‘Επέτειος του Όχι’ meaning the ‘No’ Day in English is an annual celebration on the 28th of October. On this day people all over Greece commemorate the rejection of an ultimatum set by the Italian Dictator Mussolini during the second world war. The Greek dictator Metaxis denied the Italian army to enter Greek territory, which caused the participation of Greece in the second world war. In the morning of the 28th citizens all over Greece went on the street shouting ‘oxi’ to express their wish to resist against the Italians.
Nowadays the Oxi day is an annual holiday with student or military parades and family reunions. In the San Markos elementary school of Vrontados preparations for this holiday already started a few weeks earlier. During the PE lesson the children were training for the parade. To the sound of the teachers whistle they tried their best to move simultaneously across the school yard. In the meantime I watched over the students and tried to help them to find the right rhythm. But it is far more difficult to coordinate everyone correctly than one might think. One day before the actual holiday, the ‘oxi day’ was also discussed in the lesson. The children watched little videos that explain the historical background of the holiday, listened to traditional songs and painted little victorious Greek soldiers. One of the teachers told me that they usually have even more activities involving the whole school. But during the last years this was cancelled due to the Covid-19 precaution measurements. Nevertheless everyone was happy that school was already over at 10 o’clock am.
In the morning of the 28th I went to the library on the main road of Vrontados,the starting point of the parade, together with the other volunteers. Unfortunately we had to wait for half an hour since some children were late because of a traffic jam. But finally the ceremony started. Accompanied by traditional music the two elementary schools and also the High-school children were parading along the coastline. Every group was led by a child carrying a big Greek flag and furthermore a group of drummers contributed their part to the celebration. The children wore traditional Greek clothes which means blue trousers with white shirts. Next to the road the families of the students gathered and cheered for them. Then everyone enjoyed the free day with their families and many people had lunch in one of the numerous restaurants!
