Greece Social Life and Customs

Effective family research requires some understanding of the society in which your ancestor lived. Research procedures and genealogical sources are different for each area and time period and are affected by local customs and traditions. Learning about everyday life, religious practices, customs, and traditions is particularly helpful if you choose to write a history of your family.

The family has always played a crucial role in Greek society, extending beyond a married couple to extended relatives, and commanding a loyalty that overrode duty to other groups. Cultivation of land and running of businesses tended to be family enterprises. Daughters generally received dowries. A study of social life in the town of Vasilika, county of Voiotias, may give some background on rural life in Greece:


 * Friedl, Ernestine. Vasilika: A Village in Modern Greece. New York, NY, USA: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962. (FHL book 949.51/V1 H6f)

You may also find several additional sources about Greek social life at a public or university library. A bibliography of several interesting publications on this subject is found in the following book:


 * Sanders, Irwin T. East European Peasantries: Social Relations: An Annotated Bibliography of Periodical Articles. Volume 2. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: G.K. Hall, 1981 (55–62). (FHL book 940 H63s)