Easter is a time when families and friends come together and remember not only the religious aspect of the holiday, but the importance of being with each other and loving one another. Differences are put aside as we crack eggs and observe one of the most significant dates on the Greek Orthodox religious calendar.
However, there will be some lost souls this Easter. Newly arrived Greek migrants who have come to Australia – like the migrants of the ’50s and ’60s – in search of a better life, to escape the crisis. Many are young, students even, here to excel in their fields and leave behind a crippling youth unemployment rate. Many of these young Greeks will be alone this Easter, and even Greek Australians who have left their families interstate for work or study and settled in Melbourne.
Thankfully, the owners of Philhellene’s Greek restaurant have spared a thought for those of us without our close families and friends this Easter. They have taken into consideration how hurt and alone they will be feeling at this time, and have opened the door to their home – their restaurant – to give back to the community.
Every year, the owners of Philhellene’s Provincial Greek Cuisine restaurant open their doors to the Greek community to offer them a home away from home at Easter. After attending church service, the family and friends of the owners, go back to the restaurant to sing Christos Anesti, crack the eggs and dig into a hot bowl of mageritsa breaking the forty-day Easter fats.
John Rerakis, one of the managers, tells Neos Kosmos, he’s heard too many sad stories from Greek migrants being here alone missing not only their family, but Hellenic culture and traditions, and this is a chance to give back to not only the community, but to the Greek heritage and culture.
“We always talk about Greeks being hospitable and filoxenia but it’s time someone does it in practice,” says John.
At midnight, the doors will be open to anyone needing a home away from home this Easter, to be around a new family who will comfort them just as they are their own.
“Just to know someone is there for you at this time – to be around people – goes a long way,” he says. “It”s just nice old values.”
These values were instilled in John from an early age by his parents. He remembers his parents generation opening up the door to Greek migrants needed a headstart in the Antipodes and John is steadfast he will do the same for his generation, and to show his children the same respect and values he was shown as a boy.
As a restaurant, Philhellene’s have done their best to support Greek migrants, visitors and proudly stocking Greek produce to give back to their mother country. And the practice of opening their doors at Easter is something they have been doing for the past couple of years, to the delight of many Greeks without an ‘Easter home’
“Some people tell us they have walked into another family and will always remember Easter with us,” he says of feedback received so far by the Greek community.
“These poor kids are away from home and if it weren’t for us where would they go? This is when they miss their fmaily the most and it’s refreshing to give something back to help them.”
For John, it’s not about money as he doesn’t charge for the Easter feast provided, which includes the mageritsa, red eggs and tsourekia, but it’s about “the religious aspect and most importantly family and for us all to be well and healthy and happy”.