Around Vancouver by Dimitrios & Katerina Angelatos
February was a busy month in the Vancouver area for the various Greek societies.
1. The General Assembly of the Senior Citizens of Greater Vancouver was held on the evening of Sunday Feb. 11th at the Greek Orthodox Community of East Vancouver. This is a fairly new society, having only been formed a few years ago. The society currently has about 145 members and about 80 of them showed up for the meeting. A supper was served and elections were held resulting in Michalos Dritsas as president, Alekos Tsoukalas as treasurer and Pantelis Dalahanis as secretary.
This is the second Greek seniors association in Vancouver as there has been one in existence for many years, the Greek Seniors Citizens Society of BC which has its centre on West Broadway Ave. However for many seniors that centre is just too far away for them to take advantage of it. The new society hopes that it will also be able to have its own centre soon but in the meantime it operates out of the church hall at St. Nicholas Church on Boundary Road. Perhaps in a few years we will also see another seniors society established in Surrey to serve the seniors there.
2. On Sunday Feb. 18th the Alexander the Great Association of Northern Greece (Macedonia & Thraki) of BC held their annual membership dinner dance at the Hellenic Community Centre of Vancouver. The evening featured dance performances by the society dancers and the cutting of the pita. Representing the Greek Consul at the event was the Maritime Attache, Apostolos Liourdis. Rev. Demetrios Partsafas also attended.
3. On Tuesday Feb. 21st the Greek Orthodox Community of East Vancouver and the Greek Orthodox Community of Surrey combined their resources to host the annual Gold Plate dinner at the Hellenic Community Centre in Vancouver. This is one of the major fundraisers for both of these communities and has often been referred to as the “stag party” as very few women attend the event. The entrance fee of $200 entitles the ticket holder to a fancy dinner and a chance to win a wide assortment of prizes with the grand prize of a vehicle. A lot of wheeling and dealing goes on as it nears the finale and this year was no exception. Peter Lagios of Chilliwack managed to buy out the four final ticket holders for over $9000 and ended up with the vehicle.
4. The Cretan Association of BC held a membership reception night at the upper hall of the Hellenic Community Centre on Saturday, Feb. 24th. This was an opportunity to pay membership dues for 2007 and to enjoy the evening together with friends. The annual membership includes an annual picnic, Christmas party and dancing for the children.
5. The Greek Senior Citizens Society of BC held its annual dinner dance at the Hellenic Community Centre of Vancouver on Sunday, Feb. 25th. Everyone enjoyed the food, the music provided by Alpha Video and the live band consisting of Yannis Sahamis on bouzouki and Yannis Novakis on guitar. The president of the society Yannis Kapernekas was pleased with the turnout at this annual event which helps to fund the senior citizens centre on West Broadway in Vancouver.
March was also off to a good start for the Vancouver area Greeks
In the upper hall of the Hellenic Community Centre of Vancouver on the evening of Tuesday, Mar. 6th the Hellenic Canadian Congress of BC sponsored a display of pictures taken by the youth of the Greek community. These pictures were taken during Greek Day 2006.
Preparations are also well on the way for the revived annual Greek Day on Broadway on June 24th. The Greek Month/Day Committees held a meeting on March 7th and then on March 14th the committees also held a meeting with the Greek organizations to discuss their participation and to present a progress report. Last year there was a week of displays and activities within the community that culminated in the Greek Day but this year that week has been extended to one month. Hellenic Culture month will include plays, lectures and movies. A highlight will be the Greek Musical Evening & Dinner on June 15th which will feature many local musicians.
PHAROS LECTURE- BYZANTINE HISTORY & CULTURE
Another of the 2006/2007 lecture series presented by PHAROS, the Canadian Hellenic Cultural Society was held at the Hellenic Community Centre on the evening of Monday, February 26th. “Between Greece, Rome and Jerusalem, the Creative Meanderings of Byzantine Culture” was presented by Professor Dimitrios Krallis of the Hellenic Studies programme at Simon Fraser University.
Professor Krallis is a specialist in Byzantine history and culture. He spoke on the life of men and women during the Byzantine period and the intermingling of Classical Greek and Roman traditions and institutions with Christianity.
The Byzantine Empire is actually a continuation of the Roman Empire into its eastern part and therefore is often referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire. The area of Byzantium, on the Bosphorus was colonized by Greeks in the mid-600’s BC, long before Alexander the Great arrived in Anatoli. The area became part of the Roman empire in the 100’s BC and in 330 BC the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople. The Byzantine people called themselves Romans but were actually descendants of the Greeks and various other ancient peoples and they spoke Greek. The Byzantine empire lasted for 1100 years before falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The Ottomans renamed the city Istanbul.
