Culture Shock & Confusion

The Greek World's Behavioral Culture

Like most countries around the world, Greece too has specific aspects to lifestyle that can be considered uncommon and unique to the region. Visiting the country for the first time and encountering some of these unspoken rules of the culture can come as a surprise, especially if you, the visitor, have not heard of or come across such interactions before. In this post I will highlight some unique bits of the Greek people's day-to-day lifestyle to help reduce the cultural shock that you may experience on your visit to the Hellenic Republic! 

To begin with, the Greek people allot a certain level of importance and symbolism to hand gestures. One of these gestures is the waving of your hand at another person. The part of the world where I and most readers of this blog come from call this gesture waving hello to someone standing at a distance. However, in Greece this sign has a completely different meaning. The motion goes by the name "moutza." Moutza is a way of disapproving of someone and is seen as offensive. Instead, I recommend you learn Greek verbal greetings to avoid unintentionally offending a local, for example, hello is "yio sou" as covered by me in the about me section.

Hand waving sign is rude in Greece. Image Source: Reader's Digest

Another important point to remember is that Greek people are highly friendly, warm, welcoming and interactive. Similar to France, Greek people may kiss each cheek once as an initial greeting. The expectation of warmth towards each other extends from locals to even tourists. It can be rude to not greet someone you are about to interact with in a friendly manner - be it a shopkeeper or taxi driver. As temporary visitors, we are not expected to learn the local dialect, but picking up words like "kalimera" for good morning and "efharisto" for thank you can take us a long way while we tour the country. 

An air-kiss Greek greeting. Image Source: greekpod101

A final custom I wish to cover is that time can be treated fluidly. It is acceptable to show by late to events as it is a representation of the easy-going Greek lifestyle. Being about 30 minutes late is the norm. Nevertheless, an apology for showing up late is still appreciated and instantly accepted or forgiven. 

There are many more customs that may strike us as surprising on our trip. I have covered the larger and more widely acknowledged ones in this post. However, if you wish to show up on your Greece tour more prepared, it is a good idea to further research on simple topics like greetings, acceptable gestures and cultural and traditional habits.




References:









Location: Greece

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