Do you have Greek ancestors who were nomadic shepherds?   If you do, you will find the article SHEPHERDS, BRIGANDS, AND IRREGULARS IN NINETEENTH CENTURY GREECE very interesting.  It was written by John S. Koliopoulos and published in The Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, No. 4, Pages 41-53, Winter 1981. You can read the entire article by following the link in the paragraph above.  Below you will find a short excerpt -  The real home for the pastoralist was the mountain, and the center of mainland Greek pastoralism was the Pindus mountain range, easily reached from the plains and valleys of Thessaly, Sterea Hellas (continental Greece), Epirus, and southern Macedonia. Mount Pindus and the adjacent mountains of southern Macedonia and Sterea Hellas, as well as the plains and coastal lowlands of Thessaly, Arta, Aitolia, Phthiotis, Katerini, and Thessaloniki, provided the suitable combination of summer and winter pastures for the flocks of sheep and goats of th...

ETHNOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF THRACE " The Ethnological Museum of Thrace was founded with the purpose of preserving historical memory in the wider region of Thrace and is a self-funded organization.   Since 1899 it has been operating in Alexandroupolis in a leased, stone-built neoclassical building that dates from 1899. The Museum is open for the public since October 2002.  It was self financed project   and at times sponsored by the Stauros Niarhos Foundation and the Ministry of Culture. Τ he Ethnological Museum of Thrace is a living cell where people can learn about the folk culture and the customs of Thrace, a place that will connect tradition and the memory contained within it with the concerns of modern society. The purpose of the museum is to study, project, and promote the Thracian culture. The Museum is aims for its place to be a motive for re-evaluation of tradition.  The exhibits where organized in such a way so that the visitor can form a full picture...

FOLKLORE AND NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM - GEORGIOS KOMNIDES View photographs and watch video tour Nea Chili, Alexandroupoli Regional Unit of Evros, East Macedonia and Thrace Region, Greece

ART OF SILK MUSEUM Soufli,  Regional Unit of Evros,  East Macedonia and Thrace Region,  Greece "F or the last 60 years the Tsiakiri Silk House has been active in the production of silk in Soufli. Now they have created a jewel in the centre of the town, a unique space to show off and preserve the rich tradition of silk weaving and production in the area. Original exhibits combined with the latest technology take the visitor, step by step, on a journey as unique as that of silk itself. In the Art of Silk Museum you will be guided through the exhibits in the carefully restored neoclassical building. The exhibits are in working order and the visitor will be able to get a taste of what it meant to work in the silk industry from silk reeling and processing machines to weaving both with power and hand looms. Alongside the exhibits there are videos demonstrating the various stages in the manufacture of silk from sericulture (the rearing of silkworms) t...

Educational and Cultural Association of Monastiraki  - link to  article published in psithiri.gr Magazine online (May 2010) Monastiraki, Regional Unit of Drama, East Macedonia and Thrace Region, Greece

"Mikrasia Revisited:  A Glimpse of Peristasi in Eastern Thrace" article by James L. Marketos, Esq. published on the Hellenic Communication Service, L.L.C. website  (Posting date 02 July 2010. Reproduced with permission of the author. The article has also appeared in  Odyssey  magazine, November/December 2007, pp94-95, under the title "A Glimpse of Peristasi.") " Marketos writes eloquently and poignantly about a trip taken by his mother to her ancestral Greek village in occuped Thrace. Although nearly all traces of the village's Greek character and origin had been erased or lost since the exchange of populations, one village elder recalled her family, offering a tenuous link to the childhood stories her own mother had related often."   Read more. . . .