98% of the 10.6m population of Greece speak Greek, which is the country's official language.  The largest minority language is Macedonian, spoken by 1.8% of the population.  Others include Albanian, spoken in the centre and the south, Turkish, spoken by Muslim communities around the Aegean, Aruminian and Bulgarian region.  None of these minority languages has official status. 

The Greek Orthodox Church is the national religion and is practiced by the majority of the population.  Religion is integral to life in Greece and is evidenced in the respect for hierarchy and view of the family as a single unit of strength.  Most holidays and festivals are religious in nature.  Easter is the major religious holiday and the celebration is more important to most Greeks than Christmas.

Family is important to Greeks, included their extended family.  Traditionally, the male is the head of the family and historically families were large.  Generally Greek families care for their elderly parents as it is traditionally seen as the children's duty to care for aged parents and not to do so is dishonourable.  Shame is often felt by family members who place an aged parent in residential care.  Residential care is often viewed as a last resort.   

If you are invited to a Greek home, you can expect to be treated like royalty.  However you need to dress well as a sign of respect to the hosts.  You may also offer help to the hostess with the preparation or clearing up after a meal is served.  Your offer may not be accepted but it will be appreciated.  It is also considered polite to soak up gravy or sauce with a piece of bread and people often share food from their plate.

Meals in the Greek culture are social events, with all components of the meal (bread, salads, olives and dips) placed on the table for people to serve themselves.  Large quantities of fish are eaten and lamb is also popular with meats being served with sauce from their juices.  With most meals, salads are served and dressed with olive oil and lemon juice or vinegar.  Wine is also enjoyed at both lunch and dinner.  If a person is unable to have wine, cranberry juice can be used as a subtitute.

Greek supertitions came from religion or paganism and vary from region to region.  In villages, bread is considered as a gift from God.  Old women bless the bread and make the sign of the cross with a knife before slicing it.  Some Greeks, especially in villages, believe that someone can catch the evil eye or matiasma, from someone else's jealousy, a compliment or envy.  To avoid it, those who believe, wear a charm, a little blue marble glass with an eye painted on it or a blue bracelet.  Garlic is another way to ward off the evil eye and one can see it hanging in a corner of some houses.

Greeks never hand knives to someone who asks for it.  They consider that if they do that they'll have a fight with the person.  Therefore they set it down on the table and let the other person pick it up.  Another interesting supertition is that they believe if they see a black cat and a priest during the same day, it is a bad luck superstition.  Unlike the Westerners, the unlucky day in Greece is Tuesday the 13^th.