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Greek Culture: Exploring and analyzing the rich history and culture of Greece.
By: Ashley Lowe
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When I think of Greece, I tend to think of houses carved into beautiful mountain beaches,
crystal clear waters, and the delicious food that comes along with it. I also tend to think of the
movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and the adventures that took place when one of the
characters, Lena, goes to spend her summer with her grandparents who live in Greece.
Throughout my research to learn a little bit more about this beautiful place, I learned that the
people whom live there seem to have this overzealous connotation of Greece and everything that
comes along with being Greek and was determined to find out why this was the case. While
searching for answers I came across what seems to be what sets the culture as a whole apart: the
Language, History, Traditions, and Religion.
Language can have both good and bad sides to it. It is the way in which we communicate,
but it can also be the cause for miscommunication. Modern Greek language descends from the
ancient language and is closely affiliated with part of the Greek or Hellenic branch of IndoEuropean. “Hellenic” refers to the same time frame as the classical period and is the time of
Homer and later the great Greek philosophers, Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato. “The history of the
Greek Language begins, as far as the surviving texts are concerned, with the Mycenaean
civilization at least as early as the thirteenth century BCE. The earliest texts are written in a
script called Linear B. After the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization (around 1200 BCE)
writing disappeared from Greece.” (Palmer, n.d.) When Greece finally won its freedom from
Turkish control in 1830, a brand new kingdom was formed with Athens and Peloponnese at its
core. The languages and dialects in those regions became the basis for the language spoken in
today’s Greek society. Language plays a huge role in modern society. The speakers of Standard
Modern Greek make up most of the speech community in Greece. It has spread from the city
centers of Athens and Thessalonica to the countryside and has now displaced most local dialects.
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There are still differences in accent patterns and in certain grammatical properties between the
small populations in Greece. Greek is the official language for education and government, but
other languages of different groups are used constantly in communication such as papers, radio,
at home and between co-speakers of the languages.
Greece is a country with a very rich history and is home to many famous people
throughout centuries. During the second millennium BC, Greece was home to the great stone and
bronze civilization. In the peak of the classical period, 5th Century BC, the city of Athens became
the greatest naval powerhouse of ancient Greece. This helped create all domains of the culture
including music, drama, philosophy, rhetoric and even democracy. This period changed the
history of the world. However, the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens let to the
downfall of the classical era. From 168 BC and on, the Romans conquered Greece and the
Roman period came about. This is why “the country becomes the field of many important battles
and new cities are constructed, such as Nikopolis in western Greece. Athens and generally the
Greek culture declines, but the Greek becomes a second official language for the Roman Empire.
The Romans read the classical philosophers and base their religion on the Olympian gods. In the
3rd century AD, the powerful Roman Empire starts to decline and it is divided in two pieces, the
Eastern and the Western Roman Empire.” (www.greeka.com)
Next is the Byzantine Empire, which lasted for about 1,000 years. At this point in Greeks
history, Christianity becomes the official religion of the new empire. During my conversation
with Kallie Sawaya, a devoted member of the Panagia Pantovasilissa Greek Orthodox Church, I
found out that religion and the church plays a huge role in sustaining her Greek Culture while
here in the United States. Going to this Greek Orthodox Church gives her a sense of home, as
Greece is where she was born and lived for a part of her life. When speaking to Reverend Joseph
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Gingrich, I asked him what set the Greek Orthodox Church apart and he said that Orthodox
Services can often be elaborate, solemn, and lengthy, but they express a deep sense of joy. This
feeling is an expression of our belief in the Resurrection of Christ and the deification of
humanity, which are major themes in Orthodox Worship. Services are always sung or chanted. In
addition to prayers, hymns, and scripture readings, there are a number of ceremonies, gestures,
and processions. The Church makes rich use of nonverbal symbols to express God's presence and
our relationship to Him. Orthodoxy Worship involves the whole person; one's intellect, feelings,
and senses and always follows a specific order because there is a specific design to our worship.
Kallie and I also talked about the traditions that come along with being Greek. One of her
favorites is the Carnival, or as they call it, “Apokries”. The festival consists of two weeks of
feasting and partying, beginning with Sunday of Meat Fare and ending with the first day of lent,
called Clean Monday. During this period, everyone wears costumes, parties, and throws colorful
confetti at one another. The Carnival is believed to come from paganism and the worshiping of
the god of wine and feast, Dionysus. In Greece, they also celebrate Easter and similar to the
United States, they celebrate a Greek Independence Day. One superstition that I found
interesting was that they believe in Tuesday the 13th instead of Friday the thirteenth. Another is
that they believe in “The Evil Eye”, or “Mati”, “Some Greeks believe that someone can catch the
evil eye, or matiasma, from someone else's jealous compliment or envy. Someone who catches
matiasma feels horrible. Then, an expert in xematiasma must say a special prayer to release the
person in pain. To avoid the matiasma, people wear a charm that is a little blue bead with an eye
painted on it. Blue is believed to be the color that wards off the evil eye, but it is also believed
that people with blue eyes are most possible givers of the matiasma.” (Sawaya, n.d.)
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As you can see, Greece has a very diverse and rich culture. The language has taken many
turns and has changed quite a bit since it was first created. The history of Greece is never-ending
and has been under the rule of many different empires. They have very strong ties to their roots
in Christianity and it plays a very important role in the people and culture that they embody.
Lastly, they have many similar traditions to the United States, but also many different, unique
ones of their own. This is just scratching the surface of why Greece is so important to its citizens
and why they love it so dearly.
Word Count:1146
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References
Fitzgerald, R. T. (2015) Teachings of the Orthodox Church — Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of
America. Available at: http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7062 (Accessed: 26 February
2015).
Greek Language and Linguistics: History (no date). Available at: http://www.greeklanguage.com/History.html (Accessed: 26 February 2015).
Greeka.com (no date) Traditions in Greece: Festivities and superstitions. Greeka. Available at:
http://www.greeka.com/greece-culture/traditions/ (Accessed: 26 February 2015).
Project, U. L. M. (2014) Profile of. Available at:
http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=30(Accessed: 26 February 2015).