Plate smashing
Plate smashing is a traditional Greek folk custom involving the smashing of plates or glasses during celebratory occasions. In popular culture, the practice is most typical of foreigners' stereotypical image of Greece, and while it occurs more rarely today, it continues to be seen on certain occasions, such as weddings, although plaster plates are more likely to be used.
Contents
History in Greece
Ancient and medieval
The custom probably derives from an ancient practice of ritually "killing" plates on mourning occasions, as a means of dealing with loss. Breaking plates may also be related to the ancient practise of conspicuous consumption, a display of one's wealth, as plates or glasses are thrown into a fireplace following a banquet instead of being washed and reused.
Modern times
In 1969, the military dictatorship of Georgios Papadopoulos, that had suspended democracy and ruled Greece autocratically from 1967 to 1974, banned plate smashing to the great disappointment of Greeks and foreign tourists alike. While it is no longer officially allowed at Greek nightclubs, it still happens occasionally. For private celebrations such as weddings, modern Greeks may purchase specially-produced plaster plates, which are less expensive and dangerous, while being more easily broken. Another modern variation on the custom is for diners at small Greek restaurants or tavernas to buy trays of flowers that they can throw at singers and each other.
In popular culture
- In the Three's Company episode "Greeks a Crowd" the character Larry Dallas (played by Richard Kline) invites his family, visiting from Greece to Jacks Bistro. The large family gathering ends with the Greek celebratory custom of the breaking of plates. Jack, reluctant at first because of all the money it will cost to replace the plates, joins in the celebration when Larry says they will cover the bill for each plate. Jack then looks at the character Janet (Joyce DeWitt) who shows him the final cost of all the plates that were broken. Jack, while clenching the remaining 2 plates he owns, throws them up in the air and says "Opa" and let's them break as well.
- 1998, The TV show "Frasier" has an episode called "Beware of Greeks," in which Frasier's Greek cousin is getting married and his cousin's mother smashes plates at the wedding reception.
- November 12, 2005 "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide", episode 2.6, in which the character Coconut Head smashes a plate on his head for his presentation on Greece.
- February 8, 2011, Packed to the Rafters, episode 4.1, in which the character Nick 'Carbo' Karandonis and his fiancée have an engagement party which includes smashing plaster plates and the mistaken smashing of porcelain plates.
- October 3, 2011, Come Dine with Me Canada, episode 2.16, in which the evening ended with plate smashing "in keeping with the Greek ritual."
- July 16, 2013, Kitchen Cabinet, episode 2.3, in which independent Australian Senator Nick Xenophon and host Annabel Crabb end a dinner discussion at a Greek "yiros" restaurant with an impromptu plate smashing.
- A plate smashing scene is present in the movie Mary and Max.
- In Part I of the Love Boat S6 E18 Episode titled: Isaac's Aegean Affair/The Captain and the Kid/Poor Rich Man/The Dean and the Flunkee, the character of Gopher played by Fred Grandy initiates plate smashing in a Greek restaurant.
See also
- Zeibekiko, a Greek folk dance by the groom
- Breaking the glass at Jewish weddings
- Funeral practices and burial customs in the Philippines
- Marriage and wedding customs in Greece
- Marriage and wedding customs in the Philippines
- Nightclubs in Greece
