The Grand Changing of the Guards Ceremony in Athens, Greece
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2021
- The Changing of the Guards in Athens Greece: Every Sunday morning at 11 am, people gather in Syntagma Square to watch the official changing of the guards, the military unit whose members stand proudly in perfect stillness in front of the Hellenic Parliament. There are of course changing every hour in the day, but on Sundays, it is the official ceremony with the official customs.
The Evzones is a special unit of the Hellenic Army, also known as Tsoliades, who guard the Monument of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Hellenic Parliament and the Presidential Mansion. Through the historical movement of Greece, the Evzones have become symbols of bravery and courage for the Greek people. The Presidential Guard, as the unit is now called, was constituted in 1868 and has taken many names through centuries (Guard of the Flag, Royal Guard, etc).
The duties of the soldiers are part of a ceremonial nature. Every soldier guards for about an hour, 3 times in total every 48 hours. Throughout these 60 minutes, they have to stand perfectly still until it is time to switch with another guard. During the changing, they work in pairs so they can perfectly coordinate their moves. The steps that the official ceremony requires at the time of changing are carried out in really slow motion to protect their blood circulation after 60 min of immobility.
The soldiers of the Presidential Guard are selected according to their height, excellent physical condition, and psychological state as well as character and morality, as they follow a hard training before they become part of this honorary unit. The training lasts for one month and includes exercises to keep the body and mind still. Apart from staying still, the soldiers must also not make any face or eye move and must not show any expression.
Their uniform of the Presidential Guard has a historical meaning. It refers to the uniform of the Kleftes and Armatoloi, two groups of Greek warriors during the War of Independence in (1821) against the Ottomans. In fact, the white skirt of the uniform has 400 folds to represent the 400 years of Ottoman occupation over the Greeks.
The uniform consists of:
- the phareon which is the Evzone's hat, made from red baize with a black tuft
- the white shirt with loose leaves
- the phermeli, which is the waistcoat and it is the most difficult part to construct, handmade with many shapes wrought on it
- the Greek kilt (or else foustanella), its structure requires 30 meters of white cloth
- the tsarouchia, the traditional shoes of Evzones which are red, made of leather, with a small tuft in front. Each shoe weighs three kilos
- the fringes, blue and white standing for the Greek flag
- the garters which are made of silk
- the leather belt
- the inside garnet
-and the gun which is the most difficult piece to carry, not only for its gravity but also for the physical pressure that exerts to the soldier's body.
This is the official version of the uniform that the Evzones wear only on Sundays and National holidays. The other days, the white shirt, the phermeli and the Greek kilt are replaced by the doulamas, a special uniform that the soldiers of the Macedonian Struggle (1904-1908) used to wear. This uniform is blue in winter and brown in summer. In official ceremonies, the Evzones also wear the traditional uniforms of Crete and Pontus, as recognition of the contribution of these regions in the national fights.
(Virtual Tour)
From www.greeka.com
For anyone visiting Athens for the first time, this is an absolute 'must'. The precision of the evzones is almost balletic. Quite unique. 11 am every Sunday at the top of Syntagma Square outside the Parliament building and it is free to attend.
It’s not only balletic but far more than that. A detail worth of mentioning is that the same 2 men are paired and form the guards that guard unknown soldier. After infinite trials and combinations that the new recruits are going through the most experienced officers decide who pairs better with whom so that their movements much as perfectly as possible. After pairing together at a prescheduled time they prepare for 2 hours BEFORE take on their duty getting dressed of one another.
Je suis en admiration devant ces tenues impeccables. Beaucoup d'heures de travail pour ces vetements prestigieux. Et ils sont portés avec grande beauté sur ces hommes tres dignes .fiers courageux et respectueux de leur tre's beau pays..J,aime beaucoup ces défilés qui sont si methodiques. IMPECABLES..j'espère de tout mon coeur que vous garderez ces régiments .respect â la GRECE.🌞⚘💕.Une petite française.
....
