Ancient Greek Feast

We finished our study of Ancient Greece this week with an Ancient Greek Feast. This year we are trying something new, and holding a feast for each major country we study. It has been so much fun, and the kids thought tonight was the best yet! Why did I decide to begin holding feasts this year? For the answer, read Bring Your A Game on my Counter-cultural Mom blog.

Our Table
My oldest son suggested we eat on a triclinium table. Greeks, Romans, and Jews during Jesus’ time all ate at triclinium tables. These tables were three-sided, with the fourth side open. They were usually low to the ground and diners reclined, as on a couch, with their head toward the table.

We “built” our triclinium table using the leaves for our dining room and kitchen tables. We surrounded the “table” with couch cushions. I would recommend using cushions from an old couch, like we did. If you don’t have an old couch you might want to cover the couch with beach towels. There were several spills tonight, as no one was used to reclining while eating!

Simple Costumes
We made simple, inexpensive Greek chiton robes to wear. I used the same two white thrift store sheets that I constructed our Egyptian Feast costumes from earlier this year. I had cut those two sheets into six pieces (kilts for dad and the boys and a simple dress for me).

You know I’m all about keeping it quick and easy! My dress didn’t really need to be altered at all (see the Egyptian post for no-sew instructions as to how I made it).

For the boys, I took their portion of the sheet and folded it in half. I cut a hole out for their head and they slipped it on. Then I cut two holes for arms and presto! We were done. I’ll adapt these same pieces of sheet for our Roman togas in a few weeks when we do our Roman feast! I’ve gotten a lot of mileage this year from two cheap thrift store sheets!

Our Personas
Each boy wanted to be a different person that we studied. Our feast was quite the Who’s Who event, as we had Archimedes, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Alexander the Great all in attendance. We read that women weren’t allowed to publish written works in ancient Greece, so they often did so under the name “Anonymous”. Women weren’t allowed to eat with men, either. So I went by the name Anonymous tonight, and joined the feast! The boys thought it was a clever way around the problem.

Anonymous is having fun, while Plato is deep in philosophical thought.

I was hoping to have a Socratic Method Discussion during our meal, but that was an unrealistic goal. We had lots of fun, laughing and joking and enjoying the food. Our reading indicated that we were supposed to each take a piece of bread and dip it in our “wine” (sparkling grape juice) before starting the feast, but we forgot. Everyone was too eager to dive in and try the lamb!

See my post Recipes for the Greek Feast for our menu!

I got out the pattern blocks a couple weeks ago. The younger boys have loved playing with them while we read!