The history of Greece is multifaceted and has many different important dates on which everyone gathers together to celebrate. Όχι Day was one of the things that I was most excited about after hearing about it when I arrived here. Over the last couple of weeks, I learned a lot about Greek culture and the way that Όχι Day is celebrated. In the following article, I would like to share my experience and knowledge that I got the chance to collect.
Background of the Όχι Day
“Alors, ces’t la guerre”
On the 28th of October in 1940, the Italian Ambassador Emanuele Grazzi handed a document to the Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas coming directly from Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator and an ally of Hitler. At the time, the war between the allies and Germany, Italy and Japan has been going on for over a year. The document, an ultimatum, demanded the free passing of the Italian military from Albania over the Greek border, to invade strategic regions. After the prime minister read the document he turned to the Ambassador and said the famous words: “Alors, ces’t la guerre” when Grazzi told him that the war could be prevented he answered with a simple “Όχι!”(No).
Only a couple of hours later the Italian Military started their attack on Greece, which marks the beginning of the Greco-Italian war. The entry into the Second World War was met with patriotism among the population and the Greeks fought bravely until Italy had no choice but to pull back from the Greek border in the spring of 1941. In the high of their success, Winston Churchill was affirmed in his hopes to win the war and stated: “Today we say that Greek fight like heroes, from now on we will say that heroes fight like Greeks!”[*Quote] In April 1941 however, the German army attacked Greece which led to an occupation that lasted until October 1944.
Since the historic day of the 28th of October, Όχι Day has become a national holiday.
Preparations
Since I arrived on the island over a month ago, I have observed the preparations for the Όχι Day in the schools in all of the classes I get to help in. In the beginning, I didn’t know anything about the holiday and its traditions but over the course of the last month, I had the chance to gather information from the teachers and children about this important day. Out of the 25 lessons I spend in the schools during a week, 9 of them are in the Physical Education class. Since the preparation for the parade took place during these classes, I got to watch the development of the training up close. All of the kids lined up at the back of the football field, three in one row and one person at the front, and walked to the rhythmic whistles of the gym teacher. It took a lot of time, especially for the younger kids, to memorize the steps and not fall out of the rhythm during the walk around the playground. After I have been in the school for some time and got to know the kids and the way they are supposed to march better, I could start helping the teacher correct the kids or just be someone they could look to for guidance. Over time the kids got better and better and the teacher gathered all of the classes together to practice exactly what the real parade would be like. During other classes, the kids practised for the play on the 27th instead of for Math, English or Arts. Once I got the chance to sit in the back and watch the kids get up in little groups, stand in the middle of the room and deliver their lines to the others. The two teachers that were in the room with me corrected them on their volume, posture and pronunciation. When all the kids have said their lines once, they all stood up, formed a circle and sang two different songs. Before that, I have only heard a handful of Greek songs playing when we went out, but hearing the kids sing a beautiful song at the top of their lungs, even though it was in a language I didn’t understand, gave me chills.
27th of October
The 27th started like any other day. Melse and I walked to the school but once we arrived we already saw that none of the kids had brought a backpack. Instead, there were only holding their water bottles and were dressed in their finest clothes. The director then informed us about the play that was going to take place and that we would be responsible for taking the pictures and helping with stacking up the stairs. After some time the 3rd grade arrived in the kindergarten and positioned themselves on the little stage in the auditorium. With time the other classes and some parents and teachers found their way to the small room too, which somehow fit the entire school and more. The play was all about Ochi day and each kid got their moment to talk about the historic event. When the national anthem played at the end, everyone in the room sang along and for me, it was the first time to hear it. It was obvious that the parents were very proud of their kids and then picked them up to leave at around 9.45. At 11 everyone met again at the statue of Afanis Nautis, the missing sailor, in Vrontados. It is a tradition on Όχι Day to lay laurel wreaths at the foot of war memorials to commemorate the fallen soldiers. That is why one class from each school lined up in front of the statue and two students each walked to the front and placed their wreaths on the ground. After playing the national anthem again, the official celebrations for the 27th of October were over.
28th of October
The next day, was the 28th of October, Όχι Day. We volunteers have been excited about this day ever since we found out about it. We were so eager to learn something about Greek culture and history and experience the rituals that are ‘normal’ in Greece. Since it is a national holiday, there was no school which gave us the chance to watch both of the parades happening in our area. By 11 am we were standing on the side of the road with hundreds of other people waiting for the kids, which have been practising for so long, to walk down the road. The first group we saw was the marching band. They were all wearing matching shirts and playing the drums to create a rhythmic sound, which I recognized from the many P.E. lessons. Following the band, all the kids from all the schools in Vrontados marched to their beat. Sorted by school, each class passed us with one person in the front, holding a Greek flag. Other groups such as the boy scouts joined the parade as well. Once the parade was over, everyone gathered on the square in front of the statue, where the ceremony on the 27th took place. Several groups of all ages performed dances and routines and we stood in the circle around them with other proud parents and teachers. When we learned that the big parade in the city already starts at 12, we rushed there in a taxi and had to walk the last part, since most of the roads were closed off for the celebrations. The road where we found a little space to see perfectly was filled with people. Since I have been here, I have never seen that many people in the city. We arrived almost perfectly on time as the first groups walked past us once again to the beat of the marching band. After all of the classes and other groups have marched along the road leading to the port and the water, we saw the military lined up at the top of the little hill that the road leads up to. The first military group played instruments and in the second everyone was holding a flag. Then, hundreds of people from the military walked past us, proudly holding their weapons on their shoulders. For everyone around us, it was just another part of the parade; they celebrated them with applause. Since I am from Germany, I have never really had that experience with our military. We never show them off or don’t openly celebrate them like this because it is strongly negatively connotated. Once the parade was over everyone joined together on the street and we followed the people in the direction of the port. We decided to try a new café of the numerous pretty shops along the water. Sadly we weren’t the only ones with this idea because everyone gathered together to eat with friends and family on Όχι Day. After we found a free table in a café we already grew to love we sat together and reminisced about everything we had learned and seen today.
The celebrations on the 27th and 28th of October marked the first national holiday that we got to experience while living on Chios Island. If you ever find yourself in Greece at the end of October make sure to watch the parades that are held everywhere in the city, you can’t miss them! The biggest ones can be found in Athens or Thessaloniki but the patriotism can be felt all over the country.
