FOUSTANELLA ON FIFTH

Every year, since 1951, Fifth Avenue hosts the Greek Independence Day Parade. It attracts a great number of New York participants and viewers, and it is the largest Greek parade in the country. The event happens in April, even though the exact date of the Greece Independence Day is March 25th.

 This little kid was so proud of marching among adults in his Foustanella*! I had to choose him for this post!

 *Foustanella is a pleated white skirt made by triangular shaped pieces of cloth. The Foustanella skirt consists of 400 pleats symbolizing the years during which Greece was under Ottoman rule. (And no, I didn’t know this. But now I do. A very pleasant side-effect of having this blog: it makes you research the most unexpected things!)

 Happy late Independence Day to Manolis, a Greek friend of mine now living in London!