No, I'm not referring to the old Steeleye Span album, but rather to the medieval custom from which it took its title. I got to thinking about this expression the other evening when we were enjoying yet another superb, healthy and ridiculously cheap meal at Psitopolis, at 88 Mihali Petridi street, out on the south-western edge of the town. As per usual, the place was buzzing, but we were able to find a table and ordered their wonderful (best we've ever tasted anywhere) oven potatoes, a green salad (which consisted of chopped lettuce, caper berries, cucumber, green peppers and green olives), a portion of grilled Halumi, and a 500ml bottle of Retsina. We ate our fill and the bill was about €12. As usual, too, we found ourselves comparing this food with a UK portion of heart-attack food, as in [battered] fish and chips, which would have cost us twice as much, plus a few years off our lifespans too.
It was while we were chomping away that I sort of studied a party of Greeks sitting behind my beloved. There were eight of them, evidently comprising four couples. What attracted my attention as I looked over my wife's shoulder wasn't the fact that the men were tucking into seriously large amounts of grilled meat (this is meant to be Sarakosti, isn't it?), or even the fact that the table was crammed with Coca Cola cans (surely would have been beer if this had been in the UK). No, it was the fact that the four chaps were sitting at one end of the table and the girls the other.
I've noticed this before when dining out with a fairly large group of our Greek friends a while back. We must have numbered around fourteen, and we too were a bunch of couples. The only reason why I ended up sitting beside my beloved on that occasion was because, more by luck than judgment, we were sitting in the centre of the long party, which had joined several tables together to accommodate all of us. To my left sat all the blokes, whilst to my right, starting on my side of the table with my wife, sat all the women. I remember, as we filed into the restaurant, noticing that the Greeks separated into men and women almost without thinking about it. There was I thinking that we'd all sit man/woman-man/woman around the table, but I was quite wrong. Before I knew it, the girls were immersed in a furious chat and the men were doing likewise, but at opposite ends of the table, and with little interplay between the two groups.
I haven't done any research on this, but can only assume that it's a throwback to the cultures of old times, when men were considered socially higher than women. Like I've said before on this blog, I'd been surprised a couple of years ago when we attended a gathering of probably thirty or so friends down in the village of Kattavia. When the call went out for everyone to tuck into the buffet, all the women remained seated and waited until the men had gone and piled their plates up first. It didn't sit easy with me, being, as I am, more accustomed to us chaps deferring to the women to go and get their food first at such social gatherings.
There we go, I suppose. It's something that we as guests in the country don't have the right to question or criticise. it's just that I do recall that in medieval Britain, when banquets were held, the salt was placed mid-way along the banqueting table and the gentry would sit "above the salt" and the more lowly hoi-polloi diners "below the salt."
See, "Hoi polloi" - now there's another expression that, up until I came to write this post I hadn't realised comes from the Greek. Go have a look at this link and you'll see what I mean.
Anyway, it's not something that gets me up in arms or anything, I'm merely passing an observation. But it does, I suppose, demonstrate that much of Greek culture, even in 2019, when they've all got smartphones and every café and restaurant has wi-fi, when they drive modern cars and watch smart TVs, much of Greek society, and its mores, still shows links with times long past.
Some aspects of this are positive anyway, like the close family ties that still result in a generally safer society (especially in rural areas) than is to be found in many of the more 'developed' countries of Europe. Others are perhaps still capable of influencing the thinking of people in a perhaps negative way. I mean, it's still difficult for women to deal with men in many situations over here. There are still a lot of men who don't find it comfortable dealing with women in 'official' scenarios, like when a woman wants to make a business contract for example. If a women goes to the local Dimos to complain about the state of the road where she lives, or the street lighting, or the rubbish collection, if it's a man she has to interact with, very often he'll find it goes against the grain to be dealing with a female.
Of course, changes are coming, as is the case with every country and culture. Plus, like I said, I'm not losing sleep over such things. But when you observe the way society works here, as an Englishman, it's still almost weird to experience first-hand, social intercourse that reminds me of times long gone in the world where I was brought up.
If you're out for a meal any time soon here in Greece, see if you notice any large social groups out dining together. Greeks I mean of course, not tourists. I'd be interested to see if you spot the phenomenon I'm talking about.
