Playing Tavli or Backgammon is a very popular Greek habit. Almost every Greek has enjoyed a sunny morning with cold coffee (preferably a frappe) and a round of “Portes” or a summer afternoon with a glass of ouzo accompanied by a “meze” and a round of “Plakoto”.

 

Το τάβλι είναι μία ιδιαίτερα δημοφιλής συνήθεια των Ελλήνων. Σχεδόν όλοι έχουν απολαύσει ένα ηλιόλουστο πρωινό με έναν κρύο καφέ (κατά προτίμηση φραπέ) και μία παρτίδα «πόρτες» ή ένα καλοκαιρινό απόγευμα με ουζάκι συνοδευόμενο με μεζέ και ένα γύρο «πλακωτό».

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It is nearly Christmas and preparations have begun. We decorate our house, and we buy or make sweets. During the Christmas Holiday Season, there are two kinds of cookies you can buy or taste all over Greece: melomakarona and kourabiedes. Maybe you would like to bake those delicious cookies yourself, and get into a Greek Christmas mood?
Below you will find our recipe for baking “kourabiedes”.

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In corona times, it is important to keep your mood upbeat! So maybe some humor can help to forget from time to time the daily negative news we hear?
All this, while improving your Greek of course 🙂
Let us introduce you to well-loved Greek stand-up comedian, actor and screenwriter Lambros Fisfis. Fisfis has gained in popularity thanks to his ability to turn mundane everyday situations into an endless source of laughter through his sarcasm and expressiveness.

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The Greek movie  “Notias” (Greek for “southern wind”) , by Tassos Boulmetis, was released in 2016. A beautiful movie, filmed mostly in “Athens of the sixties” and for sure liked by our students learning Greek!  Below two trailers of the movie with Greek dialogues. We translated the dialogues for you in English, so you can improve your Greek listening skills, while also reading the Greek text or English translation.


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The advents calendar for Greek Easter, is made by Kiria Sarakosti!  A calendar counting down 7 weeks until Easter. It is not easy to translate the Greek “Kiria Sarakosti”, but we propose to call her “Lady-Lent” in English! It is an old tradition in Greece and a way to count the weeks from Clean Monday (the end of carnival) until Easter.
Click on the photo above to also see her 7 legs!


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On the first day of the New Year, in many Greek homes,  the new year is welcomed by opening a pomegranate for good luck. It is also common  to receive  a pomegranate (‘ρόδι’, made of metal, glass or other materials) as a gift in Greece,  to bring good luck ( ‘γούρι”) for the new year.
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A Greek new year’s lucky charm!
Κρεμμύδα, το πρωτοχρονιάτικο γούρι!
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Looking forward to the Christmas Period? Here below you will find information about some Christmas traditions in Greece.
In the meantime, in order to improve your listening skills,  you can click on the button above, where you will find the text in Greek as well as the Audio
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In Greece, many Christmas songs are sung; some are very known all over Greece, and some very specific for every region. However, there is also a song that is internationally known, but of course, in Greece, they sing it with Greek lyrics. Are you ready to learn how to sing “jingle bells” in Greek? Read more

“Traditions” are very popular in Greece, and a Greek wedding has a lot of them! Today, most couples in Greece still choose to get married, although nowadays they usually also  “live together” for a while before the wedding.
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