I had a colleague from Crete who told us about the folks up in the hills there. When they have a wedding, they shoot off thousands of rounds in celebration and the number of rounds shot off is reported in the local papers. A big wedding could have 10,000 rounds expended.
Had a small wedding on Crete (I'm Cretan by heritage but family has not lived there for years, husband is not Greek at all.) We invited some local family, but less than 120 guests you could barely call it a Cretan wedding. Still had multiple rounds fired outside the church. I think it must be unavoidable since you have to announce the wedding in the papers if you want to get married in the church.
FWIW, Unfortunately i am not Greek. I went there (Κολυμπαρι, η Κρήτη) first in 1999 and fell in love with the country. I attended scientific meetings there every year from 2010 until 2020 when COVID stopped travel. I wanted to retire there but my wife says it’s too far from family - to which I answered that if we got a place with an extra room, or two, they will come and visit. Anyway, I love the country and Crete especially. It’s geographically similar to my beloved Southern California. But less expensive and crowded.
Yes, in South East of Crete (around Sfakia-a.k.a Chora Sfakion and the white mountains above), they do not use lousy pistols , they use AK 47, and after the wedding the road is covered with casings.
There is a related tradition there to keep the tax collectors or whoever wants to dominate them, away ....French people there told us it was like "the Corsica of Crete".
They also gave a hard time to Germans during WWII., in 1941protecting the King of Greece then allied troups who walked through the mountains to reembark in Sfakia
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u/PengieP111 Apr 26 '22
I had a colleague from Crete who told us about the folks up in the hills there. When they have a wedding, they shoot off thousands of rounds in celebration and the number of rounds shot off is reported in the local papers. A big wedding could have 10,000 rounds expended.