Informations, from a Greek..:
Homer ( The far ancient, Greek poet, who wrote Odyssey and Iliad, many thousands of years, before us..), is the first who spoke about Ev-zones.
The word Ev-zones, means "the ancient fighter, who is so good and experienced, that the only thing he needed, was a belt, made from good quality, not easy to broke, and with practical positions for his arms ( sword, etc ).
The second man who spoke about Evzones, was Herodotus ( the Greek "father of History", the first who puts the bases of international historical writing ), at the known ancient-classical times of Greece.
Nowdays, in order to honer, our ancient history and our fighters ancestors, the Tomb of Unknown Soldier, shows an ancient fighter, and the guards, are Evzones..
Uniform of Evzones..:
Their hat is red, and shows the blood that we gave, for our freedom..
The black "strings" of the hat, are our tears for our dead, who gave their blood..
In general, the uniform is white, because our cause of fight ( freedom and justice ), is noble and "pure".
Ancient Greeks, were mostly wearing the "chlamys".
The "skirt", ( which we call it Foustanella ), is the nowdays "chlamys", showing that our history continuous..
Foustanella, is the "next generation" of chlamys, and we made Foustanella, at the times of Greek Byzantine Empire.
And it was very practical, because our fighters, were fighting at the wild mountains, and couldnt have organized hospital etc. So with Foustanella, which was easy to be made, they could take care they wounds very easy, than with trousers. Also Foustanella was warm at winter, and cold at summer. And Foustanella, was a psycological weapon also.. because when the barbarians were threating us, it was more easy for us, to show them our balls.. so they knew, that we are fearless..
The Foustanella, have 400 edges, showing the 400 years, of occupasion of the Ottomans (400 years, of torturing.. slaughtering.. etc.. ).
Shoes, are made of hard leather, with big nails, under them. The nails were very important for the fighters, because the land of Greece is full of mountains, and rocky places, and the fighters needed to defend themselves, or attack, on "bad" terrain.
The black "fluffy" thing, at the front of the shoes, hides inside, a small knife, showing that, in order to fight for your freedom, you must fight with everything you have ( hands and feet ), and with arms that the enemy cant see..
And the guards, keep their feet high, to show how they were stabbing the barbarians..
Nowdays, when the guards walking, they hit hard their feet to the ground, so our ancestors can hear the nails, and they know that Greeks are still here.. alive.. and free..
Unfortunately, there are some people, who dont know, and they dont ask, about this "funny skirt ", and they only laughing at this uniform.
( Some of them knows, like Albanians and Turks, but they were-are allies against Greeks, so they dont count..)
They must know, that this is an ancient fighters uniform, and these fighters were fought against Barbarians, countless of times, and if they can laugh, is because these fighters, kept them free of barbarism..
If they can look in a mirror, and can say that they are humans, and not Barbarians, is because of these Greek fighters, with THIS uniform..
And we deserve and demand, from all, to respect the blood that we gave.. for freedom and justice, against Barbarians, through thousands of years..
And an extra information..:
At the very old times, when the ancient Greeks, travelled all around this planet, and named many places, they found an island, very beautiful, but foggy. They called this island "land of Skot-os".. In Greek means, the land without sun.
Nowdays, this island is called Scot-land..
The national uniform, of the great Scottish nation, is kilt..
Kilt and foustanella, seems to have the same ancestor.. the chlamys..
There are 400 pleats in the foustanella, 400 pieces of silk thread in the tassel of the hat ....40 tacks (20) on each tsarouchi all represent the 400 years of slavery Greeks endured at the hands of the Turks ...
In order for an evzona to put on his uniform two other soldiers in his unit aid him....all the pieces are hand made...."καλύτερα μίας ώρας ελεύθερη ζωή παρά σαράντα χρόνια σκλαβιά και φυλακή".... ευχαριστούμε πού τους θαυμάζετε......thanks for coming
Thank you for commenting
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Thank you for commenting. We love Greece very much 😍.The sky and the sea were so blue when we were in Greece. The feta cheese was so tasty and we started eating feta cheese very so often now. Great memories were made in Greece. Thank you!
