25March 1821,The Independence Day of Greece

March 25, the Independence Day in Greece
March 25 is celebrated brilliantly,all over Greece. For Greeks it is a very important holiday. It is both a national (revolution against the Turks) and religious holiday (Annunciation).On this day in the Orthodox calendar , the archangel Gabriel appeared to the maiden Mary and announced the news:she was pregnant with the divine child.
There are school flag parades in every village, town, and armed forces parades in all cities. On 24 March celebrations are held at all schools .The students sing songs about freedom, dance greek dances wearing traditional costumes.The schools are decorated with greek flags and the posters of the heroes, that fought during that independence war, are hung on the walls.
The Byzantine Empire fell to the Turks in 1453 and the Greeks remained under the Ottoman rule for nearly 400 years. During this time their language, their religion and their sense of identity remained strong.
On March 25, 1821 the bishop Germanos of Patras raised the Greek flag at the Monastery of Agia Lavra in Peloponnese and one more revolution started against the Turks.He chose this day to deliver a different but not unrealed message: a new spirit was about to be born in Greek History of Greek Independence Day. The people of Greece shouted "Freedom or Death"and they fought the War of Independence for 9 years (1821-1829) until a small part of modern Greece was finally liberated and it was declared an independent nation.
The struggle for the liberation of all the lands, inhabited by Greeks, continued. In 1864, the Ionian islands were added to Greece; in 1881 parts of Epirus and Thessaly. Crete, the islands of the Eastern Aegean and Macedonia were added in 1913 and Western Thrace in 1919. After World War II the Dodecanese islands were also returned to Greece.

posted by Kostopoulou Eleni at 20.3.06