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4 THE SHEPHERD • MAY 2022 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO GREEK LANGUAGE SCHOOL First of all, we wish to express our gratitude to the community for joining us on Sun- day, March 27th to celebrate the events of the Greek Revolution. Our students deliv- ered such a wonderful and inspiring perfor- mance. Bringing the community together once again was refreshing and needed. We sincerely hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did. Χρόνια Πολλά! Ζήτω η Ελλάς! Going into May (“Μάιος”), it is a month that celebrates all sorts of things, including na- ture, culture, as well as some important his- torical events. On May 1st, Labor Day is celebrated inter- nationally. In Greece, Labor Day was es- tablished as a National Holiday by Ioannis Metaxas, on April 7th, 1937. at moment proved to be crucial as the establishment of the payment of overtime, paid leave, and the mandatory Sunday holiday followed. e day has been instituted as a labor strike and all services and businesses remain closed. Furthermore, the rst of the month is cele- brated as a day of owers and spring. Winter is nally over, while there is the sweet antic- ipation of summer. On that day, people in Greece make ower wreaths and hang them on the door of their house to have euphoria or o er bouquets of owers of the season. Ιt is a custom associated with joy, ourishing, and vegetation. Odysseus Elytis, in his own imaginatively unique way, summarized the meaning of that day through his poem “ΗΠρωτομαγιά” ( e First of May) from “To Ημερολόγιο ενός αθέατου Απριλίου” (Journal of an unseen April) published by Ύψιλον: Πιάνω την άνοιξη με προσοχή και την ανοίγω: I catch spring carefully and open it: Με χτυπάει μια ζέστη αραχνοΰφαντη Ηeat, knitted as a spider web, hits me ένα μπλε που μυρίζει ανάσα πεταλούδας a blue that smells like butterfly’s breath οι αστερισμοί της μαργαρίτας όλοι αλλά the constellations of daisy all but και μαζί πολλά σερνόμενα ή πετούμενα along with many other crawling or flying beings ζουζούνια, φίδια, σαύρες, κάμπιες και άλλα bugs, snakes, lizards, caterpillars and more τέρατα παρδαλά με κεραίες συρμάτινες pied monsters with antennae made of wire λέπια χρυσά λαμέ και πούλιες κόκκινες golden lame scales and red sequins Θα ‘λεγες, έτοιμα όλα τους να παν You would say, they are all ready to go στο χορό των μεταμφιεσμένων του Άδη. to the dance of the disguised of Hades. In addition, in May, people in Greece (al- most) always make their rst dives in the ocean and start their rst excursions to the Greek islands. May is also the month when all the summer cinemas in the country un- lock their doors so that people can smell jas- mine again and enjoy the seventh art under the stars. Summer Cinema “ΘΗΣΕΙΟΝ” under the Acropolis, Athens Finally, on May 18th, along with the rest of the world, Greece celebrates Museum Day, where all museums are open to the gener- al public with free admission. e message of this anniversary is to make museums in- stitutions of cultural exchanges in order to enhance education, promote mutual under- standing, peace and cooperation between nations. eocharis Papatrechas Greek Language School Director Our heartfelt thanks to the many devoted volunteers who so lovingly helped with the baking of 200 dozen Koulourakia Cook- ies and more than 200 loaves of Tsoureki Bread for our Annual Pascha Bake Sale and Homebound Baskets. Each Pascha Season this undertaking is a labor of love as well as a heartwarming opportunity to experience fellowship and celebrate friendships. is is one of the many projects that enables us to keep alive our beloved cultural traditions through cooking and baking not only for our community to enjoy, but for our children and grandchildren to experience so that one day they can carry the torch. It’s an homage to our Mothers, our Γιαγιάδες, and our Θείες who did the same over these past genera- tions, who lit the path for us to follow. It is with heartfelt gratitude that we thank our Saint Spyridon community for embracing and supporting this endeavor. It brings us great joy that our San Diego Greek Festival will be returning this June! We will embark on our largest undertaking of the year – the preparation of our ever-popu- lar pastries and Greek dishes which, for more than 50 years, have become a beloved and popular tradition in the greater San Diego community. e roots of our Saint Spyridon Philoptochos pastry sales reach back to the late 1940s when our predecessors held their very rst organized Bake Sale to raise funds for the relocation of our church from down- town San Diego to Park Boulevard to accom- modate the growing Orthodox community. Won’t you partake in this beautiful tradition by volunteering your helping hands for this enormous enterprise. Baking begins on May 1st. All are welcome and no experience is re- quired. [See schedule on p. 9] We invite you to join our Anthousa Philop- tochos Chapter. We welcome all – ladies and gentlemen – to help us make a di erence in the lives of many. If you cannot actively participate, your membership pledge helps to enable us to continue to support many charitable endeavors within our parish as well as local, national, and international communities. To join, please contact Melanie Anastopulos melanieanastopulos@gmail.com or Kalliopi Samouris nyckelly@cox.net ( e National and Metropolis Philoptochos trea- suries each receive $15 of every membership donation; any amount over $30 remains in our local chapter’s treasury.) May the grace of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the commu- nion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Χριστός Ανέστη! So a Samouris, Anthousa Chapter President PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS