Every year on the 28th of October the people in Greece and the Greek communities all around the world celebrate a very special historical moment. In 1940, during the Second World War Benito Mussolini presented a ultimatum, to the Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxa, which demanded Greece allow Axis forces to enter Greek territory to occupy strategic locations. The consequence for not accepting this ultimatum would be war, but even knowing this Ioannis Metaxa still decided to reject this ultimatum. The Greek people supported this decision by going on the streets to protest against the invasion of the Italian troops shouting “OXI” which means “NO”.
Of course this day is also celebrated on Chios Island. For this special date the primary schools, high schools and even kindergartens from every area around the island practice for the different parades on the island. There is also a big parade in the centre of Chios where even the military takes part but this year we decided to watch the smaller parade in Vrontados because we wanted to see the children of the primary schools and the kindergarten where we work at the moment.
Some of us volunteers also helped with the rehearsal of the march in the schools. We tried to help the teachers coordinating everything so the march would look as good as possible on the day of the parade where the children represent their school. Therefore it was even better to see the children on that day showing what they had learned during the past weeks of practicing. Luckily it was a very sunny day and the weather was good so everyone of us could enjoy the parade without getting wet by the rain. The parade itself was very short but all in all it was very nice to see how the children are involved in the celebration of this very special and important historical day.
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