1ST TEXT [from the school book on the course of political and social education]

Customs, customs and traditions of the Greek people

A very important area of our cultural heritage is the customs, customs and traditions of our
people. These words are closely linked and complement each other. Morals are the
perceptions, "unwritten laws" of every society, while the customs are the acts by which
these perceptions are expressed. When customs are constantly repeated from generation to
generation, traditions are created.

On the subject of marriage, for example, morals are perceptions of the happiness and
fertility of the couple. Thus, the custom was created for the bride to break a pomegranate
on the doorstep of her new home and scatter his seeds that symbolize fertility. In general,
with the various customs people were trying to ensure good and drive out evil.

The customs, customs and traditions of the Greek people come mainly from antiquity and
Byzantium and are often associated with the Christian religion. They have also received
influencefrom the various conquerors and from the neighboring peoples. They are, in fact,
closely related to the Home Economy, since they concern the daily lives of man and family.
In particular, they are divided into two categories:

The first is those relating to the so-called cycle of human life, i.e. the three most important
stations of human life: birth, marriage and death. The second category is the customs and
customs associated with the so-called cycle of the year, i.e. people's occupations and
religious celebrations in the four seasons of the year. With all this there are also customs
that are rooted in antiquity, such as the customs of Carnival.

In our time morals still exist, even though many of them are different from those of earlier
times. However, new customs are no longer created, and the old ones are often erased
because of the modern way of life. However, there is a tendency to revive some local
customs, especially the most spectacular ones, usually for recreational tourists. This revival
remains superficial, as the original importance of customs has been forgotten. The fact is,
however, that they survive, because they like and please the modern man.

The Greek folk tradition includes the culture created in the post-Byzantine years and is a rich
cultural heritage. The collection of data on this heritage that is lost day by day and the
rescue of the works of our popular culture are very important. Popular culture can be useful
in many areas and help develop a place in different ways

Knowledge about traditional agriculture and livestock farming can help create organic
products.

- Knowledge of traditional medicine and pharmacy can be useful for the processing of plants
and herbs used in health sciences and grooming.

Knowledge of traditional nutrition can contribute to the creation of workshops of local

traditional food products and restaurants specialized in local traditional cuisine
Knowledge of traditional art can be useful for creating art workshops inspired by tradition.
The material gathered from all this can form the core of a local museum and be presented at
events related to local culture

- Cultural tourism and other forms of mild tourism can be developed and new professional
opportunities for young people can be created.

- Contact with popular culture will give young people a way of life and an aesthetic based on
the measure, harmony and respect of the environment. This can potentially affect their way
of life in this regard.

Questionnaire
1.What are morals?

 established perceptions and values.

 actions carried out following established perceptions

2. What are customs?

 established perceptions and values.

 actions carried out following established perceptions

3.How are traditions created?

 the transmission of customs from generation to generation and their repetition

 the adoption of new perceptions by younger generations
2nd TEXT [from the school book for the course of Modern Greek Literature]

The following short story, first published in 1979 and derived from the Collection of
Adolescents and Non (1982), is closely related to school experiences. He refers to the
philologist's love of folklore, his teaching methodology and the activities he assigns to his
students in order to practice the theoretical knowledge of the course, to come into contact
with their local folk. tradition and love it too.

The year before I was attending a county high school, we had a young philologist with a lot
of appetite for work. He loved the school and the students and we could see that he wanted
to meet not only the inhabitants of the place and their issues, but also everything that had
happened in the place before. In short, he was a living and lovable man and the locals
immediately loved him.

Sometimes, when we went on a field trip, he would have had the children who
surrounded him - and were always surrounded by children - telling stories from around the
place and especially stories about where we had gone on a field trip. It was nice in the fresh
air, in the flowers and in the plants, to hear these stories. They said the various names of the
fields, the rocks, the fountains and even the big trees, and I listened to them in amazement.
They told stories, fairy tales, beautiful jokes, and above all they sang folk songs. They, my
friend, knew their root and the sprouts* of grandfathers to grandfathers, while we well even
knew our grandfather. And the professor in everything, even if he said he was from Athens.
How did he know so many things? Even the children themselves were dismayed by
themselves. How come they remembered all this, where did they get it from, when they'd
learned it and didn't know it? They could hear it, of course, that the grown-ups would say it,
but it was only now that they, when they had to say it, they could see that they had learned.
In fact, they all had learned, and now they're taking from them. Like a treasure of hidden
and horse-made, * that a man's enthusiasm had awakened him.

The professor told us that these ancestral* are of great importance, we must respect them
very much, look at them like our eyes and above all keep them. It's our popular culture, he
said. The ones that suit us perfectly.

