The “Marti bracelet” or “Marti” is an ancient custom for the beginning of Spring. It is believed it dates back to ancient Greece and it is known all over the Balkans.
The name is derived from the Greek word for the month of March, “Martios”!
From March 1st, it is a tradition in Greece, especially for children, to wear a bracelet made of twisted white and red thread (see photo). The white symbolizes purity, and the red color stands for life and passion.
Children wear the bracelet for the entire month and remove it the last day of March. After taking off the bracelet, they hang it in a fruit tree, so the tree will remain healthy and give many fruits.
However, the custom varies in different areas in Greece. In some regions you can remove the bracelet when you see a swallow returning for spring, so the bird can use the thread to build its nest.
The 1st of March also indicates the beginning of Spring in Greece, and the hope for warm days and a lot of sun. Therefore, especially for young children, wearing the Marti bracelet also means you are protected from the burning sun.
On the 1st of March, do not forget to wish everybody “Kalo Mina” = Enjoy the month of March.
“She was such a marvellous, wonderful woman. Everybody loved her and if you ever met her, you’d know why,” Ismini (Pitsa) Parrett OAM’s husband, Mr Colliss Parrett, tells The Greek Herald.
On Australia Day this year, Pitsa was recognised for her service to community health through exercise therapy and aquatic rehabilitation. Sadly, she was awarded an Order of Australia posthumously as Pitsa had passed away almost one year earlier in February 2020.
To honour the life of this incredible woman, The Greek Herald reached out to her husband, Colliss, and he didn’t hesitate at the chance to speak about his “marvellous wife.”
Meeting Pitsa and Living in London:
Colliss, a former migration officer, was on a posting to the Australian embassy in Egypt when he first met Pitsa and hired her as his secretary. After marrying, Colliss was asked to move to the Australian embassy in London and in November 1964, the happy couple landed in the United Kingdom.
For four years, Pitsa enjoyed living in the city and as Colliss says, she was “making new friends every day.” But eventually, they had to return to Australia by sea on the Italian ship, Galileo Galilei. It’s on this ship where Pitsa did the unexpected.
“The minute we got on the ship Pitsa goes to me, ‘Colliss, I think I’ll go ask the ship captain whether he will allow me to conduct exercise classes.’ And I said, ‘Okay, he can only say no, I suppose,” Colliss tells The Greek Herald.
Ismini with her husband, Colliss. Photo supplied.
“The captain agreed and gave her a pretty big room. On the first day, one woman turned up. The second day, two. The third day there were four. On the fourth day there were about seven and after about a week, the place was full. There were about 20 women doing Pitsa’s exercises.”
On arrival in Australia, Pitsa was able to continue her exercise classes in school and church halls across Canberra for a short time, before the couple returned to London two years later for Colliss’ job. Eventually, they returned to Australia permanently in the late 1960’s to early 1970’s, had twins (their daughter Melinda and son Marcel), and never looked back.
Making waves in the fitness industry:
After finally calling Canberra home and giving birth to her children, Colliss says Pitsa was determined to go back to work.
“Pitsa says to me, ‘I’m going to look after my kids, but I’ve got to go to work and I’m going to get someone to help look after them.’ We ended up employing an English lady who was retired and off Pitsa went,” Colliss says with love in his voice.
“Pitsa was a good woman. She looked after the kids, but she made sure she went back to work.”
Pitsa started her own full-time business as an exercise therapist and fitness instructor. The business was run from the couple’s home, which had been upgraded to ensure women were able to exercise with no interference or obstruction.
“Eventually the word spread and Pitsa was highly successful there. She used to have two to three classes a day and then we decided to extend. We put a heated swimming pool in, a sauna and a little sunspot area,” Colliss explains.
“It was so ideal and you know, she just kept getting bigger and better and more loved by her family and I.”
Pitsa’s lasting legacy:
Pitsa got so big and loved in fact, that she was later offered a job as an Instructor of Aquatic Rehabilitation, Aerobics, Aqua-Aerobics and Pilates at the Australian Institute of Sport. In this role, Pitsa came across some inspirational people, including a young man who wasn’t easy to forget.
