The New Glasgow and Stellarton Area of Nova Scotia

Some Greeks in the New Glasgow/ Stellarton area of Nova Scotia have roots that go back to the late nineteenth century. John Spyridakis came to New Glasgow about 1898. While most of his descendants now live in the Halifax area, some family members remain in Pictou County, and most of them now spell the family name as Sperdakes. A few years ago we interviewed several families from approximately 140 Greek Canadians in the New Glasgow-Stellarton area of Nova Scotia. In the following examples, I describe three such families who live in an area where there are few other Greeks. All these families have become comfortable in a Maritime environment. Connection with their Greek heritage differs in each case.

Members of the Manos family have lived in New Glasgow since the 1920s. When the Manos family came to New Glasgow from a village near Sparta in southern Greece, they opened a candy store/ coffee counter with a relative who was already living in the town. Mrs. Katina Manos (now deceased) worked at home until her eighties, rising early each morning to make cakes, cookies, and candies which were sold later that day in the store. When the Manos family arrived in Nova Scotia, they had limited financial resources, and there were only a few other Greek families in the community. They tried to adjust to the local community, while at the same time maintaining their Greek identity and traditions.

In an interview conducted in the mid-1980s Mrs. Manos said: “ In the past it was better not to have close friends, especially in a small Greek community, because the gossip could get you into trouble. So you kept everything inside and you said nothing in order to maintain a quiet life.” In her early life in New Glasgow, looking after six young children, Mrs. Manos was not as involved in their family store as much as some of her Greek neighbours: “My children were my life. A Greek neighbour of mine had nine children and had to rush back to the restaurant right after each child was born. At least I did not have to go out to work. My husband, Nick Manos, was too proud for that, but he did have the children work in the store.”

Because the Manos family was largely cut off by distance from the Greek church and school in Halifax, they found it very difficult to maintain traditional Orthodox ties, and to give the children any formal training in the Greek language. Mrs. Manos remembered one occasion when “… the Greek bishop was travelling through and visited us. He took one look at a Sunday school certificate, which came from the local Anglican Church and told my husband off. However, my husband was not intimidated by that and said to the bishop, ‘I dare you to ask my children any question on religion, and see if they don’t know the answer. What do you expect me to do since there is no Greek church here. Let them learn nothing?’ The bishop had nothing to say to him.”

However, in recent years as travel became easier in Nova Scotia, the Manos family, and particularly elderly Mrs. Manos, renewed ties with the Greek church in Halifax. Mrs. Manos had very fond memories of Rev. Charalambos Elles, who was priest at St. George’s in Halifax until the mid-1980s. She confided: “At Easter I send the priest a big tsoureki [bread-cake] with coloured eggs on it to bless for me on Easter Sunday, and he says a special prayer in church for his Greek friends in New Glasgow. The priest has been very good to us all these years. He conducted the funeral service for my husband and we went to Halifax a couple of times for the mnemosyno [anniversary] service later.”

In other interviews two of Mr. Manos’ daughters, Helen and Angelina Manos, talked quite candidly about their lives growing up Greek in this largely non-Greek community. Helen Manos had come to New Glasgow as a three-month-old infant, but Angelina Manos was born in Nova Scotia. Angelina Manos related that “the only social events when I was growing up was whenever the Greek ships came to Pictou Harbour to pick up loads of wood. The Greek crew would invite all of us in the Greek community on board the ship, and give us a meal. We had lots of fun. I have a picture of myself and my sisters on board one of these ships when we were teenagers.”

Now with the help of another sister and one brother, Helen and Angelina run the family store, The London Food and Candy Store, started by their father, Nick Manos. In accordance with their father’s wishes, the girls began to work at the family store at an early age. Both women know only a little spoken Greek. Angelina Manos said, “It is very unfortunate for me that the Greek church bulletin does not have much English. I can’t read the Greek”. Because of the lack of a Greek church in New Glasgow, they became, and remain members of the Anglican church, although from time to time they do contribute money to the Greek church in Halifax. Helen and Angelina Manos are godmother or koumbara for their brother Jim’s children, and try to do everything in that role according to Greek ways. Angelina Manos talked about how she and her family try to preserve the major Greek holidays, especially Easter. They also remember the anniversary of their father’s death (and now that of their mother) with kolliva, a special mixture of wheat and herbs.

Angelina and Helen spoke of their father with both affection and exasperation. “ Our father was very good about sponsoring other Greeks to come to Canada. To us he was demanding and monitored our phone calls and our friends whom we invited home for dinner. My father was too generous with his customers, not particularly sensible when it came to the store. He gave everything on credit and never tried to collect the debts. When we, his children, took over the store it was in a bad financial shape. Now, however, we are doing very well.”

In their forties the Manos sisters finally decided that they wanted to buy their own place and move out of the family home. Their younger brother Jim (now Dr. James Manos of Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax) gave them moral support in reaching such a difficult decision. Helen Manos told us about a high point in her life in 1967, when her brother Jim was visiting in Greece for a year. “Jim, my brother, made all the arrangements for my sister and myself to fly to Greece. We were very nervous because up to that point the furthest we had been was Halifax, when the circus came. I clearly remember the outings to Halifax. They were not very many, but we enjoyed them, even though we were loaded with responsibilities to look after the younger children, because Mum never really wanted to go on a trip like that. She welcomed the opportunity of having one day’s peace and quiet without us all. Anyway, our visit to Greece was the one and only time there. We really enjoyed it, and our relatives made us feel very welcome. Everybody came to see us and we managed very well with our broken Greek. I regret not going back, but I just don’t like flying.”

Individuals from the Xiros and Demetre families round out the picture of Greek Canadians in a part of Nova Scotia which most people probably think of as predominantly Scottish. With the help of family friend, Nick Manos, Alice and Haralambos (“Bobby”) Xiros came from Montreal to Nova Scotia in 1966. They intended to open a pizza parlor with Mrs. Xiros’ brothers, who had moved to the province from South America. Before coming to Canada from their native Greece Mr. and Mrs. Xiros had spent four years living in London and Paris. At the time of the interviews in the 1980s Alice and Bobby Xiros had two teenaged sons at home and an older daughter who was expecting her first baby. The entire family was living in New Glasgow. This interview with Mr. and Mrs. Xiros was conducted in Greek. The Xiros family told our interviewer that they had many Canadian friends and that they enjoyed Canadian sports such as hockey, baseball, and soccer. They attended St. George’s Anglican Church in New Glasgow, but they also supported St. George’s Greek Church in Halifax and were listed as parishioners there. While they spoke to their children in Greek, traveled with them to Greece, and told them about Greece, they were proud, at the same time, that their children were very much Canadian. Alice and Bobby Xiros were very positive about their life in Canada, complaining only about the cold Canadian winters!

Mr. Peter Demetre of Trenton, Nova Scotia was born in Canada of Greek parents. Married to a non-Greek, he and his family speak only English. Few of their friends are Greek. They have never traveled to Greece, and their only contact with, for example, Greek food comes when they visit his sisters in Halifax. They do not participate in activities associated with the Greek church in Halifax. In fact, Mr. Demetre said that he would like to see more use of English in the Greek Church and more encouragement for Canadian-born Greeks to study for the priesthood. This would increase the comfort level for the numerous Greek families in which one spouse is non-Greek. Mr. Demetre and his family feel very much part of the Canadian mainstream and regard Nova Scotia as “home”.