LOCAL AUTHOR RECEIVES AWARD AT WORLD POETRY GALA
The World Poetry group, which meets monthly at the Vancouver Public Library is an organization that brings together Canadian immigrant poets and other artists to provide them a venue for showcasing their work in their native language as well as in English. On Friday evening, February 23rd the group hosted their 6th anniversary gala celebration where Victoria Pascha (Vassiliki Paskalides) was one of the recipients of the World Poetry Lifetime Achievement Award.
The evening consisted of the awards presentations, music, poetry, African heritage displays, fencing and Greek dancing demonstrations. Light refreshments were served and Rev. Dorotheos Tryfonopoulos was there to bless the food. Music was provided by the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, Kostas & Peter Roumeliotis and others. Speakers for the evening included His Worship Sam Sullivan, Mayor of Vancouver and the Honourable Ujjal Dosanjh, MP.
As a child growing up in Greece Victoria Pascha got her inspiration to write poetry and to draw from her mother. When Victoria grow up and immigrated to Canada she tucked her childhood poetry away in a trunk as she was too occupied with family responsibilities. It was not until her children grew up and left home that she finally had the time to devote to her poetry and compiled her earlier writings as well as many new ones into a book, in both Greek and English. She has been an active member of the World Poetry Reading Series for many years and was very pleased with the award from the group.
SYMPOSIUM – HISTORY OF GREEKS & HELLENIC STUDIES
Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University presented a symposium on “The History of the Greek Community of British Columbia and Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University”. It was held on Monday February 26th from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at SFU’s Harbour Centre campus and was by invitation only. Special guests included the Consul of Greece, George Aravositas and Dr. Alkistis Souligianni, director of the Department of International Relations, Ministry of Culture of the Hellenic Republic.
The purpose of the evening was to give an overview of the Hellenic Studies programs during the past year, to show some of the projects Hellenic Studies is working on and to present the DVD on the History of the Greeks that was co-produced by the Hellenic Canadian Congress of BC.
The Hellenic Studies program at SFU has now been in existence for ten years and has grown dramatically over that time. Prof. Andre Gerolymatos, the holder of the Chair in Hellenic Studies teaches modern Greek history while Prof. Dimitrios Krallis, with Hellenic Studies since September specializes in Byzantine history. The Hellenic Studies on-line Greek language program has also been very successful and is expanding. Prof. Panagiotis Pappas who takes care of the linguistic courses is presently in Cyprus doing research on the Cypriot dialect. Aikaterini Gaitanidi has also recently joined the Hellenic Studies team, thanks to the Hellenic Republic’s Ministry of Education and Religion.
Prof. Gerolymatos stated that the impact of SFU’s Hellenic Studies in North America has been substantial. The on-line Greek language program is being offered for the first time at Yale University, at the University of Missouri, soon at the University of Sacramento and the University of San Francisco. All across North America in all the universities there is a total of 1800 students enrolled in Greek language courses. Of those more than 250 take Greek language courses at Simon Fraser University, more than in any of the other universities. Prof. Andre Gerolymatos said the moral and practical supports of the Greek State and the Republic of Cyprus contributed greatly to the expanding coursed offered by Hellenic Studies.
GREEK
FLAG AT CITY HALL
Photos
For many years the City of Vancouver has joined in the commemoration of Greek Independence Day, March 25, 1821 by issuing a declaration honouring the event and by flying the Greek flag at city hall. The Greek flag is usually flown from a small flag pole outside a third floor window facing 12th Avenue. The ceremony at city hall is very low key, usually comprises of only a few members of the Hellenic Community of Vancouver who come to accept the declaration and to give the flag to the mayor.
This year the ceremony took place at about 3 pm on Friday March 23rd. On hand for the ceremony were the mayor of Vancouver, Sam Sullivan, Sven Buemann Chief of External Relations and Protocol for the City of Vancouver, Rev. Demetrios Partsafas of St. George Cathedral, Peter P. Kletas president of the Hellenic Community of Vancouver, George Bonnis president of the Hellenic Canadian Congress of BC, Paul Michael, Kostas Karatsikis of Gnome and Dimitrios Angelatos of Patrides.
Dimitrios Angelatos of Patrides asked why the flag is not flown on a flag pole on the grounds instead of in the window. Sven Buemann answered that there are some flag poles on the ground that have been donated by various organizations and are therefore reserved for those groups. However, he hoped that a special pole would be erected on the grounds to be used to commemorate various ethnic events. Of course it would be fitting to have the Greek flag raised during the Olympic Games as Greece is the birthplace of the Olympics.
Why is the ceremony at city hall so small and almost carried out in secret? Why not make it truly an event to be proud of, one that is open to all Greek organizations. With an outdoor flag pole a special flag raising ceremony could be held on the Saturday or Sunday prior to March 25th when Greeks and others could attend in larger numbers. The ceremonies could include a display of Greek dancing and maybe some singing as well as a few short speeches. A committee should be formed to discuss this with city hall and if need be raise funds to pay for a pole. Community leaders really have no valid reason as to why this could not become a reality by 2010 or perhaps even sooner.