“There was a young boy who was brought in by his mother and she goes, ‘I’ve heard how good you are Pitsa and I want you to please help my son.’ He was in a wheelchair. Pitsa said yes, of course,” Colliss says.
Ismini was ‘loved by everybody,’ her husband says. Photo supplied.
“… Pitsa got him in the water and slowly, slowly, after he’d been with her for about 14 months, he got better and he went back to work and didn’t have to come to her classes anymore.
“But one day, a few months later, Pitsa was conducting one of her classes and he walks in, goes straight to Pitsa and says, ‘I have no way of thanking you except to give you these two things.’
“He gave her a massive box of chocolates and the biggest bunch of flowers you’ve ever seen and later said, ‘I have no way to repay you, but I will love you for the rest of my life’.”
It’s clear that Pitsa had a lasting impact on all those around her and it’s for this reason that her passing last year left a gaping hole in not only the local Canberra community, but also the fitness and exercise therapy industry.
“There were 240 people at Pitsa’s celebration of life, nearly all her customers. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Colliss says.
“She was unbelievable, that woman. She wanted to do the thing she loved and always found a way to do it. I was so proud of her and honestly, everyone loved her.”
Sokratis Papastathopoulos will have the chance to see his former Arsenal teammates again, this time in less friendly circumstances as Olympiakos draws Arsenal in the Europa League last-16.
Almost one year ago today, Olympiakos pulled off a stunning last minute equaliser against Arsenal to proceed through the next stage of the Europa League. This year, the Gunners will be seeking revenge.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos spent two and a half years in England, forming close relationships with Arsenal players Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who he spent many years with at Borussia Dortmund, as well as Mesut Ozil before his departure from the club.
This will be the first time the Greek will have to defend against Aubameyang in a professional match after having played with the Gabonese player for up to seven years.
Speaking about the matchup on Olympiakos TV, Sokratis said he believes it will be a “difficult game”.
“This game is something special [for me]. I believe it will be a difficult game.”
“Arsenal is a very big team. [Since the last game] They have the same coach with two or three new players, it’s a team with very high quality but we also have points that we can hit.”
Last year, Olympiacos striker El-Arabi netted a dramatic late winner in extra-time to knock Arsenal out of the Europa League. Aubameyang missed a close opportunity in the six yard box at the 120+4′ mark, putting the shot wide and drawing their Europa League campaign to a close.
At the previous tie in Greece, Sokratis spoke about how proud he felt to play on home soil, despite playing for an opposition team.
“Twelve years later I returned to a Greek stadium. Even as an adversary, even as a “stranger” it was a special experience for me that filled me with special emotions. In my football career up until now, moments have been important to me. So I lived and yesterday at such a moment to fight against a Greek team. I only hold what was generous to me as a whole. Some small disagreements just stay out of touch with me!!!”
Now on Greek soil, Sokratis will feel even stronger to prevent his former teammates from scoring and bring Olympiakos closer to a Europa League title.
It’s been an extremely rocky 365 days for citizens of the world, but for Greece, today marks one year since the first reported case of COVID-19 in the country.
Late at night on February 26 (Australian morning of the 27th), Professor of Infectious Diseases Sotiris Tsiodras held an emergency televised briefing with the Ministry of Health.
They reported that a Greek woman who recently returned home from northern Italy had become Greece’s first coronavirus case. The Health Ministry had already closed one school in Thessaloniki, yet did not immediately introduce any travel restrictions to Italy.
“She is in good health and is being monitored by a team of exceptional colleagues in Thessaloniki,” Sotiris Tsiodras told the news briefing.
Greece was quick to shut all carnival festivities.
So early in the COVID-19 pandemic, contact tracing was a more more difficult process. Despite this, the Ministry of Health still managed to identify 10-15 people the patient had been in touch with, placing them in quarantine.
