Guide To Greece : Current Greek 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.

Greek is the national official language and is the native tongue of the vast majority of the population, but English-speaking visitors encounter no significant language problem since English is the most widely studied and understood of foreign languages in Greece (followed by French, Italian, and German).

In fact, 1 million residents there (equivalent to 10% of the population) are foreign-born (mainly from Eastern and Central Europe, Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa); which has contributed to not only language diversity, but also to the Greek cultural landscape in general.

A very religious country, 97% of the population class themselves as Christian Orthodox. Officially, and like in all European countries, the Greek State and the Orthodox Church are separated, but this separation is not written or regulated by the Constitution and the Greek Orthodox Church has a great power in Greek society.

Greeks tend to be more likely than other Europeans to believe in supernatural or paranormal phenomena. Common traditions include blessing bread by making the sign of the cross with a knife before slicing it and spitting to ward off the devil and misfortune. But superstitions vary across regions and even between villages within a region.

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.