Festa della Repubblica - 75 years

The Italian Republic was born 75 years ago on June 2, 1946. It was on that day the Italian people voted to abolish the monarchy and establish a Republic at the end of WWII.

The ceremonies take place in Rome and among others, it includes the deposition of a wreath to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The holiday is also celebrated by a military parade in Via Dei Fori Imperiali the which goes through ancient forums and the Colosseum.

The President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella gives a speech commemorating the event.

The Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi also addresses the Nation.

An airshow of fighter jets flies over leaving trails of green, white, and red smoke (known as Frecce Tricolori), the colors of the Italian flag.

The ceremonies opened this year at the magnificent Altare della Patria in Piazza di Venezia.  The festivities begin with the Italian National Anthem known to the Italians as Inno di Mameli or Il Canto degli Italiani which was written by Goffredo Mameli and set to music by Michelle Novaro in 1847.

Viva Italia!

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexico's victory at the battle of the Puebla on May 5, 1862.   The victory of the smaller Mexican army against the larger French forces was a boost to the morale of the Mexicans. The city of Puebla marks the event with an arts festival,  with exhibits of local cuisine and with re-enactments of the battle.

The day is mostly celebrated in the United States and is associated with Mexican culture.

Cinco de Mayo celebrations began in California where have been observed annually since 1863.

Cinco de Mayo is often mistaken for Mexico's Independence Day which is celebrated on September 16th.   It was in 1810 Miguel Hildago, a Spanish Catholic priest gave his famous speech Grito de Dolores and initiated Mexico's revolt that lasted till 1821 when Mexico obtained its independence from Spain.

Easter Sunday; 1916

It was on Easter week in 1916 the Easter Rising also known as Easter Rebellion, an armed insurrection started in Ireland on its path towards independence from British rule.  Although the rebellion was crushed after a week of fighting, the Rising and the British response led to greater popular support for Irish independence.

The Irish War of Independence was fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 mostly between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the British forces.

On November 211920,  also known as Bloody Sunday, fourteen British intelligence operatives were assassinated, then members of the Royal Irish Constabulary fired on the crowd at a Gaelic football match, killing fourteen civilians and wounding sixty-five.  A week later,  the IRA killed seventeen as a reprisal.  In December of that year, the center of the city of Cork was burned out.  Violence continued to escalate over the next seven months, during which time approximately 1,000 people were killed.  Much of the fighting took place in Munster and the cities of Dublin and Belfast which together saw over 75 percent of the conflict's deaths. 

A ceasefire began on July 11, 1921.  The talks that followed led to the signing of the Anglo-Irish-Treaty also known as the Treaty on December 6, 1921.  The Treaty provided for the establishment of an Irish Free State as a self-governing dominion within the community of nations of the British Empire.  This ended British rule in most of Ireland and, after a ten-month transitional period the Republic of Ireland was created on December 2, 1922, while Northern Ireland remained within the United Kingdom.

The Republic of Ireland is currently a peaceful and thriving nation.  Dublin its capital is known for its beautiful and vibrant downtown.

Picture of Scrafton street. 

Ireland has outstanding institutions of higher learning as the historic Trinity College that was established in 1592 and modeled after the collegiate universities of Cambridge and Oxford.  Trinity College is the most prestigious university in Ireland and is among the most elite universities in Europe.  Its library which was also established in 1592 has over 6 million books and documents.  One of the most notable exhibits is the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the Four Gospels of the New Testament dated c. 800 AD.

Dublin's Castle is a major administrative and historical complex that is open to the public also is the site where the inauguration of Ireland's President takes place.   The Republic of Ireland is currently a member state of the European Union.

                                                            Fada beo an Éireann!

Greek War of Independence; 200th year anniversary

The Greek War of Independence led to the establishment of a national state for the first time in Europe.  It was in 1814 that several young Greek intellectuals of the diaspora formed a secret society called Filiki Eteria (Society of Friends).  One of its leaders was Alexander Ypisilantis.  He and his brother Dimitrios Ypsilantis played major roles in the revolution that started in 1821.

Battle scene from the Greek War of Independence by Georg Perlberg.

Today, March 25th, Greek Independence Day, our country will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the revolt against the Ottoman Empire.  It was on that day, the day of the Annunciation, Greeks swore to "fight or perish" in 1821.  Four hundred years had elapsed since the Ottoman Turks had conquered Constantinople and brought the end of the Byzantine Empire.

  As in every revolt, many battles were important but the Siege(s) and Exodus from Missolonghi were renowned for their heroism.  Although most Greeks, men, and women perished, their sacrifice raised strong feelings among Europe's philhellenes the most notable of whom was Lord Byron who moved to Greece joined the revolution lived and died in Missolonghi.

Two of the protagonists in the struggle to establish the new country of Greece were; Theodoros Kolokotronis (1770-1843) the commander-in-chief of the Greek forces in Peloponnese or Morea and Ioannis Kapodistrias (1776-1831) a distinguished statesman and diplomat who had served as the Foreign Minister of the Russian Empire.  Kapodistrias was elected as the first Head of State of the newly independent  Greece.  He found a country that was totally destroyed.  In his brief tenure, he instituted reforms to modernize the country and jump-start its moribund economy.  He was assassinated on September 27th, 1831.

