Culture

Greek Culture
In the Ancient Greek culture the men were the ones who ran everything. From government to farming they did it all. They hardly ever spent time at home. But the people at home were hardly ever able to leave. Who were they? They were the women. Women had to stay home and take care of the children and run the household. The only time the women ever left was a couple times a year and it was for religious purposes only.  One building that was important to their culture was the Parthenon. It was used to worship Athena and it housed a gold statue of her inside it. The Parthenon was burnt down by the Persians while still in construction. So they had to rebuild it. Weddings for the Greeks started after dark. The bride traveled to her wedding place in a chariot and her family followed close behind carrying gifts. Friends and family of the couple getting married carried torches that they lit and used to ward away evil spirits. They also played music to ward away spirits too. During the ceremony the bride would eat and apple or other piece of fruit. It symbolizes that food and basic needs would now come from her husband. Gifts to the new couple include mirrors, baskets, jewelry, furniture, vases filled with greenery and perfume.

Greek festivals were usually used to honor gods and goddesses. They had festivals like Aphrodisia in honor of Aphrodite, Panaththenaia for Athena's birthday and Olympieia for Zues. Olympieia is a combination of religious purposes as well as athletic events.  The picture shows the Dionysus Festival that is during the spring. They have multiple ones to honor Dionysus this one most likely is Anthesteria.  At Easter Greeks played a game that involved two players and a red egg. This game is called tsougrisma. The goal of this game is to crack the other players egg before they crack yours. There is no rules about how you tap the egg, hold it or any of that. The only rule is that you HAVE to use the egg to crack the other persons. Whoever cracks the other players egg is declared the winner and is said to have good luck for the year!

By: Brittany

[] [] [] [] []