Day by day, more people were infected as the virus spread across Greece. By February 29, there were a total of seven confirmed cases.
Greece was applauded by other countries for their safe and strict control of the virus from early on. They had decided to close all carnival events, despite only recording two cases at the time, and quickly shut all educational institutions.
Sotiris Tsiodras was labelled Greece’s ‘Coronavirus hero’, helping avert the tragically high infection and death rates seen in Italy and Spain. Italy’s La Figaro newspaper has called him the “new darling of the Greeks,” while Greece’s Ekathimerini publication named him the most popular person in Greece, after a poll conducted for Alpha TV.
The pandemic is believed to have originated in a market selling wildlife in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2020. It has since infected 113 million people and killed more than 2.5 million.
Professor Vrasidas Karalis, from the University of Sydney, will present an online lecture entitled “Did the Greek Revolution of 1821 really happen? Myths, counter-myths and historical knowledge’, on Thursday 4 March 2021 (7.00pm), as a part of the 2021 Greek History and Culture Seminars series, offered by the Greek Community of Melbourne.
The significance of the Greek Revolution of 1821 has never been questioned and all historiographical tradition persistently explores the realities around its impact of modern Greek nationhood. Recently, a debate has erupted amongst historians about the contribution of the Revolution to the creation of the Greek state and nation.
Originally this seminar was planned for the mezzanine level of the Greek Centre however the University of Sydney has placed interstate travel restrictions on its staff. It will only be delivered online.
Certain historians claim that it was the ultimate outcome of a long process starting with the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 and others suggest that it was due to the influence of the French Enlightenment and French revolution. The debate implies the underlying political conversation about the construction of the Greek nation and its historical identity.
The paper wants to address such vexing issues and attempts to propose a solution to questions of constructivism vis-à-vis historicism in the knowledge and interpretation of the past. The Greek revolution is the ultimate example and field of knowledge that could be used as a template to explore the perception of the history both as narrative and lived reality. The paper also discusses some rather overlooked interpretations of the Revolution with special emphasis on Arnold Toynbee.
Professor Vrasidas Karalis holds the Chair of Sir Nicholas Laurantos in Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies at the University of Sydney. He works in the area of Greek Cultural Studies since the Byzantine and Modern periods. He has published extensively with special emphasis on Byzantine historiography, Modern Greek political life, Greek Cinema, Balkan culture, European Union and Greece.
His main publications in English include, A History of Greek Cinema (Continuum 2012), Realism in Greek Cinema (I.B. Tauris, 2017), Recollections of Mr Manoly Lascaris (Brandl & Sclesinger, 2007), The Demons of Athens (Brandl & Schlesinger, 2013), Reflections on Presence (re.Press, 2016) and The Glebe Point Road Blues (2020). He has also edited the collections Cornelios Castoriadis and the Project of Radical Democracy (2013), Martin Heidegger and the Aesthetics of Being (2008), Power, Justice and Judgement in Hannah Arendt (2012).
A court in Athens has ordered the former director of Greece’s National Theater remanded in custody after he appeared before a public prosecutor for several hours to respond to child abuse allegations.
Prominent Greek actor and director Dimitris Lignadis, 56, who denies the charges, was ordered held in jail in the early hours of Friday, defense lawyer Alexis Kougias said in a statement.
Under Greek law, suspects are not identified unless exceptions are made to serve the public interest or they identify themselves. Kougias has identified Lignadis as his client in the case, and said he will appeal the temporary custody decision.
According to reports, Lignadis is accused of rape by two men who were minors when the alleged events occurred in 2010 and 2015. He has denied any wrongdoing.
He resigned in early February as the artistic director of Greece’s National Theater amid reports of the accusations.
The case against Lignadis has triggered a major political dispute, with opposition parties calling for the ouster of Greece’s culture minister, arguing she responded too slowly to the allegations. The actor-director was appointed in 2019 by the current government.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised changes to laws and labor regulations to combat sexual abuse and misconduct amid a nationwide debate on the issue.
