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 Struggle For Liberty - School Play Vathy |
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The initial thought for the play was the Struggle for the liberation of Greece from the Turkish slavery in 1821. The main purpose is to display persons and events which played a major role in the Struggle and in the history of the newborn Greek country in the first part of 19 th century. Some scenes of the 20th century Greek history are included as well.
Although the play is a tribute to liberty, the scenes expand further in nowadays problems such as youth loneliness (scene 13) and environment destruction (scene 14). The final scene (15) is dedicated to hope (Pandora's myth).
The inspirer and producer of this play was Hanos Gerasimos , teacher at the elementary school in Vathy. The play took place in March, 29 th at the backyard of the school. 45 children participated in 15 “tableau vivant” scenes. The whole play lasted 1 ½ hours.
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Right - “Krifo Sholio” …..“The secret school” For 400 years -under Turkish slavery- the priests were gathering secretly the kids in the churches during the night to teach them reading and Greek history. That's how the Greek religion and language was saved through the ages.
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Left - The story starts with the “Annunciation of the Holy Virgin” which is celebrated from the Greek Orthodox Church in March 25 th the same day for the Greek liberation Struggle anniversary.
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Above - “Filiki Etairia” …..”Organization of Friends for the liberation of the Greek people”
Filiki Etairia was a secret organization founded in Odessa in 1814 by wealthy Greeks who lived there. The purpose of this organization was to help the Greek Struggle by raising money or helping through diplomacy.
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Above - “Kouggi”
Kouggi is a place in Ipiros area (west part of Greece ). There, in 1803 a monk called Samuel with other helpless people lit a fire in the ammunition store place and exploded themselves in order to avoid captivation by the Turks.
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Right - “The burning of Smyrna ”
That event took place in August, 31 st 1922 . Smyrna is a city o minor Asia which had a major Greek population from ancient years. After the burning of Smyrna by the Turks, nearly 1.300.000 Greek people left their homes in Minor Asia and became refugees in Motherland Greece .
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Below - “Kolokotronis”
Theodoros Kolokotronis is the first name that comes in mind when someone thinks about the Struggle for Liberty . He was a general marshal of the Greek army and he took part in several and important battles. Kolokotronis is shown here in a prison when he was sentenced unfairly for betrayal of his own country.
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Right - “The Rousing of the Polytechnic School ”
That event took place in Athens in November 17 th , 1973 . Students raised their voices against the junta and some of them were killed when military forces came to suppress the revolution.
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Left - “Second World War”
This scene shows a picture of the Albanian front during winter 1940-1941. It was the Italian invasion against Greece those days. Soldiers are fighting covered by snow and women carrying the ammunition supplies.
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Left - “Youth loneliness”
This is a scene about how young people feel about themselves nowadays. Showing the signs of no communication between youngsters today, the picture displays the unhappiness in their faces.
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“Environment” Below Left - This scene with earth is a call for the protection of the environment. |
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“Pandora's Myth” Right
The play closes with hope . A scene from ancient Greek mythology (Pandora's box) just because you can't stop hoping for a better future especially when you are dealing with children…
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| www.ithacagreece.com would like to thank the students and teachers of the Vathy School for the opportunity to publish photographs of this play. The photographs were taken by various members of the community and the information was supplied by Kosta, the loved Gym teacher of the Ithaki school community. |
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