th is the day of Saint Valentina. Clean Monday or Katheri Deftera 40 days before Easter, marks the first day of lent and it is customary to go out in the country and fly paper kites, which is in March. March 25th Independence Day. The Greek National Anniversary celebrates Greece's victory in the war of Independence against the Turks. On Good Friday, people carry candles and follow the procession of the Epitaph. Easter Sunday is the biggest church holiday in Greece. One unique tradition on Easter Sunday is that red eggs are cracked against each other and the person with the last remaining uncracked egg will have good luck. June 21st is European music day and the summer solstice, the longest day of summer. In Athens, there are lives show in every town. The 24th of December is Christmas Eve and young children walk around singing carols on trains, buses and neighborhoods. The 25th is the name day for Cristos, Christmas in America. As you can see, we have many different holidays. I didn't even list half of them! 

  

Greek Climate

Greece has many mountains with ranges. It snows a lot around the mountain areas in the winter time. Overall, they have the same weather climate around Greece. Greece's climate is called Mediterranean or subtropical. The summers are usually dry with no rainfall for 3-4 months. Winters are short, cold, and wet. Spring and fall are short and it's either rainy or hot.
Here is what the average daily temperature is like in Athens (Fahrenheit):


January: 55
Febuary: 57
March: 60
April: 68
May: 77
June: 86
July: 92

August: 92

September: 84

October: 75
November: 66
December: 58

Baked Chub Mackerel

The steps demonstrate the preparation of Baked Chub mackerel.

INGREDIENTS

-6 chub mackerel fish
-4 tomatoes
-4 sprigs of parsley
-3 garlic cloves
-1 spoon sugar
-Salt/Pepper 150 ml
-olive oil



METHOD

Clean fish. Remove giblets and wash with plenty of water. Season fish with salt and pepper. Place in a heat proof baking pan. Mash three tomatoes and cut the fourth in thin slices. Mash the garlic cloves and chop the parsley sprigs finely. Pour the olive oil, the tomato mash and garlic on top of the fish. Place also the tomato slices on top of the fish. Add sugar and place in preheated oven. Bake in 200 – 220 C until fish is baked (approximately 30 min). At regular intervals sprinkle the top of the fish with a spoon of the tomato sauce and turn fish up side down to bake on both sides.

Greek Houses

Greek houses are made up of two to three rooms. They are normally made of brick, wood, stone, or clay. I live in a stone house. If you live in a larger house, you may have a kitchen, bathing room, men's dining room, or women's sitting area. Houses in Greece can be very ugly and very beautiful! Where you live kind of depends on how much money you make. If you have a good-paying job, you will more than likely live in a nice house. My father makes good money, but he spends it wisely and not on a big house that we really don't need. A few houses are similar to American houses from what I have seen.

Fashion in Greece

Greek fashion has majorly changed from 1600 BC to 2009 AD. These are some photos of people from Greece. The top picture is the lastest fashion, as of 2008, and the bottom picture is the older fashion.

There are also many different types of hairstyles. A couple of them are the same of America. At the same time, we have our own unique Greek style.

Greek Cuture, Religion, and Unique Facts

Have you ever cared to know about the culture of Greece? Have you ever thought about the differences in religion between mine and yours? You may be saying "No," but I am going to tell you anyway. Hopefully you can learn something new. Ancient Greeks were very religious. Many sanctuaries honor more than one god. But some do focus on mainly one, Zeus or Demeter and her daughter Persephone. If you ever want to enter a sanctuary or monastery, your shoulders and knees need to be covered. It is considered rude not be appropriately dressed.


Something unique that Greeks do is never eating alone. Whenever you are at a restaurant in Greece and plan on eating by yourself, guess again. More than likely, the waiter will not come to your table. It is rude to ask for your order before all of the guests arrive. The Greek waiters assume that you are waiting for guest to come. One other interesting fact is that stealing is pretty rare. In Greece, it is considered to be humiliating to steal other people's things. I hear that would be nice if it happened in America, but maybe that's just a rumor.

 

                                                                 Greek Monastery