The Greek Parade

You can imagine BC’s and my surprise when, emerging from the Copley T stop on our way to the library, we were stopped dead in our tracks by the following, separating us from the building we needed to be in…

You guessed it: Greece on Parade.

I guess it was Greek Independence Day….at some point last month. And in my infinite American self-centered wisdom, the first thing I thought to myself was, “Greece has an independence day? Independence from what?”

Actually that’s a lie. My actual first thought was: “What the @#$%& is going on?” I can imagine that many people (those of Greek origin not included, sorry) would also be wondering that if they exited Copley only to see first) a bunch of cops, followed by second) a lot of burly men carrying banners from Taxiarchae Archangeles Church, all with amazingly thick black curly hair, wearing white tights and what appear to be dresses, walking down the street to music from a loud speaker being pulled on a flatbed behind a Clydesdale. Or am I wrong and this happens all the time in Boston? You can never really know for sure.

When we were done in the library, we made it outside just in time to see the blue Duck Boat (which they took out of commission for the day and covered in white streamers) followed by yet another mile of small children carrying Greek flags and wearing really authentic clothes (most talking on cell phones, by the way). And we also got to witness an appearance by the Italian American marching band, which I am convince got some dates mixed up or took a wrong turn somewhere. All in all it was a pretty good time, albeit freezing cold.

And for those of you who will inevitably comment on here to show off your knowledge bank of Greek history, “The celebration of Greek Independence Day on March 25th draws inspiration from one of the holiest days for Greek Orthodox Christians, the Annunciation of the Theotokos.” (Damn. It was right on the tip of my tongue.) “This is the day that the Archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear a child. Bishop Germanos of Patras seized the opportunity by raising the banner of revolution, in an act of defiance against the Turks and marked the beginning of the War of Independence. Cries of Zito H Ellas and Eleftheria H Thanatos can still be heard today.” (Unfortunately, I heard no “Zito H Ellas” or “Eleftheria H Thanatos,” but I am determined to practice it for next year’s parade.) To read more about this, go here, as I am sure Hellenic Communication Service, L.L.C. is probably the most reliable source out there.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that bit of history. I certainly did. And this whole thing prompted me to look up the schedule of parades in Boston in 2008, which can be found here. I pretty much cannot wait for the Haitian Day Parade, second only to the Roslindale Parade. Oh Aunt Em, how I miss you. Happy “4th of July.”