Personally I think the Fustanella is too short, and it should be brought down to the same length as that of the officers.
There you go WHeee...with those TUTU dress.
Euzones
I am British and our military marching is really just synchronised walking, though there is too much boot stamping. On would think it was being done for the soldier to acquire flat feet and a medical discharge from the British Army. These guards are obviously a display squad that is now put on as a tourist attraction, so quite valid as that. Obviously the modern Greek Army does not dress like this nor march like this at all. What I find disturbing is the armies that go in for goose stepping for all their troops, the worse example I’ve come across is the Chilean Army, whose soldiers for parades have to march around dressed as either the Kaiser’s or Hitler’s troops. They seem to even be proud ot their Prussian drill, the classic example of the military dehumanisation. Was it not Frederick the Great who claimed his over-disciplined troops would march over a cliff if he ordered them, and in perfect order, of course.
Boot stamping is requirement in order to symbolise their presence towards the dead that they guard them. Propably ancient Greeks also struck their feet hard as they believed that their dead could feel them from the underworld. Another one tradition.
Apparently the food stomping is to waken the fallen and let them know that Greece is free.
Tacfoley: The US also had German drill masters starting with George Washington, but has humanised it. The Prussian system was designed to de-humanise the soldier, Frederick the ‘Great’ boasted that if he ordered a detachment of his soldiers to walk over a cliff, they would do so while maintaining their ranks. Seeing young men peRforming this outdated and robotic drill and the hours of practice it takes to achieve such a robot like performance reflects badly on the mentality of the military and the nation that tolararesbthe existence of such out dated and profoundly undemocratic performances.
ETEKLİ KIZLARIMIZ BİR HARİKA.
Η φαστανελα είναι για να γάμου την μάνα στα γρήγορα
@@dimitriosmoursias55 Siktir aç dilenciler.
Είδες πώς είναι όταν κάποιος δεν σέβεται
Χαχααααα! 😂😂
Στην άλωση της Τριπολιτσάς αυτοί σας έκαναν σουβλάκι τουρκομογγολε
As much as the Presidential Guard is very impressive, as much as the band is not, by any international standards, Too bad.
True. They sound like an amateur band after to many drinks. 😄
These guards would be perfect for Sleepy Joe. Sleepy Joe could put on his clown suit.
🤣🤣🤣
Their Mom forgot they're old grown men, she still buy them a two year old "girl" dress. Haha
Stupid
It is over the top and theatrical. I don’t like it at all. And why are they dressed as women with a rifle?
They aren’t “dressed as women” - it’s the women that are dressed as men...
Every move they make has a certain symbolism. If you watch out the ones that are changed at a point they form with their body number 4 for a moment. 4 is the first number of the occupation of Greece from the ottomans (400 years). I am not an expert to analyse their whole moves I think that there is a Greek site that comments on all of them. As for their dress is named Foustanela and it gives the illusion of a skirt. It’s not. They are 2 pieces of cloth that together under a belt give the impression of a skirt which is definitely not. They wear different clothes in summer and winter. The winter one is wool and kept them warm as the pompon on their shoes while the summer is light cotton but with many layers of perplexed strings protecting them from the strong sun. In the independence war they placed a small blade inside that pompon and when in hand to hand combat they kicked the enemy with it thus distracting him momentarily in order to finish him off then. Something that worked perfectly for them.
The costumes have changed overtime and it is more symbolic for its meaning than being practical. I am okay with the style, just like Scottish and Irish skirt- like kilts which have their own characteristics.
@ Woudy
I assume that you are not from Europe. The fustanella or kilt is typically Balkan highland clothing, because it was more suited to guerilla warfare back in the 18th century in the mountainous highlands of Greece. Kilts were aslo worn by the Scots and the Irish and the Welsh who call them Cilts. Also Canadians wear kilts.
@@roamingcat7927 - Actuality it's precisely because of their practicality. Guerilla warfare in the mountains. Easier to step over rocky ground and maneuver in mountainous terrain.