Greek American Legacy Association Celebrates New Year with Traditional Vasilopita Cake-Cutting Ceremony

Northwestern’s Greek American Legacy Association, or GALA, hosted a Greek New Year’s party Friday evening in Kresge Hall.

Attendees stood in a circle and took turns sharing whether they had found a small, golden coin in their slice of traditional Greek new year’s cake, called vasilopita. There is only one coin in the cake, and it symbolizes good luck for whoever is fortunate enough to find it in their serving.

GALA was founded last year by SESP junior Kirka Kallioras and Weinberg senior Nikos Madianos for students of Hellenic descent and philhellenes — friends of Greeks.

Before the club was founded at NU, there was an absence of a community for Greek people and those that enjoy Greek culture, Kallioras said.

“We have people who were born in Greece, people who were born in the U.S. and are Greek and people who love Greeks,” Kallioras said. “We have people from everywhere.”

McCormick sophomore Achilleas Mittaris, who is from Ioannina, Greece, said he’s been involved in GALA since the beginning of his time at NU. He said he loves having a space to meet Greeks and Greek American students, as well as having a chance to experience the culture away from home.

According to Mittaris, funding is the biggest challenge the club currently faces. The club needs more money to host fun events, especially cuisine-related ones, Mittaris said.

“A lot of people like Greek food,” Mittaris said. “If we had more funding, we could show more of our cuisine and our culture.”

Mittaris also said he appreciated how many non-Greek students showed up to the event. Among these attendees were Weinberg sophomore Alisa Vazgryna and McCormick junior Natalie Cheng, both of whom studied abroad in Greece.

Both Vazgryna and Cheng are classics majors and took Ancient Greek classes with the club’s adviser, Weinberg Prof. Ryan Platte, who advertised GALA in his classes, Vazgryna said.

“The club offered modern Greek lessons last year,” Vazgryna said. “We were like, ‘Why don't we show up?’ and so we went before going to Greece.”

In addition to offering language classes, Kallioras said GALA meets a couple of times per quarter and hosts various cultural events. In the past, she said, they have hosted a professional event with the consul general of Greece in Chicago, a Greek Easter celebration, Greek dancing class and frappe making session — a Greek coffee.

The New Year’s party was their first event of the quarter, and saw around 40 people in attendance, which Mittaris said exceeded his expectations.

“It was a big success,” Mittaris said. “A lot of people were here, and I love that it was not only Greeks; it was Greek Americans and people who love Greece.”

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