The Washington bee., 1911-11-11
HOMES IN ATHENS,
As a Rule They Are Clean, but
Bare and COmfOrtIeSS.
PEOPLE LIVE IN THE CAFES.
When They Do Get Into Their Houses
Their Principal Occupation is Look
ing Out of the Windows-The Mar
riaqs Customs of Greece.

Home life in Greece, particularly in
Athens, is peculiar. 1t might almost
be 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
hness," he writes, with beautifully
embroidered bed linen scented wit"
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 10
spend NEST of their time in looking
out Of the window They are not given
to inviting their friends to their
houses. 1t is not that they are mig
gardly. for they will gladly entertain
you at a restaurant at far greater cost
to themselves. But it does not enter
into their ideas TO ask you home to
dinner. even after an acquaintance Of
many years.
'They do not ask each other, so it
can hardly be expected that they
should make an exception in the case
of foreigners. The cafe is a second
home to them. There they meet
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 Athens
those who dc 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. a
bare and cOmfOTtless interior. and a
well kept garden is rare. A garden is
not made in a year and a person who
changes his residence every twelve
months does not want to be troubled
with much furniture, nor is he par
ticular as to its arrangement, seeing
that it viii 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 move
ment. Their instincts are too gregaTi-
Gus to allow them to appreciate the
domestic intimacy which we prize.
THE day chosen for marriage in
Greece is usually Sunday, but the day
Of al 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 ceTe-
mony is the crowning Of the bride and
bridegroom with wreaths of orange
blossom; hence a wedding is popular
" called the crOwning.'
"LOve marriages are rare exceptions.
The match is made by the parents and
relatives rather than by the parties
principally concerned. There are GER
tain established usageS which. though
not legally binding, are not to be con
travened with impunity.
'Thcn it 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-
mained single. The men of a family |
are thus naturally anxious to see their |
sisters settled. and as a dOwry is in |
dispenSable its provision is often a /
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 earned
savings to the dowrieS of their sisters.
Among the poorer classes emigration
is reSOTted to. not infrequently solely
with this object, and many a dOwry
COMES to a Greek maiden from across
the Atlantic"