The Greek man in section 10 is agitated. He moves from seat to seat.
Sunday’s 12.44pm sun is baking his head as he sits in the open-air KIA Arena: With 46 minutes before showtime, his friend’s tardiness is making him sweat.
“Ela re, Ti egine?” he asks his friend on the mobile.
“Tora xipnises?”
If his friend has indeed just woken up, he had better hurry and get down to the tennis stadium, in Melbourne Park.
For hundreds of Greek-Australian youth in their neat school uniforms and pressed traditional costumes are about to strut their stuff before their biggest audience.
The Greek Ambassador to Australia is here for sure, the Archbishop of Australia’s Greek Orthodox Church, too. Our prime minister couldn’t miss this one either as the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew gets ready to bless them all.
Us, too. The Greek-Australians in the stands who have come to witness the national youth parade, celebrating Australia’s Greek Orthodox Archdiocese centenary, on Sunday October 13, at 1.30pm.
The young man in section nine is testing his Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera with a snapshot of his wife. Click. He greets two friends he knows. Right cheek, left cheek, kiss, kiss.
The middle-aged man in the suit and tie in section seven has finally found his seat. It’s next to a priest. He kisses the clergy’s hand and the two friends nestle into their seats.
An elderly Greek couple sit high above in the shade. Lunch is a piece of bread for him, a tiropita for her and a bundle of food wrapped in aluminium foil for their daughter and son-in-law. The young man on their right is better prepared.
He does his cross, opens the resealable plastic bag, and starts eating his sandwich. He gives half to his wife. Someone else’s wife takes out a big plastic bag and passes it down the row of seats for everyone to put their rubbish in. All done.
The mother of three girls under five years old all dressed in pastels wishes she were finished. A few more minutes still as she bottle feeds her fidgeting infant trying to find her breast.
After half an hour, the sun has drenched the two couples sitting closest to the court. The men can’t take the heat anymore. All four move.
“Can’t make men happy,” the wife says.
“Are you sure we aren’t moving again?,”
“Ego ftaio?” the husband asks denying that it’s all his fault.
The cameraman can’t imagine any faults. He whispers into his headset and adjusts the camera. He signals to the right. The sound engineer below looks straight ahead and the dignitaries start filing into the VIP marquee in sections 15 and 16. The white banners promoting the archdiocese and its official publication “Vema” sparkle in the 1.22pm sun. Australian and Greek flags decorate the stage.
At 1.48pm the MCs welcome us in English and Greek and tell us to keep the arena clean.
“Today we will admire the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the Greek migrants of Australia,” the MC says.
But first, the City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band who have been opening official functions in Victoria since 1898 must play.
A sky writer initials the clouds with the patriarch Bartholomew’s Greek initials and the Greek Scout leaders give their official salute at 2pm.
Let the parade begin.
Oakleigh Grammar and St John’s College Preston drummers bang their instrument and preschoolers, pupils and students from everywhere start marching. From Oakleigh Grammar, St John’s of Preston, Alphington Grammar , St George’s College in Adelaide, from Perth, the Archdiocese Greek afternoon and Sunday schools, Dandenong’s St Panteleimon Greek school, Greeks schools in the City of Box Hill and Omiros College, the young feet pound the court. Youth from the Pegasus Dance Academy, the National Union of Greek Students (NUGAS) and the societies representing the Greek locations of Imvros, Crete, Florina, Macedonia and Pontus join in.
A Greek girl in Greek and English congratulates the archdiocese on its centenary and wishes for another 100 years.
“We are ready for the future,” the girl announces.
“Axios” shouts the boy as the Greek community is worthy of it.
The dignitaries give their speeches and the Australian, First Nations, Greek and Cypriot flags fly. One hundred white doves soar into the arena at 3.06pm and the parade is over.
By 3.20pm, security guard 827 ushers the last child out of the arena.
“It’s the centenary of the Greek Orthodox church in Australia, that’s why he’s (the patriarch has) come,” the middle-aged Greek-Australian father says.
“Someone’s coming again in 25 years.”
“I’ll be 75 then,” his friend declares.
“Maybe, we will bring our grandkids,” his wife replies.
