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Greeks eat small meals during the day and eat a substantial meal for the late evening.
Breakfast
Breakfast is simple and may consist only of strong Greek coffee with a sesame-seed bagel [kolouri] or cheese pie [tiropita].
Lunch
Lunch is also light. They might have a cheese pie, spinance pie [spanakopita], fried cheese [saganaki], a souvlaki sandwich, or grape leaves stuffed with rice and onions [dolmades].
Meals are simple but delicious and they use a mix of fresh foods straight from the farm such as tomatoes, onions, garlic, olives, olive oil, fruit, goat cheese, yogurt, and fresh-baked bread.
Evening Meal
Many adults drink ouzo, a strong liqueur before dinner..
First Course of mezedhes [appetizers] may consist of tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, peppers and feta cheese.
Popular Main Dishes may include souvlaki [grilled meat served on skewers]; loukanika [spiced sausages]; Dolmades [rolled grape leaves stuffed with meat and rice]; Moussaka and pastitio [mixtures of meat and vegetables served as a casserole]; seafood such as octopus, lobster, shrimp, squid, and mullet.
Typical Greek Bread comes in large, round loaves. Pita is a round flatbread.
Sweet desserts usually follow Greek meals such as Baklava and Kataifi [combinations of pastry & honey]; orange yogurt cakes, yogurts, custard, or fresh fruit.
Either red or white Wine is served with the meal. Leave a Comment Phone:
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 Friendly Town of Delphi by deecat
Men sit at a kafeneionb [coffeehouse] for hours for the price of a cup of strong coffee. It seems to be the center of communication. To an outsider [like me] it seems strange to see friends shout at each other, pound on the tables as they argue about sports or politics. If they are not shouting and laughing, then the men are absorbed in games of backgammon, dominoes, or cards. Women can only enter a kafeneion accompanied by a man. This is not a law, but it's just not done.
Our tour guide told us that Greeks do not enjoy solitude. The example that she gave is "Greeks do not consider a holiday a chance to get away from it all. Rather, an Athens family will leave the city, park the car at the seashore, and deliberately seek out the most crowded portion of a beach to spread their blanket!"
Greeks,similar to the Spanish, often celebrate into the wee hours of the morning. They are able to do this because many businesses shut down at 1:30 p.m. to allow employees to go home, eat a large lunch and take a short nap before they return at 5:00 p m. [Many large factories have abandoned the afternoon nap custom and adopted nine-to-five hours.] How sad.
I could not get over the Greek's amazing acceptance of strangers. Many times, you can be asking a stranger a question, and before you know it, they are inviting you to the family dinner. Just remember that in the Greek language, "xenos" is the word for "stranger", but the same word is also used for "guest"! Leave a Comment
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Before I visited GREECE, I knew a good deal about Greek Families and some of the traditions because many of the students that I taught were Greek. However, I learned so much more once I was finally in Greece; thus, I want to share some of this information.
As an in American Greek families, "Family life" is very important to the people of Greece. They maintain many traditions, especially in the smaller villages. Mothers have a special position of honor, but some Greeks still consider women inferior to men. Women are expected to have children, and sons are wanted to pass on the family name to the following generation. Older people are respected and often live with and are also cared for by their children and grandchildren.
Greeks tend to live close to their extended family [grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins]. Cousins play together; sometimes cousins are as close as brothers and sisters.
I learned a knew word while in Greece, and it is "parea". Children grow up as part of a "parea" [a group of tightly knit friends who usually go through life together].
The most interesting tidbit that I learned was about NAMES. Greek children celebrate both their birthday and their nameday. In Greek Orthodox communities, every day is dedicated to a saint! For instance, if a girl is named HELEN, then on May 21, St. Helen's Day, every girl named Helen celebrates her nameday with a party, cards, and gifts.
Also, Greek parents name their 1st son after his grandfather on his father's side, and on mainland Greece, 1st daughters are given her father's mother's name. More and more today, the girls are usually given a first name and it's the MIDDLE NAME that comes from a grandmother. Leave a Comment
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The Greeks have always valued EDUCATION. Once Greece became independent of Turkish rule, elementary school for all children became the law. Today, Greek law says all children "must attend school from the ages of 6 to 15."
