Holidays In Greece : Greek Traditions And Culture
In this part of our guide to holidays in Greece we focus on the culture you’ll experience there…
Greece lies at the crossroads where East meets West. It has also been ruled by the Romans and the Turks, and in turn Greece’s own Byzantine Empire governed much of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. This history has left a rich cultural legacy and the Greek people take a passionate pride in their culture and their country.
The national language and native tongue of the vast bulk of the population is Greek. But English is relatively widely studied and understood and English-speaking visitors usually encounter no significant language problems. French, Italian, and German are the next-most commonly studied foreign languages.
About 10% of the country’s population, or roughly a million people, were born elsewhere. Eastern and Central Europe are the most common sources of immigrants, with others coming from the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa. This has made the country linguistically and culturally diverse.
In this very religious country, 97% of the population classify themselves as Orthodox Christians. While the Greek State and the Orthodox Church are officially separated, this separation is not formalised by the Constitution and the Greek Orthodox Church is very influential.
They can also be said to be of a superstitious nature and to have beliefs in supernatural or paranormal phenomenon. Traditions and superstitions vary from village to village and from region to region, but common ones include spitting to chase the devil and misfortune away and blessing bread by making the sign of the cross with a knife before slicing it.
Easter is the most celebrated holiday, and involves feasts and costumed parties, whereas Christmas tends to be a private, family holiday, though lights and decorations still adorn city squares across the country. In addition to Easter and Christmas, many towns and regions have their own regional festivals throughout the year commemorating various historical events, local patron saints, or wine harvests.