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Family

Everything was family!

On Sunday morning family members attended church. Afterwards, friends and extended families gathered to share a leg of lamb or attend a summer picnic. There were many occasions to socialize: name days, weddings, birthdays for children, holy days, holidays, performances, and recitals by children in school or church programs.

Vaios and Efthemia Coravos - Name Day celebration, Palm Sunday, 1934

In many households both parents worked full-time. If both parents worked, they typically alternated shifts so that one parent would be home with the children. Neighbors also cooperated in the care of children. The close quarters of tenement life guaranteed that someone would be around the neighborhood to look after youngsters.

Older aunts and friends often provided child care. Through the network of relatives and neighbors, children received benefit beyond care-taking. For example, women who had grown up in Greek villages instilled their values and heritage in the young Americans.

Families were extended through the role of the "Koumbari." The connection was through the traditional godparent ("nouno" and "nouna") and the sponsor at a wedding. The bonds from these roles served to link people generation after generation.

Stavroula Sampatakakis,

A "yiayia" (grandmother)

She wore a "mandili" (kerchief)

and peasant dress.

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