Greek children start school at age 6. In state schools, education is free, but some children go to private school, especially if they want to learn foreign languages. However, English is the second language for most Greeks, & students begin studying English in grade school.
Since English is the language used for tourism & technology [2 areas that produce jobs], the young Greeks want to master English. Note: Most University-educated Greeks speak English, French, & some German.
After 6 years of grade school, the children go to the gymnasium [high school]. High schools specialize in different subjects. Some schools focus on Greek history, language, culture, & literature. Others focus on science & math. Still others are really vocational schools, which teach technical or commercial skills.
Students who continue their studies after gymnasium attend "lykeio", and after 3 years, students may graduate.
Following "lykeio", some students go on to the University. They must write a university entrance examination. The oldest & most important universities in Greece are located in Athens & Thessalonika. Competition is keen to enter the university so many Greek students travel abroad for University.
Children either ride the school bus or public bus to go to school. In grade school, children begin at about 8 in the morning and finish about 2 in the afternoon. In gymnasium, students start at 8 and finish at 3 or 3:30.
Some Greek parents feel that the Greek public schools are not as competitive as other European schools so they pay large amounts of money to send their children to private school after regular classes end for the day! Leave a Comment
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While in Greece I was introduced to these words:
kafenion: a Greek coffeehouse. Sitting around the "kafenion" is a village tradition. The "kafenion used to be strictly MALE territory. Men gathered there for hours to talk about the latest news, about politics, & about their work. They usually lamented the changes taking place in the Greek society. Now, both men & women might be seen in a "kafenion. However, old men are still the major patrons. {The younger generation go to "trendier" places & watch television to replace the traditional of the kafenion.
Apokries is carnival season that begins in February & lasts for 3 weeks before the pre-Easter Lenten season. Greeks dress in fancy costumes, eat, drink, & dance. The most spectacular festivities take place in Patras & in Athen's Plaka.
Epitaphios: during the Easter season on Good Friday, Greeks carry candles through the streets in the "epitaphios" [a funeral procession for Christ].
majiritsa is a traditional soup made with lamb, egg, lemon juice, & plenty of dill. Greeks eat majiritsa soup to break their pre-Easter fast.
Vasilopitta is Basil Cake, & on New Year's Day in Greece [also feast of St. Basil], a coin is baked into the Vasilopitta. Tradition says that whoever gets the slice of cake with the coin in it shall enjoy a year of good luck. We lived upstairs to a Greek Family for 2 years, & each New Year's, we would eat Vasilopitta with them. We never got the piece with the coin.
My favorite new word from Greece was:
Gynaikokratia which in villages in some Thracian towns, the people switch roles on January 8. "Gynaikokratia" was the name of an ancient Greek comedy, and the word literally means "Women Rule" Women of the village get to hang out in cafes while the men stay home cooking, cleaning house, & taking care of the children. When night arrives, the men join the women in a celebration. I think that is a ol idea! Leave a Comment Phone: male
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Some of the favorite dishes in Greece are known practically everywhere in the world because they have "crossed oceans and leaped continents"!
Moussaka is made up of layers of eggplant and ground meat baked in a tangy sauce.
Dolmathes is rice and ground meat wrapped in vine [usually grape] leaves.
Spanakopita is a spinach-and herb pie made with a flaky, buttery dough called phyllo.
Souvlakia is cubes of lamb or pork and vegetables strung on a long needle and roasted over a fire.
Soupa augolemono is really chicken soup with lemon flavoring.
Baklava is a dessert made of pastry and nuts that is coated with honey. Its also made with phyllo. Between many thin layers of dough are ground walnuts, almonds, and a gooey honey sauce.
Retsina is a common white wine that is mixed with pine resin!
youzo a strong liqueur that adults enjoy before dinner.
Melopita is a sweet dessert which is a honey-and-cheese pie.
Greek Coffee is VERY thick and with dessert it is sweetened. Leave a Comment
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In Greek Mythology, it is told that Athena became patron goddess of Athens because she gave the people the olive tree. The olive tree is the symbol of peace and prosperity. For centuries, olives have been pressed into olive oil, and olive oil is still a staple of Greek cooking. Greeks use olive oil instead of butter; they also use it as the oil on their Greek Salads.
Greek yogurt is thick and creamy and is a part of almost every Greek meal. A plate of tsatziki [a dip made of yogurt, cucumber, and garlic] is usually on the table. It is served at the beginning of a meal.
A bowl of yogurt that is sweetened with honey and sprinkled with walnuts is also a favorite Greek dessert.
Lamb is the most common meat, but pork, seafood, chicken, and beef are also available fresh. Swordfish, red mullet, sole, sardines, and mackerel are plentiful as is octopus, shrimp, and mussels.
The Greek national cheese is Feta that is made from goats' milk. It is white, crumbly, and salty. Greeks use it as an essential ingredient in salads. Traditional Greek salads contain no lettuce; rather, they use tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, feta, and olives. Yum!
Souvlaki sandwiches are as popular in Greece as hamburgers are in the United States.
A piece of meat rotates vertically on a rotisserie. The cook slices off strips of meat into a pita and adds tomatoes, onions, and tzatziki sauce. Leave a Comment
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 Ięsous” or Jesus “Kristos” or
“Christos” or Christ by janetanne
At the time when Jesus walked among us, bread was an important staple in the diet of ordinary people. By virtue of paying taxes, each Roman citizen was entitled to a daily ration of bread. As a result it was regulated. The Romans had stringent laws about the size and weight of loaves of bread that were sold. The consequences for shortchanging the purchaser were dire. Sealing each loaf with the imprint of the baker kept the bakers honest, and guaranteed that the Roman government got exactly the amount of bread paid for to feed the Roman troops. Bread was not the only item sealed. Dealers of olive oil and wine used clay seals to identify their products.
Bread and the Greek Orthodox Liturgy
Prosphora is a Greek word meaning "offering." In one sense, all that we offer for the use of the Church is prosphora: wine, incense, charcoal, oil (for oil lamps), candles, flowers, and bread. Our offerings are never raw materials. In all these cases we take something and make it into something else. Grapes to wine, olives to olive oil, wheat to bread, etc. Generally speaking, prosphora refers to the bread offering. In addition, the bread was not only a gift for use in the Liturgy, but it was also a gift to the Church to feed the priest and the poor.
While its use has remained the same as in the early Church, its form and markings have evolved. Bread with markings and in various shapes was common in ancient times among pagans as well as Christians. People decorated or impressed symbols on bread that was baked, bought, and eaten every day, as well as on bread offered in religious rites. Once again the Church "Christianized" a pagan or common practice.
During the time of Christian persecution, Christian symbols became cryptic, hiding, for example, the cross in simple decorative motifs. Although the symbol used on the bread may have varied during the early years, St. John Chrysostom (4th century) refers to the bread being "sealed," probably with the IC-XC NIKA. Leave a Comment
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THE EVIL EYE
Some Greeks, especially in villages, believe that someone can catch the evil eye, or "matiasma", from someone else's compliment or envy.
A person who has caught the evil eye usually feels bad physically and psychologically.
To avoid the matiasma, those who believe in it wear a charm: a little blue marble glass with an eye painted on it or a blue bracelet. Blue is believed to be the color that wards off the evil eye but it is also believed that people with blue eyes are givers of the matiasma.
Garlic is another way to ward off the evil eye, so it sometimes hangs in a corner of some houses. Garlic, as well as onion, is also considered to have great healing power by many Greeks. If someone is feeling ill, they will advise him to eat garlic. Leave a Comment
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 Taking a walk on the
'straight and narrow.' by janetanne,
2 more photos
Greek Orthodox priests (papas) are very revered and the custom is to kiss a priest's hand in respect when meeting one; today this custom is mostly followed in villages.
It is, however, believed everywhere in Greece, that seeing a black cat and a priest during the same day is bad luck.
It is also considered bad luck to see a priest first thing in the morning...!!!! Maybe this is because, if you see a priest first things in the morning, it may be because you are going there to see him inorder to 'CONFESS' about something bad you had done the night before...and if your wife or husband finds out....You will really have BAD LUCK! hehehe! Leave a Comment
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