On the 11th of November, Chios celebrates its liberation from the Ottoman Empire in 1912. As the 11th is a Sunday this year, our schools celebrated already on Friday the 9th of November.
In the first primary school of Vrontados we walked to a memorial nearby, met there the first kindergarten of Vrontados and children placed wreaths in front of the stone plates with an inscription of the liberation and names of important personalities. After that, we had some silent minutes in remembrance of the events. In the end, all the children sang the Greek national anthem. The kindergarten children got handicrafts made by one of our volunteers. It was a hot air balloon with the Chios Island on it and on the basket it said 1912.
In the second primary school of Vrontados the third graders, with help of some fifth graders, presented a play in front of the whole school. They also sang and danced to some traditional Greek songs. Some of the children also wore traditional Greek clothes, of which the Turkish hats were crafted by our volunteers. After that, they were free to play and enjoy the rest of the day.
In the third primary school of Vrontados the children of the third grade performed a play that they had studied the week before to the rest of the school and their parents. Our volunteers helped with the technical aspects and took pictures for the school homepage. After the play, the celebration ended as well with the Greek national anthem and the children were free to go.
On Sunday, the 11th of November we went to the City to watch the big parade. At first, all the different villages of the island presented their traditional costumes. Afterwards, the high schools and the scouts clubs walked along. The parade ended with the police and army. As soon as the parade ended, everybody gathered at the main square and traditional dances were presented. We really enjoyed seeing all the different traditional costumes and celebrating the liberation day.
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