Right, I'm tucking in. Pass the salt will you?
It was while we were chomping away that I sort of studied a party of Greeks sitting behind my beloved. There were eight of them, evidently comprising four couples. What attracted my attention as I looked over my wife's shoulder wasn't the fact that the men were tucking into seriously large amounts of grilled meat (this is meant to be Sarakosti, isn't it?), or even the fact that the table was crammed with Coca Cola cans (surely would have been beer if this had been in the UK). No, it was the fact that the four chaps were sitting at one end of the table and the girls the other.
I've noticed this before when dining out with a fairly large group of our Greek friends a while back. We must have numbered around fourteen, and we too were a bunch of couples. The only reason why I ended up sitting beside my beloved on that occasion was because, more by luck than judgment, we were sitting in the centre of the long party, which had joined several tables together to accommodate all of us. To my left sat all the blokes, whilst to my right, starting on my side of the table with my wife, sat all the women. I remember, as we filed into the restaurant, noticing that the Greeks separated into men and women almost without thinking about it. There was I thinking that we'd all sit man/woman-man/woman around the table, but I was quite wrong. Before I knew it, the girls were immersed in a furious chat and the men were doing likewise, but at opposite ends of the table, and with little interplay between the two groups.
I haven't done any research on this, but can only assume that it's a throwback to the cultures of old times, when men were considered socially higher than women. Like I've said before on this blog, I'd been surprised a couple of years ago when we attended a gathering of probably thirty or so friends down in the village of Kattavia. When the call went out for everyone to tuck into the buffet, all the women remained seated and waited until the men had gone and piled their plates up first. It didn't sit easy with me, being, as I am, more accustomed to us chaps deferring to the women to go and get their food first at such social gatherings.
There we go, I suppose. It's something that we as guests in the country don't have the right to question or criticise. it's just that I do recall that in medieval Britain, when banquets were held, the salt was placed mid-way along the banqueting table and the gentry would sit "above the salt" and the more lowly hoi-polloi diners "below the salt."
See, "Hoi polloi" - now there's another expression that, up until I came to write this post I hadn't realised comes from the Greek. Go have a look at this link and you'll see what I mean.
Anyway, it's not something that gets me up in arms or anything, I'm merely passing an observation. But it does, I suppose, demonstrate that much of Greek culture, even in 2019, when they've all got smartphones and every café and restaurant has wi-fi, when they drive modern cars and watch smart TVs, much of Greek society, and its mores, still shows links with times long past.
Some aspects of this are positive anyway, like the close family ties that still result in a generally safer society (especially in rural areas) than is to be found in many of the more 'developed' countries of Europe. Others are perhaps still capable of influencing the thinking of people in a perhaps negative way. I mean, it's still difficult for women to deal with men in many situations over here. There are still a lot of men who don't find it comfortable dealing with women in 'official' scenarios, like when a woman wants to make a business contract for example. If a women goes to the local Dimos to complain about the state of the road where she lives, or the street lighting, or the rubbish collection, if it's a man she has to interact with, very often he'll find it goes against the grain to be dealing with a female.
Of course, changes are coming, as is the case with every country and culture. Plus, like I said, I'm not losing sleep over such things. But when you observe the way society works here, as an Englishman, it's still almost weird to experience first-hand, social intercourse that reminds me of times long gone in the world where I was brought up.
If you're out for a meal any time soon here in Greece, see if you notice any large social groups out dining together. Greeks I mean of course, not tourists. I'd be interested to see if you spot the phenomenon I'm talking about.
Right, I'm tucking in. Pass the salt will you?
We noticed this a number of years ago on Nisyros. Each evening we were there the ladies would come out in all their finery and 'party' at one taverna whilst all of the men would be in working clothes at another. Never seen anything quite like that anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed. I once left my other half in a taverna while I went for a walk. When I came back, he had been 'hijacked' by a table of Greek men, completely included in their story-telling and jokes regardless of the language problems. And had been introduced to the Greek way of sharing beers which was a shock to his system! Ha ha! To be fair, I was invited to join them when I came back but somehow I knew that would change what was happening, so declined & wandered off again. Yet another good memory of our time in Greece.
ReplyDeleteP.s. really enjoy reading your blog, keep it going. Best wishes from Somerset