Germans Protect Greek Restaurant from Racist Attacks

The Climb (2002) - FREE Full Movie Online

Two professional solo climbers form an uneasy partnership after a successful rescue mission grants them the gift of a lifetime. 

 

Are you looking for some exotic - 12 About Town: Richmond Greek Festival

5 days ago

5 days ago

The Richmond Greek Festival, at Saints Constantine and Helen at 30 Malvern Avenue, combines delicious Greek food and drink along with traditional Greek music and dancing that makes this one of Richmond's most popular festivals.

 Full story>>>

 

 

10 hours ago

10 hours ago

TURKEY: Istanbul's Greeks celebrated Christmas with their traditional "calanda"

 

Istanbul's Greeks celebrated Christmas with their traditional "kalanda" activity where Zoğrafyon Greek High School student chanted Christmas carols on Istiklal Avenue.

Since 2009 Istanbul's Greek community has celebrate Christmas with a special walk on Istiklal Avenue, singing Christmas carols and giving presents to street passers-by. The crowd has been received by Greek Consule to Istanbul and his spouse.

"Calanda means Christmas carols in Greek," Özcan Şabudak, Zoğrafyon Greek high school vice principal, said. "Children used to collect tips by singing carols and donated to charity organizations. Now we are doing the walk to motivate Istanbul's closed Greek community to be more active. We encourage them to confront their fears and be more confident as minority citizens."

Yani Klimentaki, an Istanbul-born Greek, said he was happy to see his community celebrate Christmas in joy even though he complained that many of his friends had to leave Istanbul due to pressures. 

Klimentaki's remarks remind us one more time how challenging it could be to live as minority in Turkey. The Christmas celebration on Istanbul Avenue should mean something to other people as well. 

Maybe it is time that people in Turkey asked themselves why the few remaining Greek community still lived long with fears. (BK/HK)

The Spiritual War -- Elder Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona (VIDEO)

Newtown, Connecticut: Yvonne Cech Greek-American Librarian Saves 18 Children

When the 24 year-old shooter, Adam Lanza, entered the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut on Friday morning, Yvonne Cech realized that something bad was about to happen and started thinking of ways to protect her students.

When Cech, a Greek-American librarian, heard the first gunshots she locked herself, an assistant, and 18 fourth-graders in a closet behind file cabinets in the library.

“We spent 45 minutes locked in a closet during the shootings,” she said to local media in Connecticut after she made it out of the school building.

 

“The SWAT team escorted us out,” and then all 18 children were reunited with their parents.

The Greek-American librarian was one of the heroes who saved her students’ lives. Victoria Soto was another teacher who sacrificed her life to save her class. None of her students were harmed.

There were 20 children between ages 5 and 10 the staff could not save. Their names and lives could be those from any primary school on either side of the Atlantic.

Among them are Daniel Barden, aged six; Chase Kowalski, whose sister Natalie attends the school but escaped injury; Jesse Lewis, six, whose class were set to make gingerbread houses that day; Grace McDonnell, aged six, who lived a street away from her killer; Ana Marquez-Greene, aged seven, the daughter of Canadian jazz saxophonist Jimmy Greene; Emilie Parker, aged six, whose family had moved to Newtown from Utah only a year ago; Avielle Richman, Catherine Hubbard, Noah Vabner, and Benjamin Wheeler, all aged six.

The gunman, Adam Lanza, killed 27 people in total including his mother. Before heading to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where his mother was also a teacher, he shot and killed her at a house they shared in Newtown.

The motive for the mass killing, the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, remains unknown.

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Stathis Kavouras - Most Amazing Songs!

Greek Singer Stathis Kavouras Passes Away

Stathis Kavouras, the great folk lyricist and singer, has passed away at 80 years old. He wrote and sang more than 500 folk songs. Kavouras was born in Drosohori, Fokida, in 1932. 

He was a shepherd and his “payment” for his work was a goat every month. Then he made his own farm and was living in this way.

According to his book Outlining the Past, he made his debut as a singer when he was in the army in 1953, since his sergeant helped him to enter the Armed Forces radio station. Kavouras could also play violin and guitar.

In 1957, he moved to Athens where Tasos Chalkias assisted him  to record a little album including two Tsamikos songs. The album caused a sensation and was embraced by the public.

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Greek MPs allowed to carry guns in Parliament

Last week two MPs from Greece's ultra-nationalist party attempted to enter the Greek Parliament carrying guns, but were ejected. Now the Minister of Public Order has confirmed that MPs may carry guns in Parliament providing they hold a legal gun licence.

Eight of the eighteen Golden Dawn (Chrysi Avgi) members of Parliament hold gun licences. Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias has confirmed that all MPs are allowed to carry licenced guns without restriction. Ekathimerini reported Dendias said: "The admission and movement of all deputies is conducted without restriction the House."

