Monday, March 28, 2005
Antipodes
Antipodes Festival 2005 - Melbourne's annual Greek community's get-together/attempt at displaying Australia's multiculturalism/date on the tourist calender. It was in all a very interesting weekend down Lonsdale Street, widely known as the little Greek enclave. Actually it isn't that little considering how the Melburnian Greek community is the largest outside Greece itself (this statement being a truism). There were all the patriotic displays of Greek culture: soulvaki, lamb kebabs, honey doughnuts, more honey-soaked desserts (of which baklava is a personal fave); a spontaneous performance of a Zorba dance by a half-blind man to rousing music; Cyprus flags; Greek banks giving out goodie bags and a baklava-eating competition (this is indication of how obsessed I am over the delicacy).I heard when Greeks immigrated to Oz decades ago there were fervent efforts made to preserve their cultural roots by holding festivals and embracing cultural icons. Things have changed slightly since then, with the third generation redefining what it means to be Greek/Italian/Vietnamese etc. I wonder if they see themselves as being more Aussie than their respective ethnicity. The fests have inevitably wound down in terms of significance and scope and in come a new brigade of cultural icons - the blue and white Greek soccer jersey which catapulted into fame after Greece's UEFA cup victory last year; and the Ferrari logo for the Italians which I reckon is so potent a visual symbol, even if the team's fronted by a German, because the team consistently does well in Melbourne's F1.
By the way, what does Antipodes mean anyway?
lux at 12:49 am