And in a short time, when we entered the new Greek class, our professor was in
venting his whole thing. He'd bring us books from his house, read us from the inside. He
used to bring records, tape recorders, slides. As soon as the book lesson was over, he'd give
us screenings to show us places, costumes, houses, and he'd slowly put on the tape recorder
or turntable records with folk songs to listen to. He even encouraged us to follow, and we
were humming and he set the example first. The kids got scared and unashamed. And some
who had a good voice, asked themselves to tell songs of the place. The professor was
thrilled. He even seemed to us for a moment like a tearful man, but maybe he wasn't. While
the others were singing, two or three children, boys and girls danced the song in class
quietly. In the end, we applauded spontaneously and only then did we see our professor
somewhat distressed. "We're going to worry the others," he said. How would he know what
was going on before with some other teachers. What a fuss and what's wrong, and that's
without dances and songs.

And really, taking a break from the questions that the other kids were asking us, we
found that only our applause had been heard. We explained to them and they looked at us
in amazement. "And you don't take a class?" they asked. "Isn't that a lesson?" we answered.
"You, who do a different lesson, what do you know about folk songs, purposes and even
dances? You know this, you know that, you know the other one?" Poor people didn't know
anything, needless to say. But they knew very well from a list, wild or poisonous voices and
tremors.

"Thank you, master!", a classmate of ours told him one day in class, "and he had the
courage. "You made us afraid. We, here, were ashamed of our songs and our customs. They
told us they were junkies* and that, since they don't sing them in discotheques, they won't
be fine." "What do you say, son?" the teacher said, and we saw it clearly. "Who?" Who's
telling you this? Our tradition! Our songs! The holy of the saints." And suddenly his face
became a little wild and distant as if he were seeing in the depths a disgusting enemy, some
monster. We were silenced, but we felt that in our souls this scene was imprinted.

In a few days, after giving us various instructions, he had us pick up from

grandmothers, grandparents and various aunts, songs, fairy tales, addictions. Soon, what
those kids started bringing, it's not said. There was so much excitement that was scattered
that the whole village was talking. "Well done to the teacher! He's a teacher!," they said in
the café. And they thought it was their honor to sit at their table and buy him.

We, in class, every now and then read from them, from the harvest, brought by the
children, we discussed them and some, with the help of the children, we wrote them more
correctly, because some children had not recorded them so faithfully, either because they
could not or because They wanted to make the refined. Although the teacher constantly
stressed to us: "Faithfully, faithfully, as faithfully as you can. It's not your job to fix them."

Well, my position was a little difficult. We were strangers to the place. My father was a civil
servant. I loved these things very much, but what can I write about where? The children
could record them easily, not only because they had relatives to tell them, but also because
they half knew them, so they immediately understood them. But how can I get to the point
so quickly? And so, I confess, I did a little, I suppose, cunning, just to present something to
the professor. I found another, old, readership and copied some folk songs. "The professor
can't know that," I said inside. "Now, this, an entire professor, children's books will
remember?" So I copied them in nice cursive letters. It was some really nice folk songs,
better than the ones the kids were bringing.

But I got pretty worried when one day I saw my notebook, among other things, on the
bench. The professor, as if it was my turn, looked at me a little smiley and said, "Nice songs
of Nicholas Politis, * that you brought us. Now, look, you'll pick up something from the
village. It'll do you good." The other kids were smiling, maybe they didn't understand. Well, I
was embarrassed. But where did the teacher know right away?

But in a moment I was comforted when it was the turn of another child, also a stranger,
from the state. The professor here could no longer contain his seriousness. "But, my child,
what are you brought? She tells him. You didn't understand anything at all. Too bad, in all
the things we've said so far!". And what had happened? Despite all the lessons, dances and
songs, our classmate, who was also my friend - our fathers colleagues - had brought as a folk
song a song by the composer Attik, and specifically the one that says: "The time he was
passing by the organ". And while we were all holding our belly with laughter, some had even
gotten to sing "the organ", the teacher said and said again: "But, my child, where and
where? At least you could bring Maria the Pentagiotissa or "Taco taku my loom", say you're
confused. But that"The time the organ was passing by"? From where? Mystery mega!".

"It's not a mystery, master. The state had this child. Not only does he not know popular
culture, but he can't even learn it. And he did it again, unfortunately, when he took it back."

G. Ioannou, Teen and not, Kedros

Questions about the text

1. How did the teacher cope with tradition and how did the
young students and why?

2. What did the teacher do to change the attitude of his

students?

3. What is your relationship with tradition? Write a small text to

tell your opinion .