Greek Independence Day – 25 March – History and Traditions

 

 

The Annunciation to the Theotokos

 

 

 

The Greek War of Independence 1821

 

 

 

Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 400 years, since 1453 and in order to keep the Greeks under control in inaccessible, mountainous regions often inhabited by “Klephts”, (Thief or brigand, warlike mountain-folk) the “Armatolikia” were created.

With the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence, a large number of “Armatoloi” abandoned any allegiance to the Ottomans and formed Greek land forces.

 

 

Theodoros Kolokotronis, a Greek general, gathered up a gang of the toughest armatoloi and formed a sort of irregular army which he led against the Ottomans.

Kolokotronis; archistrategos – commander-in-chief of the army, who was fifty years old at the time, became known as “O Geros tou Morea” – The Elder of Morea, another word for the Peloponnese, was one of the most notable heroes of the Greek revolution.

 

 

These forces; known as palikaria, were the only real threat to the Ottomans.

Four of the most famous “Armatoloi”, or “Palikaria”, initially employed by Ali Pasha (Ottomans), who rebelled and fought for Greece in the Revolution are: Markos Botsaris, Georgios Karaiskakis, Odysseas Androutsos and Athanasios Diakos.

 

 

The motto for Greece, Freedom or Death, Eleftheria i thanatos (Ελευθερία ή θάνατος) arose during the War of Independence.

It is still in use today, and is a popular theory regarding the use of 9 stripes (for the nine syllables of the motto) in the Greek flag.

The Filiki Eteria at its emblem had the letters “ΗΕΑ” and “ΗΘΣ”.

These are the letters of the words “Ή ΕλευθερίΑ” “Ή ΘάνατοΣ”, which means Freedom or Death.

 This is alsothe motto of the IV Infantry Division of the Greek army.

 

 

Fighting for Greece, along with so many great Greek soldiers, was Lord Byron, a poet, one of the major British romantics.

 

 

Byron, “Mad, bad and dangerous to know” was known and respected by the Greeks, for his love of Greece, he once said;

“If I am a poet, the air of Greece has made me one”

His poem “Curse of Minerva” was written as an attack against Lord Elgin, for stealing the Parthenon Marbles, which had caused Byron much sorrow.

During his involvement in the Greek Revolution, he formed “The Byron Brigade”, becoming the head of the Greek rebels; he even used his own money to finance the war.

After his death in 1824, aged only thirty six, he was buried as a Greek hero, with three days of official mourning.

 

 

After nine long and brutal years of war, the Greeks triumphed over the Ottomans.

Greece was finally recognized as an independent state; the First Hellenic Republic, governed by Ioannis Kapodistrias.

 

 

Under the London Protocol of February 1830 and with the Treaty of Constantinople in 1832, borders of the new state and Otto of Bavaria, who, after the assassination of Kapodistrias on 27 September 1831, became king, were recognized.

 

 

 

 

 

The Greek 25th of March Parade

 

From the largest towns to the smallest villages, this day is celebrated with parades, for which preparations and rehearsals have been in full swing for days beforehand.

The children, are especially excited, they get to dress up!

Mothers have frantically been gathering together, Greek traditional outfits for the girls and tsaroukia (the shoes worn by the tsoliades), foustanellas (the skirts worn by the tsoliades) and the red fez, for the boys.

 

 

You cannot imagine the time it takes to iron the foustanella; meters and meters of pleats!

I must have gone through preparations for this day, with my two children for about twelve years or more!

How proud I was though when I saw them marching through the streets with their school friends and how proud they all looked; proud to be Greek.