  Although most of the rebels were men, I will mention two women, Laskarina "Bouboulina" Pinotsi and Manto Mavrogenous who contributed as much to the cause as any of the men.  It was Bouboulina who raised the first flag of the revolution on the mast of her ship.  Mavrogenous was a wealthy and well-educated woman who spent her entire estate for the cause and died penniless.

Land battles were important but it was in the sea battles that Greeks excelled.  Konstantinos Kanaris (1790-1877) contributed his ship to the Greek Navy and achieved fame because of his effective use of fire-ships.  In 1822 he blew up the Turkish admiral's flagship.  In the years that followed he burned several Turkish ships off the coast of Asian Minor and the Eastern Aegean islands.  In addition to Kanaris, several other seamen such as Miaoulis, Koudouriotis, and Bouboulina managed to cut the supply lines from Turkey to their forces fighting against the rebels in the Greek mainland thus helping immensely the outnumbered and outgunned Greeks succeed against superior forces and win their freedom.

Painting of Burning of the Turkish Frigate by Constantine Volanakis

The revolt lasted between 1821 and 1830.  As in every revolution, many battles and events took place but the sea battle that concluded the war took place in the bay of Navarino where the naval forces of France, Brittain, and Russia defeated the Ottoman fleet following which the new country of Greece was born.

Ζητω η Ελλας!

Painting of the sea battle of Navarino by Ambroise Louis Garneray (1827)

Halcyon days

Halcyon days, a period when storms do not occur derived its name from Alcyone (Αλκυονη in Greek), who was the daughter of Aeolus, God of winds.  When Alcyone's husband fell in the sea, in a shipwreck, she threw herself into the sea whereupon the Gods transformed them into halcyon birds (kingfishers).  When Alcyone made her nest on the beach, waves threatened to destroy it, but Aeolus kept his winds calm so she could lay her eggs.  It was these calm periods that became known as the "halcyon days".  It is a period of 7 to 14 days when storms do not occur or it denotes a period that is remembered for its happiness.  I wish you all dear friends, many Halcyon periods, in your lives.

Picture of seagulls flying near the islet of Rafti by Kostas Fotos. 

2013-2021; a Travelogue

In the past 7 years, I uploaded 202 posts in my blog Cross Country Chronicles.  As this is the first post of 2021 and maybe the final of this series that started with a trip, I took with my son John, from Orlando to San Francisco to Chicago and on to our starting point Columbus, Ohio.  Also, it included among others the remarkable crossing from Spain to Greece on my brother Nikos 29-foot sailboat Okyrhoe.  The trip from Florida to California and back to Ohio is described in 55 posts in January and February 2014.

The trip from Spain to Greece is described in 23 posts from August 2015 to July 2016.  There are many individuals from my immediate family, and those who love and care about me, to friends I love dearly, to professional associates at places where I lived and worked, and all those who encouraged and inspired me to write.  I want to thank and express my gratitude to all and wish them a good a pleasant trip in their lives.  The pictures in this post are from Porto Rafti, the beautiful little bay, I have made my domicile while in Greece.

                                                                       The three pictures in this post were taken by my brother-in-law Kostas Fotos.

Greek Yogurt

 

Yogurt first appeared during the Neolithic period.  It is probable that the earliest yogurt was made by accident from fermentation of milk in Mesopotamia around 5,000 BC.  Yogurt was well-known food in Ancient Greece and Rome.  The cuisine of Ancient Greeks included a dairy product called Oxygala (Οξυγαλα) which is sour milk.  The Greek physician Galen mentioned that Oxygala was consumed with honey in a similar way Greek yogurt is eaten today.  Yogurt played and still plays a major role in the Mediterranean cuisine today.

Milking a cow painting.  Ancient Egypt c2371-2350 BC. Getty image.

There is folklore linking the consumption of milk to longevity.  In fact people in the Bulgarian village of Momchilovtsi, which is perched on the slopes of Rhodope mountains near the border with Greece claims many centenarians and many locals believe that this is due to large quantities of cultured milk products the they consume.  It was in 1905 the Bulgarian microbiologist Stamen Grigorov at the age of 27 discovered in Geneva the bacterium Lactobacillus Bulgaricus, which ferments milk to yogurt.  A major impetus to yogurt's recent popularity was because in 1904, the Russian scientist Ilya Metchnikov who was working at the Pasteur Institute in Paris published his theory about the health benefits of yogurt for which he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1908.

Ingredients

1.5 liters of pasteurized whole milk, 2 tablespoons of yogurt with active cultures

Preparation

Place the milk in a pot and heat it to 120° F or 50° C.

In a separate cup or bowl, mix two tablespoons of yogurt, that has active cultures with milk until the yogurt is totally dissolved.  Add it to the pot with the heated milk and stir it well.

Pour the milk into a Pyrex glass container or glass jars, cover it and wrap it in a warm towel and place it in the oven.  Turn the oven light on and leave it for 8-10 hours.

Place the glass container in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours and your homemade yogurt will be ready.  To make the Greek variety, strain the yogurt with a cheesecloth to consistency you enjoy.  When you strain the yogurt, you get, liquid whey, a protein rich liquid. If you strain nearly all the liquid from the yogurt, you get a soft Greek cheese called Anthotyro which is very tasty.  In summary from milk you can make home-made yogurt, liquid whey, Kefir and cheese.  Enjoy!