GREECE - 10 - HISTORY AND SPEAKING HOST'S LANGUAGE

 

An Orthodox Greek church in Sfakia, where a traditional wedding was taking place

 

 

After my energizing but slightly brutal hike yesterday, I will take it easy today. My destination is Chania! Easy to get to on a 1-hr bus ride from Rethymno, easy to get around with lots to see and appreciate in the condensed and beautiful old town as I recall from my brief visit to Chania last time I was in Crete. Bus terminal is a chaos, which is the nature of existence in Greece, more so in Crete just like in Turkey, after all aren’t these the lands that tried to explain the “Original Chaos”?.

 

Sunset from the terrace of my hotel in Rethymno

 

Before coming to Greece this time, I read a bit more about the Greek mythology. It was interesting to recall how chaos in mythological terms led to the creation of Gaia, the mother earth then to Uranus, the sky, and how from this union the titans Rhea and Cronus were created among others. The union of these two then led to the creation of the genealogy of the major Gods in Greek mythology including, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Ares, on and on… I wonder how in the world the peoples of these parts were able to imagine the Big Bang millennia ago. Is it all the wars, occupations, rebellions, and adaptations to survive that they had to go thorough have something to do with this. Who knows, a question to pose to social anthropologists I guess.

 

Lovers against the old town in Rethymno

Even Greeks can’t figure out what bus to get on, we tourists speaking Turkish, English, Italian, French among all other handful of languages I have heard around in the last week, shouldn’t feel bad then. Finally, I am on the right bus, I take the first row seat to appreciate the vistas. Our driver is a dark complexioned, sun-scorched looking sturdy man. Throughout the hour of our co-existence he is either calling somebody or somebody is calling him! I am pleased to notice that I am noticing the tenses of his verbs, he uses mainly past and present tense. I really should keep up with my Greek. As soon as I go back home, I will look into registering for a formal language class at the University. This is but one of my resolutions out of this trip.  

The old hamam (Xamam) in Chania converted into a boutique

 

Once at the leoforio stazi (bus station), I ask the beautiful Cretan youth with large black eyes, framed sharply but elegantly into a doe’s eyes with eye liner (a Turkish expression to define the most beautiful eyes) the direction to the old town. She is somewhat shy but very helpful. I recognize this smile now, on every Greek’s face when I try to speak to them in Greek. I am sure I have an accent and pretty sure make grammatical mistakes. Nevertheless, it is so clear how they value this effort. This has historical roots I suspect, which I recall from my days in Turkey, especially from a time when the world was not so globalized and the borders of national identity was also more sharply defined:

Chania Archeological Museum housed in an old church 

Both Greek and Turkish generations are raised with pride mostly based on what their imperial predecessors/ancestors had “accomplished”. I was also raised with that brain-washing until 18 years of age, when I discovered political economy, evolution of philosophy through millennia, religion and nationalism and their role in contemporary societies… I then fully understood the background of Ottoman’s colonial imperialist occupations just like every empire had done in history. Ottomans considered themselves as the rulers of half the world, made Istanbul the economic, cultural, and artistic center of the then world they could occupy. But when they excluded science from this domination and their sole goal became expansion at all costs just like the ancient Greek empire, they started to decline. For Ottomans; Europe was already into its enlightenment on the basis of scientific developments and reforming their religion, which would translate to Ottoman’s demise by their own choice of confining themselves into Islamic framework.

The mosque on the waterfront in Chania 

Turkish land would have become but a colony for multiple European to-become-imperial powers had it not been for the nationalistic movement Ataturk led totally independent from religious context. It is interesting that this was preceded by the Greeks revolting for their national identity, against the disappearing Ottoman Empire. It would be certainly appropriate for the Western Allies to feed into Greeks’ deep desire to become the Neo-Byzantine Empire again, take back Istanbul and other lands in Asia Minor that naturally inhabited scores of Greek speaking Christian communities, remaining from the Byzantine, Ionnian, Lycian, or Frigian rules.

The light tower and horse carriages for tourists in Chania 

It was a time, though, neither the Ottoman Empire could survive, nor the Byzantine Empire revived! New imperial powers were appearing in the political economical system of the world: America, Britain, Germany, France, and in their fight for redistributing colonial lands, erupted the WWI. That is why even the USA was on the table when it came to sharing the control of parts of Turkey! In the end, Britain became the major imperial power 2 centuries ago. WWII reshaped the world panorama one more time, when the USA became the new imperial power in the world under the banner of pretending to be the saint of democracy.  Hence, English becoming the new language of the world!
 

Cretans always had a rebellious temperament, now supporting French workers on strike!

 

I sense, societies that are pumped with “Be proud, you are the sons and daughters of so and so empire, who ruled half of the world some hundreds or thousands of years ago”, who now has a minimal impact on the contemporary world discourse, culturally, scientifically, artistically, especially economically, face ambiguity when it comes to associate with people of the societies that rule the world panorama nowadays. They are proud of their past, but their governments and societies as a whole have little to show other than the productions of their predecessors from some 6-7000 BC to 1000 years ago.

The entrance to the harbor from the top of the castle where the banner above was hanging

Hence, this subtle, hidden, perhaps impossible to verbalize insecurity before an American or British or German, who tries to speak their language. This perceived or presumed humility may be what brings the once glorious, now (feeling) secondary to equal grounds with a customer from a now developed, neo-imperial society. As we learn each other’s language, we will also be able to learn our cultures much better. I hope and trust that globalization is going to seed into every society the equal understanding of one another in the coming decades…

Part of old town in Chania