According to Business Insider two Golden Dawn deputies were recently ejected from Parliament after metal detectors revealed they were carrying firearms. Following the incident the IB Times reported House Speaker Vangelis Meimarakis proposed stricter rules regarding carrying firearms in Parliament should be introduced.

Dendias has now concluded that MPs, police and the personal guards of the prime minister and high-ranking members of Parliament may carry licenced weapons in Parliament, whilst others attempting to enter Parliament with licenced weapons may be requested to turn their firearms over to security staff, depending on the level of risk.

Offices of the Golden Dawn have recently been subjected to firebomb attacks, for which the Anti-Fascist Front has claimed responsibility.

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Christmas coming - BEAUTIFUL GREEK CHRISTMAS SONG OF THRAKIEN - video

So many beautiful images of Christmas are the same from country to country – the Nativity, decorated Chrstmas trees, caroling. This is a traditional Greek Carol called 

CHRISTMAS   SONG  OF  THRAKIEN. 

Turkey: Greeks Radio Station Goes Worldwide

The Greek community in Istanbul has taken its voice around the world through an online radio station called The Sound of Istanbul, which debuted on Oct. 30 during a ceremony in the auditorium of the Secretariat General of Information and Communication in Athens. This was an initiative taken by the Greeks of Istanbul.

“Six months ago, two expats had the idea of creating a radio station for all Greeks in Istanbul, in order their voice to be sound around the world,” Andreas Rompopoulos, inspirer of this idea, said.

This online radio station was realized thanks to the initiative of an expat group as well as the expat newspaper IHO (Echo), published in Turkey since 1977.  In a recorded congratulatory video Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said that providing information around the world is critical in this age.

Olga Kefalogianni, Minister of Tourism, attended the ceremony and was joined by many others, including journalists, artists and radio producers who discussed the statin’s aim. The Sound of Istanbul transmits on website: www.ihotispolis.com.

Olive oil, the very heart of the Greek Orthodoxy - Make your own aromatic oil

The sacred trait the olive tree enjoyed from antiquity was in the early Christian era, transferred to its product olive oil. Olive oil is mentioned both in the Old and New Testament. It became a mystical element. 

The most important of the sacraments, that of baptism, which seals the baptised as a servant of God, cannot be performed in the Greek Orthodox Church without olive oil. The infant is rubbed with olive oil from head to toe, immersed in water three times and then anointed with Holy Myrrh, which is a mixture of olive oil mixed and various other aromatic oils. Its preparation, most sacred, is the sole privilege of the Head of the Greek Orthodox Church. Colloquially, the unbaptised are often referred to as alathoti—unoiled, or unanointed.

Monasteries in Greece almost always include an olive grove. The olive crop secured the sustenance of the monks and the oil is necessary for the burning of lamps before the icons or for performing the sacraments. Today many monasteries bottle part of their olive oil and at times visitors can purchase some.

Greeks also make offerings of olive oil to churches and monasteries. To this day one still sees bottles of oil left in church by the faithful, used mainly to light the votives.

Virgin olive oil is also produced using mechanical means only, and has an acidity of up to 2 percent. 
Olive oil not marked “extra-virgin” or “virgin” is a blend of virgin and refined oil, the latter being produced at very high temperatures, causing it to lose many of its properties. Cold-pressed oil has been extracted in presses where the temperature is no higher than 27 Celsius, beyond which the oil loses some of its nutritional benefits.

Benefits

Over 95 percent of olive oil consists of fatty acids, particularly monounsaturated fats that help prevent arteriosclerosis and heart disease. A diet rich in olive oil improves the health of those suffering from hypertension, gallstones, stomach ulcers and rheumatic diseases.Contrary to popular belief, the nutritional benefits of olive oil are fairly heat-resistant, but it is better to add it at the end of the cooking time and in moderation, as it is high in calorie content.

Make your own aromatic oil

Add your favorite herb, peppers, garlic cloves mushrooms, orange or lemon peel (unwaxed, organic), sun-dried tomatoes, capers, chilies, cumin or allspice pods to add spice to your salad oil, or use a combination of these.Choose good-quality oil with a smooth taste, such as that from Mytilene.The spices should be fresh and the herbs very clean and dried with their aroma intact.Use sterilized and well-dried bottles.Once filled and the spice or herb added, close tightly and store in a cool dark place, never in the sun. The full flavor will be acquired after at least two weeks.For a milder flavor, remove the solids after two weeks and transfer the oil to a clean bottle after filtering it through a piece of gauze or a coffee filter.If you leave the herb in the bottle, remove it once it protrudes above the surface of the oil or the flavor could spoil.

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Greek Orthodox Easter - food and recipes (PHOTOS, VIDEO)