Greek Family History

Who am I

Greek culture and tradition is the dominant force behind all of what my family does. Both sides .of my family are not completely Greek. For some lines of my family, you can trace back that families origins for centuries. On other lines there is little record beyond two or three generations before myself.

On my mother’s side is a mix of Pontian Greek and German. My maternal papou’s (grandfather) line traces back to the 1730s America. This part of the family is almost completely ignored in favor of my maternal yiayia’s (grandmother) heritage . My mother’s family only follows Greeks tradition though. My maternal yiayia’s family were refugees when they came to the United States. They were escaping the Greek Genocide during World War One

My Father’s yiayia’s family were poor. It was not not unusual for a poor family in Greece to give up one of their children and have them adopted by another family. My great Yiayia was adopted by one of the richest families on Kalymnos who couldn’t have children of their own. My great yiayia inherited a large amount of land on Kalymnos that is still within the family today. My great papou's family history is unusual too. Giavasis is not a very Greek name. That is because it is not Greek. 400 hundred years ago, the Giavasis family were the Papaelias. They were architects on the island of Kalymnos. When the Ottoman Empire occupied the island. The Papaelias started a work slowdown that lasted for centuries. They were given the name yavaş, turkish for slow. This mutated and was anglicized into

One of the traditions is the Annual Daughters of Penelope debutante ball. This is one of the few events that both Greek Churches come together for. This ball is a standard debutante ball except for the debutantes dancing the syrtos. The debutante ball is a bigger deal for my father’s side of the family than my mother’s. The other important tradition is the Greek festival. There are two Greek festivals in Canton. Holy Trinity and Saint Haralambos both hold separate greek festivals. My family goes to Holy Trinity, the Pontian church. As each generation is created, my family’s traditions becomes more Americanized. Dishes such as corn, mashed potatoes, and others join the table with traditional greek foods. Less of my cousins learn traditional Greek dances. My mother and father know all of them, but my brother and I only know one. As each generation comes, the family traditions