Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-05-05
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HOMES IN ATHENS.
As a Rule They Are clean, But Bare
and ComfortIess.

and Comfortless.
Home life in Greece, particularly in
Athens is peculiar. 1t might almost
he said that there is no such thing.
In Mr.. Duckett Ferriman's book on
Greece and the Greeks" the manners
and customs Of the picturesque Hell
lenes, which are little known to the
average English reader, are described
at length. Mr.. Ferriman states that
the Greeks do not know anything
about the art of making a home.
"One may meet with exquisite clean
liness," he writes, with beautiful
embroidered bed linen scented with
rosemary, but never with what we
mean by coziness. The Greeks are far
less in their houses than we are, and
when they are at home they appear to
spend most Of their time in looking
out of the window. They are not CIV
en- to inviting their friends to their
houses. It Is not that they are. mig
gardly, for they will gladly entertain
you at restaurant at far greater cost
to themselves. But 1t does not enter
irto their ideas to ask you home to
dinner, even after an acquaintance Of
many years.
"They do not ask each other, so 1t
can hardly be expected that they
should make an exception in the case
of foreigners. The cafe Is a second
4.
friends and gossip. That is one reason
perhaps why they dislike country life.
1T offers no alternative to the home;
there the hearth Is the social center,
while in town it Is the cafe. In Ath-
ems those who do not own the house
they dwell in seldom remain long in
the same abode. Two or three years
Is quite a long tenure. Many people
make a point of moving every year.
The imposing facades Of Athenian
houses conceal, for the most part,
bare and comfortless interior, and a
well kept garden is rare. A garden
is not made in year. and person
who changes his residence every
twelve months does not want to be
troubled with much furniture, nor is
he particular as to its arrangement,
seeing that it will be carted away In
a few months.
Home life has no resources for the
Greeks, as it has for US. 1t affords
them little occupation and no amuse-
ment. They like to eat and drink In
crowds, where there Is noise and
movement. Their instincts are too
gregarious to allow them to appreciate
the domestic intimacy which we prize.
"rhe day chosen for marriage In
Greece is usually Sunday, but the day
of all days in the year Is the Sunday
preceding the Christmas feast. 1t is
not fashionable now to be married In
church. In Athens the ceremony takes
place in the house of the brides par
ents A temporary altar Is set up In
the middle Of the room.
AT the conclusion Of the ceremony
the priest and the couple join hands
and walk three times round the altar,
the guests pelting them with comfits.
The most important part of the cere-
mony is the crowning Of the bride
and bridegroom with wreaths OF or
ange blossom; hence a wedding Is
popularly called the crowning.
Love marriages are rare exceptions.
The match is made by the parents
and relatives rather than by the par
ties principally concerned There are
certain established usages which,
though not legally binding, are not to
be contravened with impunity.
Then 1t is considered wrong for
brothers to marry until their sisters
have been wed. Again, girls must
marry in order of seniority. 1t would
not be right for a girl to be married
while she had an elder sister who re-
malned single. The men of a family
are thus naturally anxious to see their
sisters settled, and as dowry Is in
dispensable its provision is often
matter of serious anxiety and the
fruit of great self denial on the part
of the brothers If the parents are
dead.
There are cases in which brothers
have remained unmarried for years
and have devoted all their hard earn
ed savings to the dowries of their sis
ters. Among the poorer classes emf
grafton is resorted to, not infrequently
solely with this object, and many a
dowry comes to q Greek maiden from
across the Atlantic"