Greek Communities
The largest concentration of Greek people reside in the country's capital city, Wellington. It is estimated that 65 percent of all Greek New Zealanders live there. The inner-city suburb of Mount Victoria developed a distinct Greek character after World War II as Greek immigrants clustered together for community support. Today the eastern suburb of Miramar is the city's main Greek enclave, with significant numbers also residing in Hataitai and Seatoun. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and the Embassy of Greece are both located in Wellington.
Smaller communities exist in Christchurch, Auckland and Napier/Hastings. Greek Orthodox churches exist in all these centres.
Many Greek New Zealanders enjoy the riches of two cultures - maintaining Greek cultural customs whist integrating into the Kiwi way of life.
It has been estimated that that about 50 percent of marriages of Greek persons are now mixed. It is common for the wedding to take place in the Greek Orthodox Church with the non-Greek non-Christian partner becoming baptised before the marriage.
Read more about this topic: Greeks In New Zealand
Famous quotes containing the words greek and/or communities:
“Certainly for us of the modern world, with its conflicting claims, its entangled interests, distracted by so many sorrows, so many preoccupations, so bewildering an experience, the problem of unity with ourselves in blitheness and repose, is far harder than it was for the Greek within the simple terms of antique life. Yet, not less than ever, the intellect demands completeness, centrality.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip, controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, the quality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilization.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)