Speaking in parliament, Mitsotakis said his center-right government would introduce tougher sentencing guidelines, propose changes to statute of limitation rules for cases involving minors and create an agency to deal with claims of abuse in workplaces and organized youth activities.
The Greek War of Independence. The Greek Uprising. The Greek Revolution. Three different names, all commemorating and celebrating the same event.
On March 25, 1821, the Greek revolt against the Ottoman Empire began, signalling Greece’s rise to freedom.
As Greek nationals and the Greek diaspora celebrates across the world, it is the children of first and second generation Greeks in Australia that will experience a new feeling of patriotism and honour.
To encourage Greek Australian children to learn more about this incredible piece of Greek history, The Greek Herald will be hosting a new competition:The Greek War of Independence through your eyes.
It’s hard to imagine what Greeks at the time of the revolution felt, yet we can bring their spirits to life on canvas or paper.
For this competition, participants will be required to submit any piece of writing or artwork that conveys the history of the Greek War of Independence.
You can submit your artwork of the Battle of Valtetsi, write a diary entry from the perspective of one of the heroes or a summary of the eight-year war.
Like our competitions in the past, submissions written in Greek and English will be accepted for the competition.
The finalists will be separated into different age group categories, with a special prize awarded to the first place winner of each age group.
Prizes for each age group:
School year 5 to 7
Winner: $100 Westfield Voucher and work published in The Greek Herald’s March 25th Edition and on our digital platforms.
School year 8 to 10
Winner: $100 Westfield Voucher and work published in The Greek Herald’s March 25th Edition and on our digital platforms.
School year 11 and 12
Winner: $100 Westfield Voucher and work published in The Greek Herald’s March 25th Edition and on our digital platforms.
How to enter:
Send through your submissions by Thursday, 18th March 2021, 17:00 AEST, with the title “Submission – The Greek War of Independence Competition” to the Greek Herald email address at: greek@foreignlanguage.com.au.
In the body of the email please include your name, age, school and preferred contact number.
Winners will be announced on Thursday March 25th, 2021 by 19:00 AEST.
Get creative and help us commemorate this significant part of Greek history!
Marrickville has been home of the Cretan Association of Sydney and NSW since its foundation in 1959. After 62 years, the contribution of Marrickville’s Greek community to Australian society is being recognised with the formal renaming of the precinct to ‘Little Greece’.
The decision was announced by Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne on February 10, who said it is about, “respecting our migrant heritage and continuing to build our multicultural future.”
“To all the Greek Australians who have built Marrickville into one of the best places on earth we say simply, Efharisto,” the mayor said in a Facebook post.
Speaking to The Greek Herald, Cretan Association President Terry Saviolakis said he hopes the decision will make Greeks even prouder of Marrickville.
“I’m glad that they’ve named it little Greece because it recognises all the hard work of a lot of the early settlers, the Greeks and particularly our members as well, that came and set up businesses and established the area as what it is today,” Saviolakis said to The Greek Herald.
“A lot of our members would have come in the 50s, 60s, 70s to Australia. So it’s recognising their hard work when they first came here, really just establishing the area.”
Prior to the final announcement, the Cretan Association of Sydney and NSW wrote to the Inner West Council’s councillors, proclaiming that they were “delighted to hear” of the creation of a new Greek precinct.
“They lived in the area, went to school in the area and established businesses in the area which had a lasting impact on the area’s growth and multiculturalism,” the letter wrote.
“The creation of this precinct will formally recognise the long-standing contributions of Greek- Australians in the Inner West.”
The Council will submit an application for ‘Little Greece’ to be added to the Geographical Names Board. The precinct will be established on Marrickville Road between Livingstone Road and Victoria Road.
The precinct will be celebrated on March 25, in conjunction with Greek Independence Day, which this year marks its 200th anniversary. The idea is to have local residents, community groups and businesses come together, along with Sydney’s Greek leaders, at Marrickville Town Hall to celebrate it’s launch.
“I wish to thank everyone in the Marrickville and broader Inner West community for all their hard work in seeing ‘Little Greece’ realised. Special thanks need to go to Councillor Sam Iskandar, who first approached me with the idea for this precinct,” Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne concluded after the decision was passed.
The NPL NSW Women’s competition doesn’t kick off until the first week of April, but the Sydney Olympic FC Women’s side are more than prepared to go all the way this year and secure a Women’s championship.
Sydney Olympic made the finals series last season, yet were narrowly defeated by eventual NPL-W champions Manly United. Despite the finals loss, the girls finished second on the table and showed incredible persistence throughout the season.
Speaking at the Sydney Olympic FC official season launch on Monday, Women’s coach George Beltsos said preparations are well-underway for the season ahead.
Sydney Olympic FC Men’s and Women’s coaches. Photo: The Greek Herald
“Preparations have been great, obviously we haven’t got a lot of our players at the moment…. But a lot of younger players coming up into our first grade group and give them a chance to develop and be the best they can be,” Beltsos said.
Asked by event host Simon Hill if the pandemic has posed a problem during pre-season, the head coach said the women have been largely unaffected and are training as normal.
“I want to help players be the best they can be and also look forward and try get them into that Matilda’s squad in the next couple of years. Also for the club we want to win championships, stay undefeated and win every game.”
Sydney Olympic FC Women’s. Photo; Peter Oglos/The Greek Herald
Sydney Olympic women’s captain Teresa Polias is currently making headlines in the W-League with Sydney FC, keeping the Sky Blues at a safe first-place lead, but Teresa said she is excited to finally return and captain Olympic again.
“In between W-League, fixture changes and work, I haven’t thought about it (upcoming season) too much, but tonight is a nice reminder and it’s nice to see everyone,” Polias said on Monday.
The team will be marking their third season of participation in the NPL-W top division.
“We’ve built for two seasons, the experiences and culture building, we’re improving really well,” Polias said.
Sydney Olympic FC captain Teresa Polias with board member Damon Hanlin. Photo: Sydney Olympic FC Facebook.
“People want to come and play for us, if you look around we have a squad full of great players and great people too so I think the experience we got from the past two seasons will only help us this season. So I think it’s going to be a big one and definitely we can go a step further.”
Teresa also received a round of applause for reaching 150 W-League games with Sydney FC, the only female player to reach this milestone for any club in the game so far.
The first Sydney Olympic NPL-W match is scheduled for Sunday, April 4, at Valentine Sports Park.
One of Australia’s biggest lightweight boxers George “Ferocious” Kambosos Jr will finally be returning to the ring to fight Teofimo Lopez in massive $7.6 million (AUD) deal offered by streaming platform Triller.
George Kambosos Jr was set to fight the current unified lightweight world champion, with arrangements being made as to which company would be promoting the fight. Matchroom and Top Rank reportedly offered $3.5 million and $2.3 million (USD) to promote the fight, yet a stunning $6 million (USD) bid by Triller trumped both companies.
The upstart tech company previously promoted the exhibition match between former heavyweight champions Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr as a pay-per-view attraction. According to reports, the fight generated more than 1.6 million buys.
The bidding process staged by the IBF stated that Lopez, as the champion, would receive $4 million (US), with Kambosos and his team receiving $2 million (USD), minus promotional expenses.
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) officially ordered Lopez Jnr to defend his belt against the unbeaten Kambosos in January 2021. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald following the announcement, Kambosos said he was pushing for the match to be held in Australia.
George Kambosos Jr. Photo: Supplied
“I really want it. A lot of people don’t want to fight Lopez. But this mandatory is good. I really want this fight, I truly believe I will win this fight,” Kambosos said last month.
Kambosos is currently on a 19-0 win streak, last winning his fight against Selby and Mickey Bey in December, 2019, at Madison Square Garden on the Terence Crawford card.
Kambosos added that he thinks the world title fight will give him a chance to “become the first and the greatest fighter in Australian history.”
