8/12/2019 Greek Custom of Smashing Plates

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Having a Smashing Time in GreeceWhy do Greeks break plates?By deTraci RegulaSee More About

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The owners at Knossos' Nostalgia Cafe take no chances - their plates are metal.See More About

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Greeks smashing plates to accompany musicians is a mental image of Greece practically as common as the sight of the Parthenon. But if it were really as common inGreece as foreigners believe, there wouldn't be a saucer left intac t in the entire country. How did this noisy custom get started?Ancient OriginsIn its earliest form, plate smashing may be a survival of the ancient custom of ritually "killing" the ceramic vessels used for feasts commemorating the dead. The voluntarybreaking of plates, which is a type of controlled loss, may also have helped participants in dealing with the deaths of their loved ones, a loss which they could not control.Similar offerings may also have been presented at other times to include the dead in festival proceedings, with the result that this custom for the dead began to be tied inwith all kinds of celebrations.Use them once, then throw them awayOne also has to be suspicious of the ancient wandering potters who used to travel from village to village making their wares wherever the clay was good and there wasenough wood to fire up a kiln. Could the first people to introduce the locals to this fun, exciting new custom have been the potters themselves? Could this custom of breakingplates at parties simply have its origins in a shrewd ancient marketing ploy?Let's skip that houseBreaking plates can also be a symbol of anger, and the sound of shattering crockery is a classic part of domestic disturbances. Since plate breaking often occurs at happyoccasions, it may have begun as a way of fooling malicious spirits into thinking that the event was a violent one instead of a celebration.Worldwide, noise is believed to drive away evil, and the sound of the plates smashing against the stone or marble floors of Greek houses would be loud enough to scare offalmost anything.Step lively, childrenThere is a phrase used by children about sidewalk cracks - "Step on a crack or you'll break the Devil's dishes". In early Crete, ritual offerings and vessels were thrown intocracks and fissures located near peak sanctuaries. These "cracks" would certainly have had "dishes" in them, and later followers of Christianity may have demonized the oldpractice.Since the children's chant is actually a caution to avoid stepping on cracks, it may refer back to ancient associations with these "dishes". So breaking plates during aperformance may be a way of protecting the dancers and musicians by destroying supposedly evil influences present in the poor plates.

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You break my heart, I'll break your plateOne Greek singer I know occasionally breaks plates against his head while he sings a song of the pains of love. He enhances the rhythm of the piece with the smash of theplates and, in character for the song, tries to ease the pains of romantic love by countering them with physical pain. Usually, breaking plates in praise of a musician ordancer is considered a part of "kefi" - the irrepressible expression of emotion and joy.A plate might also be broken when two lovers parted, so that they would be able to recognize each other by matching the two halves even if many years passed before theymet again. Small split versions of the mysterious Phaistos disk are used by modern Greek jewele rs this way, with one half kep t and worn by each of the couple.Money to burn, plates to smashBreaking plates is also an act which implies abundance - "We have so many plates we can break them!" - similar to lighting a fire with a piece of paper money.But breaking plates is now considered a "dangerous" practice due to flying shards, and perhaps also because of intoxicated tourists who have poor aim and may hit thedancers or musicians. It is officially discouraged and Greece actually requires a license for establishments who want to allow it. (Supposedly, plate smashing replacedanother, earlier way of showing approval - by throwing knives into the wooden floors at the dancer's feet.)By the way, if you're offered plates to throw during dances or other performances - be aware that these plates are not free and they will be tallied up at the end of theevening, usually at least a Euro or two each. They are very expensive noisemakers - try applauding or calling out "Opa!" instead. And if you're wearing sandals, please stepcarefully through the shards. Closing your eyes at the moment of smashing the plate is also an excellent idea.In English, the phrase "getting smashed" is slang for getting drunk. Was it first used one morning by a traveler who had a little too much ouzo or tsikoudia, and woke upamong the fragments of the previous night's revels, feeling as broken up as the plates around him? We may never know.Reader Christina Houvarda points out that modern Greeks hold the custom in some disdain. "Nobody breaks plates, as a sign of kefi anymore, people throw flowers instead!In all the bouzoukia or other modern establishments, girls with baskets or plates with flowers go around the tables and sell them to the customers, who throw them to thesingers during the program." The club owners find this less-messy, more-fragrant custom to their liking, as do the performers. "It's another commercial "machine" for thenight clubs to make money. It is well known that all the singers (especially the famous ones) get a percentage on the consumption of flowers!"New twists on an old traditionIn recent times, smashing plates has been used to attract attention to Greek restaurants outside of Greece, with "plate smashers" stationed at the doors to periodically tossdown another plate and attract the attention of passersby.

Some Greek restaurants even cater to the need of clients to break plates by designating a special "smashing area". Many countries, including Britain and Greece, areregulating the ritualized breaking of plates - though clumsy wait staff still are apparently exempt.Recently, breaking plates has also been used as a protest - activists wanting to get the so-called "Thessaloniki 7" hunger strikers freed coordinated an international day ofsmashing plates, with the fragments sent to local Greek embassies with the message that they had been smashed publicly in protest. Did it work? Hard to say, but thehunger strikers were freed the following week, possibly a case of starvation ending with an empty plate rather than a full one.Personally I still think the best use for a Greek plate is to make sure its filled with souvlaki, and the only plates I pay for in Greece are carefully wrapped up and placed deepin my luggage so they arrive home in only one piece.

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Greek custom of smashing platesΚυριακή, 23 Φεβρουαρίου 20142:14 µµ

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