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Lerin posted this on my public profile a week ago, so I assume he is happy for me to reply to his post in this particular thread.
I think most egejci don't feel a strong connection with the Republic, and this is mainly due to the territorial division and differing circumstances within each region. However, this gap has closed a lot over the years, and you'll find that a lot more egejci can closely relate. That said, it is still quite common that Macedonians from the Republic will look down upon egejci, and in return, egejci often label these Macedonians as 'Yugo Macos.' This further signals that the territorial division has created different groups, each often preferring to stick amongst eachother, despite all of us being Macedonian.
Like I've said earlier, personally, I have more Greek friends than Macedonian. A lot of that is to do with the area I live in and the school I attended. These particular Greeks aren't grkomani, but they do sometimes try to persuade me or fellow Macedonians of our supposed 'Greekness.' In terms of my friends, it is usually just political banter designed to joke around or get under the skin of the other. But some Greeks I've met are dead serious when it comes to this particular discussion. Sometimes they even treat you as one of them, but even then, I believe it is more so attributed to the fellow 'wog' status.
In terms of the lack of aegean youth organisations you mentioned, this isn't an isolated issue. It's a known fact that Macedonians in Australia have had considerable difficulty in banding together for the greater cause. I don't think this is a by-product of grkomani, just a simple case of bad organisation skills and mistrust. It seems to be a common Macedonian trait in Australia.
The surname changes has had an impact, but it is not the sole reason why younger generations of grkomani have emerged. Once again, it is the environment that the child is brought up in that will determine whether they consider themselves as Macedonian or Greek. If their parents tell them they are Greek, then even if their surname ends in -ski or -ov, there will always be some kind of 'cover-up' to explain this. That is only a hypothetical situation...I doubt many egejci would change their surname back if they perceived themselves as Greeks. Look no further than the existing srbomani who still have -ski, this didn't seem to defer them from such a belief.
The part where you mentioned the time when the stari pass away is indeed a real shame. These are the people with the stories to tell, the experiences to share and the heritage to pass on. That's why I encourage all young Macedonians to gather as much information as they can from their dedo and baba. They have some amazing stories to tell that act as a real eye opener.
There was actually a dancing group in Doncaster catering for egejci specifically. It was called something along the lines of the Lerinski sela dancing group. I was a member of this group years ago, but after a number of successful years it closed down. There was a healthy group of members, despite the group being located in the Eastern suburbs. I'm pretty sure there are a number of groups that exist in the western suburbs. They even teach Macedonian at some schools, whereas I only had an option of Japanese, French or Italian in the east. There was also a Macedonian language school in Box Hill a number of years ago, which in its' prime had a very strong attendance. Unfortunately by the end numbers ran thin and it was also closed.
I disagree with your last sentence. The young will only believe they are Greek if they are told that they are Greek. It is the fault of the stari or the parents if they fail to go to the effort to inform their kids that they are Macedonian. I don't expect the kids to know any better just because they call their grandparents baba and dedo...there must be a link missing which must be given to them by their own family.
Macedonian organisations do exist here, but no where near the number that should considering our large presence in Australia.
hi egejska, yes i may have been generalising re aegean macedonians and the fact that a lot of young ones are calling themselves greek but this is my experience. As i said i don't think they can relate at all to the republic which i can understand as i don't relate to it either. They also have other grkomani friends who easily persuade them i guess. I mean think about how many aegeans there are here and how many young aegean macedonian associations there are i.e. zero!!!!. That is really sad. I also think the surnames have a lot to do with it believe it or not and one can understand why the greeks went about changing our surnames. The young ones today a lot of them I'm not saying all see there surname sounds greek and think well i must be greek also. Ye my grandparents don't speak it but I'm still greek..also their parents most of them say 40ish don't even speak maco so its easy to say they are greek. When the grand parents die off then the total maso connection will die off completely. If you say this is not true then where are the young macedonians from aegean getting together and doing something positive. There are heaps of young greek associations i mean one of my cousins does greek dancing!!. Yes okay they may be grkomani but at the same time you try finding a dancing group that caters for macedonians from our region and u can't unless you want to join some prosfygi or greeks. Very sad that our youth are losing touch with their true history. I beg to differ with you because i don't see these young proud aegeans that you talk about. You go to shepparton, or doncaster or templestowe or anywhere in melbourne and find these grkomani there are thousands. My disappointment is more the young than the old as they still call their grandparents baba and dedo and still can't see they are not greek. Its like they speak this other language but no big deal we are still greek.. If you see these young proud ageans where are they and where are there associations.
One proud macedonian.
One proud macedonian.
Like I've said earlier, personally, I have more Greek friends than Macedonian. A lot of that is to do with the area I live in and the school I attended. These particular Greeks aren't grkomani, but they do sometimes try to persuade me or fellow Macedonians of our supposed 'Greekness.' In terms of my friends, it is usually just political banter designed to joke around or get under the skin of the other. But some Greeks I've met are dead serious when it comes to this particular discussion. Sometimes they even treat you as one of them, but even then, I believe it is more so attributed to the fellow 'wog' status.
In terms of the lack of aegean youth organisations you mentioned, this isn't an isolated issue. It's a known fact that Macedonians in Australia have had considerable difficulty in banding together for the greater cause. I don't think this is a by-product of grkomani, just a simple case of bad organisation skills and mistrust. It seems to be a common Macedonian trait in Australia.
The surname changes has had an impact, but it is not the sole reason why younger generations of grkomani have emerged. Once again, it is the environment that the child is brought up in that will determine whether they consider themselves as Macedonian or Greek. If their parents tell them they are Greek, then even if their surname ends in -ski or -ov, there will always be some kind of 'cover-up' to explain this. That is only a hypothetical situation...I doubt many egejci would change their surname back if they perceived themselves as Greeks. Look no further than the existing srbomani who still have -ski, this didn't seem to defer them from such a belief.
The part where you mentioned the time when the stari pass away is indeed a real shame. These are the people with the stories to tell, the experiences to share and the heritage to pass on. That's why I encourage all young Macedonians to gather as much information as they can from their dedo and baba. They have some amazing stories to tell that act as a real eye opener.
There was actually a dancing group in Doncaster catering for egejci specifically. It was called something along the lines of the Lerinski sela dancing group. I was a member of this group years ago, but after a number of successful years it closed down. There was a healthy group of members, despite the group being located in the Eastern suburbs. I'm pretty sure there are a number of groups that exist in the western suburbs. They even teach Macedonian at some schools, whereas I only had an option of Japanese, French or Italian in the east. There was also a Macedonian language school in Box Hill a number of years ago, which in its' prime had a very strong attendance. Unfortunately by the end numbers ran thin and it was also closed.
I disagree with your last sentence. The young will only believe they are Greek if they are told that they are Greek. It is the fault of the stari or the parents if they fail to go to the effort to inform their kids that they are Macedonian. I don't expect the kids to know any better just because they call their grandparents baba and dedo...there must be a link missing which must be given to them by their own family.
Macedonian organisations do exist here, but no where near the number that should considering our large presence in Australia.
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