I have envisioned my upcoming story to have a Greek character in it. I’ve always thought Greek people are interesting to learn about. I want to get to know their way of life, culture, religions, and more, but I do need a bit of help to portray the Greek character correctly. Can anybody help me?
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I’m not Greek myself, but I can try to help as I have many Greek-American friends!
Religion-wise, usually Greek ppl are Christian, in the Greek Orthodox denomination (sometimes called Eastern Orthodox). Easter falls on a different day from other Christian denominations (like Catholics). Typically their churches have a dome on top, so they differ in appearance from other churches. As you can guess, the main language spoken in church would be Greek. As always, it depends on the person (and their immediate family), how religious they are. Anecdotally, my Greek-American friend’s aren’t very religious but more culturally so, for example, they don’t attend church every week but they will (or did) get married in an Orthodox Church.
Name-wise, usually Greeks are named after a saint and sometimes celebrate their saints day like another birthday.
The food is amazing, and usually very fresh with salads, feta cheese, and meats like lamb and beef. And it’s typically a big part of the culture. In New York City, there’s one neighborhood in Queens, Astoria, known particularly for its Greek citizens and food!
I’ve read people can be superstitious but it hasn’t been my experience as my friends are typically 2nd or 3rd generation Americans.
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Okay, so I’m half-Greek and half-Mexican. I was just in Greece last month, visiting my relatives, so I can share a few things I know based on my relatives and friends of our family:
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Greeks are usually named after their grandparents. Sometimes, people will go by shortened versions or similar names to their given name in order to avoid confusing two cousins with the same first name. For example: The grandma’s name is Evangelia, and two of the granddaughters are also named Evangelia. One might go by Eva, and the other Evi.
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Some common Greek names:
Men- Giorgos (George), Yannis (John), Thanasis, Dimitris, Konstantinos, Antonios, Christos
Women- Katerina, Evangelia, Dimitra, Sophia, Maria, Eleni, Konstantina
3. Greek weddings: Weddings are a huge event in Greece. People who are from a small village (called ‘horio’) used to have pre-wedding celebrations that would last a week, and they would invite nearly the whole village! Now because many people have migrated to larger cities, they usually only have a pre-wedding celebration on the Thursday prior to the wedding, which is usually on a Saturday or Sunday. The weddings almost always take place at an Orthodox church. After the religious ceremony, the guests will then go to the wedding party. As soon as the bridegroom arrive, the dances will begin. Only the immediate family and the godparents get to dance first, as well as the bridegroom. Traditional Greek dances are done in an open circle, with everyone holding hands and following the leader. There are also more modern types of dance, but at every wedding I’ve been to, first they dance the traditional way.
My cousin got married in July, and his wedding lasted until 6:30 the next morning!
4. Religion: Although most Greeks are Eastern Orthodox, not too many young people are religious.
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A personal experience:
I don’t know if this is just my family or if it’s really a thing in Greece, but I’ve noticed that, for example, in Mexico when someone is invited to a place they don’t want to go, they’ll be like, ‘Yeah, I might show up later’, or something like that but never show up. But in Greece, if someone doesn’t want to do something, they’ll tell you flat-out that they don’t want to. But again, this doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone; it’s more of a pattern I’ve noticed within my own family members.
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In Greece, we have some traditions and we celebrate some days like:
28 october (our independence day) and march 25, on these days, children from the 5th and 6th grade in elementary school (also in middle and high school which is optional) do a parade all over the city and the student with the really good grades holds our country flag and is in the front row.
Easter: On Easter, we celebrate Christ by coming back from the dead, and the last week of easter we don’t eat meat (it’s optional) and paint eggs red, then on Saturday, we go to the church and with candles (not the small ones) and when it hit midnight, the priest says specific words and with everyone who is in church, we hug, and say “Christos anesti” which means Christ came back from the dead. After that, we go to family gatherings and eat all together and meat is included
Bonus: after eating we break the red eggs by bringing them to each other and whichever breaks first, wins.
