Have you ever watched the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3?
Well on Sunday, April 20, my family from Canberra, Queanbeyan, Batemans Bay, Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia came together for our very own big, fat, Greek Easter reunion.
Held at the Hellenic Club of Canberra at 12:30pm, we welcomed 97 people… and that’s only from my pappou Yianni Andonaros’ paternal side!
The Andonaros Family Reunion was a day full of love, laughter, music, food, pride, and emotions. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins from across five generations came together in the one room—it was amazing.
Our Easter kicked off with a buffet featuring lamb, spanakopita, salads, calamari, souvlakia, pastitsio and patates. Relatives also brought homemade sweets, including baklava, ekmek, tsoureki, koulourakia, melomakarona and more.
Tables were adorned with red eggs for cracking, and the room was filled with beautiful pictures of our family near and far. At the heart of it all, was our big family tree.
Reunion in the making
The reunion was sparked by a conversation between my theia Maria Frilingos, and my theia Christina Metohianakis, aiming to reconnect family across Australia.
“This resulted in me sending a message in early December of 2024 to your mum (Chrisoula) and my sisters (Lisa and Chrisoula), theia Christina (QLD), theia Teresa and theia Kathy to see whether they thought a family reunion at Easter would be a good idea, especially since they were on the same year this year,” Maria told me.
“Everyone was in, and we started adding family members to the chat.”
An organising committee then formed involving Maria Frilingos, Lisa Andonaros, Chrisoula Mamatas, my mum Chrisoula Karatzas, Christina Metohianakis, Christina Apostolidis, and Kathy Kambouris.
“We started planning where we’d host it, what type of things we should do, but most importantly how we would speak with our parents, aunties and uncles, to find out about our family history and build a family tree,” Maria said.
“Each person had a role.”
Theia Lisa handled the slideshow and venue, Theia Kathy made invites, Theia Christina M. took photos, Theia Chrisoula was MC, Theia Christina A. liaised with the Adelaide families, my mum gathered family details from Greece, and theia Maria was the secretariat, keeping things on track.
The event
The reunion featured speeches from my theia Chrisoula, a heartfelt presentation by my theia Lisa with videos of relatives in Australia and Greece, and music by my theio George Apostolidis.
After lunch, my cousins Olivia Kambouris and Eleni Metallinos announced a surprise performance of the Limnian dance ‘Kehagias’, inviting all the cousins on the dance floor. The faces of all our family members watching us were priceless.
This day served as a reminder to never forget where we came from, and the sacrifices those before us made to give us a better life.
Finally reuniting
What started as an idea between a few family members turned into an unforgettable event.
“The emotion we all felt hearing about our family history and seeing the joy in our parents’ storytelling was priceless,” Maria said.
“I have loved every minute of this journey and I have no doubt everyone that came felt exactly the same. I hope it is something we will continue as our family continues to grow.”
Theia Christina M. said, “Greek Easter was the catalyst for bringing us all together.”
“The importance of this time within the Greek Orthodox community is fundamental to the way we have all been brought up,” she said.
“It made sense to all of us to tie this important religious time together with our reunion.”
Hopefully this reunion is the first of many to come.
