An event celebrating the traditional family and its values took place in two cities simultaneously in Greece last week.
Perperidou Nikoleta, one of the organizers in the northern city of Thessaloniki, told NTD that the Family Pride event, held on July 6, celebrates the traditional Greek family and discusses its problems, such as education, employment, and health care, which have been overlooked in the past decades.
Another organizer, Dimou Maria, told NTD that the event aims to present the “traditional family, our values and traditions of so many years.” On the same day, a similar event was held in the country’s capital, Athens.
“We proudly declare our religion, our physical identity, the sacred institution of the Greek family, and secondly we also want to talk about the problems the Greek family is facing,” she said.
Around 100 people attended the event, including some children, with most people joining the around 40 minute parade afterward. A few were holding Greek flags.
The reaction from onlookers was peaceful but also without showing any positive or negative responses.
The event first appeared in Serbia and Bulgaria and it was the first time it took place in Greece. The organizers, Greek Mothers, an online group, hope to make it annual.
“We also want to proudly declare who we are, and we have reached a point where we feel inferior to how we are treated [by the state],” Ms. Dimou said.
According to Ms. Dimou, the low rate of births and the degradation of the nuclear family are serious problems society faces, with parents being brought to extreme financial conditions. As a result, some people no longer want to form families or have children.
Young people today are feeling confused for yet another reason: the models promoted in media and the arts. Ms. Perperidou said that ” they don’t know their [culture’s] values, and many things start from within the school.”
The event started with a rally, which was under an hour, and was followed by a parade through the city center.
During the rally, Ms. Dimou said, “ We want through this effort to appeal to the state to finally support the Greek family. We want the state to examine the real problems we are facing.”
“We will not allow anymore to have others impose models on us that are foreign to our traditional values, offend common sense, and affect the delicate nature of our children. We will not allow immorality which is presented as progress. We are the normal, and this will not change,” she added.
Father Stylianos, who talked about the virtues of the family from another perspective, was invited to the event. He started with the ancient Athenian rhetoric Demosthenes, who said that “inside the societies of men, everything comes to naught when the country falls to the hands of the most corrupted when immorality reins instead of discipline and virtuous living.”
“They are trying to negate the natural order of the world and substitute this with ideologies,” the priest said.
He then cited the ancient sage Heracleitus, who said, “The Sun cannot exceed the limits of its route.”
He ended his speech by talking about the traditional family, which, according to his view and understanding of traditional culture, is a place where love and peace should reign.