Weddings: A night before the wedding, the families of the couple hosts an event νυφοστόλι (nifostoli) and the relatives decorate their bedroom, and the groom has to take off the bed sheets 3 times, then relatives throw money in their bed and say kaloriziko
Bonus There is this old tradition that when they make the bed you have to throw a little kid on it, and if it’s a girl, the bride will have a girl o if it’s a boy, then she will have a boy. (In my uncle’s nifostoli, they threw my sister lol)
Before the wedding, the couple has to stay in their parent’s house, separately and see each other again at the wedding. Also the relatives help get the bride and groom ready (if you are on the bride’s side, you are in the bride’s house and get her ready and if you are on the groom’s side, you go to the groom’s house)
In villages, sometimes, when the bride is ready, she steps out of the house and waits with the family behind her for the groom to come to her parent’s house to get her along with people playing traditional music behind him. After he arrives, we all together go to the church and the event happens
Batism: There is also this event where the family goes to church to get the kid baptized. (this usually happens in orthodox christianity) Of course, they invite all their relatives and friends just like weddding to attend the baptism. First the godmother holds the baby while the priest is talking, and then the priest asks the godmother to say some specific words which she has to know them before the event, and say them out loud. After a while, they go to undress the kid, and put it in the κολυμπήθρα (kolibithra) and the priest puts it in the water 3 times. Then they get it out and the godmother holds it with a towel while the priest add oil to the baby’s face and cuts a strand of the hair. Then they dress it with while clothing (if it’s a girl, they put a dress and if it’s a boy, they put a white tux) then the godmother with th kid, they do 3 circles around the colibithra along with the priest and the event is nearly done. In most of these events there is an after party elsewhere, when it plays traditional music and we dance our traditional dancing and that goes until 4 am.
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Lol, factss
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Bump!
And
Some useful greetings and sayings in Greek
Ok, l got the idea from @Kanubish when she created a post of how to speak in Hebrew lol
Hi - Gia (the G is slighty pronounced, G like Gorgon but in Greece we pronounce the G differently, we have the letter Γ (gama). So gia (Γειά)
Ηello - Gia sas (Γειά σας)
How are you? - Ti kanis? (The ‘ti’ is pronounced like Tea and ‘kaneis’ like kah-nees) Τι κάνεις;
I’m good - Ime kala (This is pronounced ee-meh kah-lah) Eίμαι καλά
Good morning - Kalimera (It’s pronounced kalee-me-rah but ok without the h) Kαλημέρα
Good evening - Kalo vradi (It’s pronounced kal-o vrah-dee) Καλό βράδυ
Good afternoon Kalo apogevma (Kal-o apo-gev-mah) Καλό απόγευμα
Good night - Kali nixta (it’s pronounced Kalee nee-hta, the x is pronounced H)
We also say good noon - Kalo mesimeri (Kal-o me-see-me-ree) Καλό μεσημέρι
Thank you - Euxaristo (It’s pronounced F-ha-ree-sto) Ευχαριστώ
You are welcome - Parakalo (pronounced pah-rah-kah-lo) Παρακαλώ or you can say…
It’s nothing - Den kani tipota (pronounced Den kah-nee tea-po-tah) it’s like ‘you are welcome’, in a casual way
Holiday sayings
We say good celebrations when Christmas is coming - Kales giortes (Pronounced kah-les the gio-r-tes) Καλές Γιορτές
Μerry Christmas - Kala Xristougenna (Kah-lah Chris-stoo-ge-nah) Καλά Χριστούγεννα
Happy New year’s - Kali xronia (Kah-lee Chro-nyah) Καλή Χρονιά
In Easter we say
Good Easter on Sunday of the last week of Easter when Jesus has come back from the dead - Kalo Pasxa (Kah-lo Pass-Hah) Καλό Πάσχα
Christos Anesti We say that on Saturday night last day of Easter’s week at church and after the church when Jesus has come back from the dead as well (But we can also say it on Sunday)
(It’s pronounced Chris-to-s Ah-nes-tea) Xριστός Ανέστη
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