Yassou Nona: The role of the Godmother.

Hi thea, you make me laugh so hard! "I'm curious now as to what name you give your mother in laws over the Pond." My husband said I need to tell you Satan, bytch, monster in law the other things mylot won't let me said. But, you have to remember this is his mother so she is really bad if he is the one that said that.

That is so weird to me. I don't know if that was ever a practice here in the US. I could imagine there would be a lot of unmarried people LOL I call my husband's mother by her name and I would never call her "mom" I think my husband would rather call her by her name and say she is my mother.

So living together as a happy family unit with you doing all the work whilst new mama just sits and shouts her instructions never really appealed I suppose. I have a friend who says her mother in law is really nice, but she lives at the other end of the country.

Ok dbu, here goes with simple English. In Greece a young child is taken to the church to receive a Greek name.(the baptism) The godmother promises to take responsibilty for the child as well as the mother. After this the mother and child are then officially related to the godmother who will look after the child if the mother is ill or needs help. The child then calls the godmother Nona, and the godmother becomes the koubara to the mother. The whole family of the godmother becomes family to the mother and child. Please tell me if I need to explain again dbu, I posted this for you.

Thank you very much thea.. I understand now. In my country there are no such similar relationships. Have a great day.

wow. i think if that where to happen to me i would so run under a rock with my kid and hide till everyone stopped looking for me, and then run away home!! hhaha you are strong to stay there.. but i bet the food is all work it huh huh huh ? *nudge* mm i love baklava (sp)

Hi Sissygrl, I am not religious in the slightest to make a bit of an understatent and rejected the whole concept of godparents when my son was born in the UK, but when you move countries and want to integrate well it's best to go along with things to be accepted as one of 'them'. I never dreamt of picking a godmother, she picked on my son, and organised it all without filling me in on what it actually entailed. I rather had the idea that it would be a bit of a tradition done and then a nice party - no. Even before we'd left the church, and let me tell you the whole baptism bit was a really jolly experience, the papers were out for me to sign and take up to the local town hall giving my son an official Greek name and making us part of the family. All true my dear. And welcome too to the new interest of Greek Life Style, by tomorrow you will a high ranking member.

Hi Hatley, I'm familiar with the type of godparents you mention who are generally chosen as someone trustworthy and loved. Being an incomer here I rather had the whole thing foisted upon me against my will but do enjoy the benefits of now belonging to a large Greek family, despite the bossiness involved. I believe my son would hopefully be allowed to make his own choice now in the event of being left alone in the world but you've actually made me realise it should be something that I do look into and get down on paper as his choice now would no longer be the nona and perhaps the papers I signed would give her first say. Maybe a visit to my lawyer is in order, thank you Hatley, you've brought something to my mind which needs attention.

Yassou Aunty, no I never considered the idea either, just rather got coerced into it before I realised all the implications, but it has given me someone who is guaranteed to step in if I really need help, such as when I was in the hospital and I needed someone to look after my son, it was a sort of duty thing that she stepped in and it saved me a lot of worry, so there's a good side to it too. The unwanted advice tends to go in one ear and out the other though Aunty and I just smile politely and then ignore it.(Looks like at least another 4 days before there will be any real life smiling though, unless my lips are firmly clamped together - but the Godmother did approve of the choice of dentist I used).

Ican see where there would be advantages to having one & disadvantages to unlee like u people could just turn them off when need be, lol.Have a good weekend. YASSOU.

Hi kitty, I should think you'd be rather suited to the role of godmother as obviously sound as though you love children. The godmother in question doesn't raise the child, just interferes a lot, but she did take my son in when for 10 days when I had to go in hospital and then needed some time to recover.

Hello my friend I think if one of my god childrens parents became sick they would go to their grandmother before they send them to a god parent, really weird when you think of the differences, in some case the god parents barely see the kids, I see one more than the other, this more than anything I feel is financial, when they give parties god mommy should come well prepared. Thank you.

Ah but I got a whole family when I signed up Kitty, and with it comes serious duties out here.

Yes, fortunately I can and I will break that tradition. Shall it ever be the case, I won't be wedded by persons of the same family that my Godparents are from. Nor will my virtual children be baptised by them. I just don't like them, and that's that.

Good for you stvasile, I don't know how difficult it is to break with tradition there. There is no obligation for us to contine the koubara/godmother relationship on to another generation, after all next generations can be a bit of a touchy thing out here with so much interbreeding.

Hi stvasile, the actual relationship of godmother (nona) to child is easy to understand and it is not a generational thing like you describe but ususally a close family friend or someone who just expects to do it. By this relationship I acquired this Koubara and nobody warned me first. That is the oddest relationship of all and people refer to one another as koubara before an event, for instances one of the local fisherman insists he will be my koubaros if I remarry, that is to say he will be the person of importance at such an event even though I haven't asked him, the idea being if he goes on about it long enough I'll just give in and accept it. So although it's the same idea in our two countries they go about it a slightly different way. Whoever becomes koubara or koubaros though is officially family on paper and is connected for life. So can you break the tradition in your case, surely it is better to have someone you are close with as there will be all those holiday visits to go through?