Every year for the Greek Independence Day (25th March) and the Ochi Day (28th October) a military parade and a school parade (one day before) take place.

Since I’m in Athens at the moment, I have decided to take advantage of it and visit the school parade to take some pictures.

It was a wonderful day, warm and sunny, perfect for a parade! Just the idea of taking some photos again filled me with energy (I admit, I haven’t been shooting much lately).

I packed my camera, took some water and headed downtown.

When I came to the Amalias Avenue where the school parade was taking place, there were already some people waiting: mostly parents of students, as well as grandparents taking their grandchildren out.

On the Syntagma Square (or Constitution Square) there was a place for the politicians and a bigger crowd so I headed a few meters down the road where I managed to find a spot just at the edge of the street. Perfect!

I was happy with my position: I had a good view of the road and not too many people around me.

However, soon I have realised the sun would be shining at the backs of the students which would put their faces in shadow. And changing of location would not help! If only they were marching from the other side, the light would be just perfect! : (

The parade started with the half an hour delay and when it finally started I must admit it was really wonderful watching students marching down the road, all neatly dressed, boys in long trousers, girls in (maybe too short) skirts, trying to look their best (which they for sure did!) and trying to find the right rhythm swinging their hands up and down (often unsuccessfully).

What made it even more exciting was that some schools decided to participate with traditional costumes from various areas of Greece.

Here are some photos I took:

Use arrow keys on your keyboard to move to the next image!

Note that all images are copyrighted. Please respect that. If you would like to use images in any way, contact me.

Some more information about the Greek school parade itself

As I have mentioned before, the school parade take place two times per year: a day before the Independence Day and a day before the Ochi Day.

Students come from both elementary and secondary schools.

In cities and big municipalities where there are more than 10 schools, every participating school attends with two groups (a group of boys and a group of girls). On the countryside, where the number of schools is lower, they can choose to participate with two or four groups (that is with two groups of boys and two groups of girls).

Naturally not all schools participate every year (they exchange every year and/or for March/October parade), neither do all students of selected schools. However, when their turn is up, their participation is compulsory.

Let me try to give an example of the formation of the groups, presuming a school is participating with two groups (boy + girl group):

In front is a group of 6 students: one is holding the Greek flag (called “Σημαιοφόρός”) and five others who are the “παραστατες”.

Following them are the groups of boys and girls, each consisting of 32 students, aligned into 4 columns and 8 rows. So you have 32 boys and 32 girls. Group of girls always march before the boys. Both groups are lead by the “διμοιρίτη” (head of group).

How are they selected?

• Groups of boys and girls are selected by the teachers of physical exercise (PE) based on their “proper” appearance (read good posture and ethics) at least one month prior to the parade. The practice (movement of hands, pace of marching, etc.) takes place during every PE class for 10-12 minutes. Before the actual parade there are also two testing parades around the school.
• The person who holds the Greek flag (“Σημαιοφόρoς”) comes from the senior class and had the highest final average grade in the previous year. If the student is foreign, they can have the honour to hold the flag providing they are studying in Greece for at least 2 years.
• The other five people in the front group, the “παραστατες”, are also selected based on their grade: two of them come from the senior class, two from the middle class and one from the junior class (there are three classes/levels). If there are more people with the same grades, a draw takes place.

Teachers of PE who are leading the groups have to follow the parade from the left side.

All students wear a uniform, chosen by the school. Commonly, the uniforms are dark blue and white, but they can also wear traditional costumes – as long as the “uniformed appearance” is maintained.

Similar school parades are organized abroad by the Greek immigrants, especially in USA and Canada.

Source:http://dide-peiraia.att.sch.gr/fysagogi/Keimena/Nomothesia/Kanonismos%20Parelaseon.pdf