Web Words: Greek vegans protest about lamb slaughter ahead of Easter

Your Say
23 April 2019 1:34pm

A small group of vegan activists took to the streets of Athens and Patra on Saturday to protest against the slaughter of animals ahead of Easter. Here is how readers of Neos Kosmos responded to the news on Facebook.

Stergios Roumeliotis Don’t they have better things to protest about such as a lying and deceiving government?

Daniel Pizzuti I thought this s*** was only happening in Australia…

Serhat Erdogan Fair enough, slaughtering animals for the sake of God isn’t right

Ellenitsaki Ellenida Serhat Erdogan, do you see us shoving our beliefs down your throat? Don’t go preaching cause you will win no fans. Let people be. And mind your own business as we do. I would never tell someone what I believe what they should eat or not because it’s not my place to. Don’t bring God into it. His son was a fisherman so we could eat fish.

Stathis Kidis Considering the fact that they would not touch an animal for 40 days prior to the slaughter, if tradition is followed, I’d say its an honourable sacrifice…

Vicky Kyriakou Don’t mess with our culture and tradition.

Σίλια Πλεμμένου I’m guessing you’re also a fan of bullfighting, dog eating, whaling and sealing for the same reasons.

Roberta Gogos Vicky Kyriakou, animal slaughter isn’t tradition. Greeks barely ate meat at all until after WW2 and the American influence of daily and weekly meat. Go talk to anyone who lived before the ’50s.

Emmanuel Raviolos I have a 14kg going on my souvla on Sunday. Come over and try stop us. Kali anastasi everyone. 🙏

Anna Tsakiris Korezelidis We have 20 kg going on to our souvla, and I am salivating just thinking about it.

Eleftheria Prodromou Thanks for running this story NK. Veganism is growing very fast in Greece.

Petros Spilios As long as it was a peaceful protest, let them have their say. People should respect that not everyone eats meat.

Vicky Summerson Just as people should respect not everyone is vegan

John Kostoulias Vicky Summerson, haven’t seen any people protesting eating plants they make the air for us to breathe.

John Tsioulos Don’t Greek Orthodox consider going vegan an important part of the lead up to Easter?

Roberta Gogos John Tsioulos yes, 40 days. Fasting and veganism is a big part of Greek religion /culture that’s why there’s so much of it available. The meat eating came post 1950s along with excess and US culture. Moussaka is not traditional Greek food for example. Pre-WW2 Greeks were rural, animals were kept for and more valuable for milk (cheese), it was truly a sacrifice to kill animals so it was only done on occasion (γιορτές). Only the very wealthy (city people) ate meat more than a few times a year. Also if you lived with animals who wanted to do the killing – it was very hands on remember. No one wanted to do it. People had more value for animal lives then.

Zoe Tanidis Ignore them and they may go away.

Terry Koutsioukis So can I put a vegan on the souvla instead?

John Karapalidis If we could live happy and healthy lives without harming others, why wouldn’t we? Watch Dominion on YouTube.

Dimitrios Elias Zahariadis John Karapalidis I’d prefer to live a happy and healthy life with meat in my diet. I have no problem with how someone wants to live their own life, you only have one, do what you like, but I do have a problem when someone tries to impose their views on me.

En Kay Haha, boy did they choose the wrong race of people and time to protest.

Vivian Ys They can choose to be vegans. It is a choice they’re entitled to make. However, good try. Go tell your grandfather and grandmother, great grandparents, your ancestors… You’ll get a good fappa across your vegan head… All 40 or 50 of you.

George Manganas Fake news. There is no such thing as a vegan Greek.

Nikolas Mantas Kai ti Tha soublizoume. Piperies Kai melitzanes?

Joanna Matafias Lamb is vegan – it eats grass. So we feast on vegan lamb!

George Fessas It is a sad day for humanity when we fight over our food choices.

Angela Laliotitis The best part is the skin when it’s crunchy! Heaps of lemon! So good I can’t wait.

Mezza Dee The fact that this is happening in Greece is somewhat a miracle and likely will continue to gain more momentum in the coming years. Bringing to consciousness the reality of slaughtering sentient beings is anything but negative.

Greg Orfanidis All 25 vegans of Greece descended upon Athens, and their mighty voices echoed throughout the land, like the trumpets of the apocalypse, causing the masses to tremble before them.

Stathis Kidis This is Spanakoparta!

Leon Bombotas Isn’t it enough that the religion of the Greeks promotes veganism for almost 25 per cent of the year?

Stathis Kidis Throw them in the slammer, and feed them lamb for a week.

Voula Zongas All these vegans are grumpy cause they have no iron.

Aaron A Angelakos No meat for Greek Easter. This is the funniest thing I’ve heard all year, I’m sure they’ll get far with that.

Zoe Macheridou Lathouros Greek Easter for Greek people means roasted lamb, slowly cooking on the spit on Easter Sunday. It is not only a mouth-watering delicacy but it also carries rich symbolism. The origin of eating lamb on Easter comes from the Jewish Passover and is associated with the exodus from Egypt. Before the Jews set out on the great exodus, God, through Moses, told them to gather in small groups and each family to sacrifice lamb. With the animal’s blood they were to paint their doorposts so they were not exterminated by the angel of God, who on that night would bring pestilence to the firstborn of each family who would not mark the entrance to their house with the lamb’s blood. That night, each family offered as a sacrifice to God a lamb for the salvation of all people. They ate the lamb, without breaking its bones, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. With the lamb’s blood, they stained their doors. Later, Christians adopted the sacrificial lamb as John the Baptist likened Jesus Christ to the lamb of God who will take the brunt of the sins of the world with his sacrifice. In most parts of Greece, on Easter Sunday the faithful roast a lamb on the spit along with the intestines.

Robert Chops Bentleigh They’re not true Greeks.

Mike Banis Why all of a sudden do these morons come out of the woodwork? It has been a traditional thing for Greek Easter for centuries. Morons, it’s all attention seeking.

James Anastasopoulos Time to have a souvlaki, then patsa.

Petros Perperiadis What about the sacrificial lamb??

Nazareth A Chisholm Granted I am still wearing my old leather, wool, feathers and silk clothing etc but I refuse to purchase any more of byproducts from animals. It’s all in the name of being conscious that all lives matter, animals or humans. Peace brother. Εντάξει.

Nick Sardis Good on them! We shouldn’t be eating meat, this is where all our cancers and diseases come from. We are not animals we don’t have teeth like dogs and lions and tigers! If meat was so delicious and tasty then we shouldn’t have to add all these herbs spices to eat it. Without those herbs and spices, we wouldn’t be eating it!

Paul Exarhos A vegan in Ioannina. Hilarious!

Nazareth A Chisholm Wish I was there to be amongst the Greek vegans. Proud of them all. Smart, forward conscientious, humane people there.

Franky Kalergas Sick of this. If they don’t like, it don’t eat it… Leave us alone with our own normal life.

George Kappas Big yawn as I finish my ρεβίθια.