25 March – Greek Independence Day

Last we celebrated Greek Independence Day. Why is this day relevant for me as an Australian citizen?

The reality is that I wouldn’t have ended up here if the Greek revolution against the Ottomans hadn’t occurred. I have never lived in Greece but my heritage and that of my families is very important to me. It’s important because it defines most of what I do outside of work. How and what I eat, where I visit, the music I listen to and how I raise my children.

25 March is symbolic because throughout my school education it was the day we marched to the shrine wearing our Greek School uniforms and then extended the day with a visit to Lonsdale St for the Greek Festival.  As a child we were taught Greek history and I remember many of the characters who fought in the war and made hero’s of themselves but I new very little about the war itself and what it really took to make ELLAS a free state and country.

A few years ago I began buying books on Greek history. Books on the war of 1821. Books on the Balkan wars which furthered Greece as well as books on the Greek Civil War which followed WW2.

Without foreign intervention (particularly money and ships) it would have taken much longer for Greece to be free and would have taken many more lives.

I purchased them for my and for my kids so that they may one day have an interest in Greece and its more modern history.

Greece is still a developing country. It was somehow very lucky to enter the EU in its very early form and has benefited greatly by this in term so foreign investment. But, if you think about it, its only really been a democratic state since the mid to late 70s. That is not a long time. Prior to this it was riddled by dictatorships and failed governments.

We went to the Greek festival this year. It was packed. Great to see the Greek community come out in force.

Zito h Ellada, Zito h Australia.