‘Yiayia’s Saloni’ wins best stall at Adelaide’s Mosaic Festival

The Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia’s (GOCSA) Neoléa (Youth) Committee has won the coveted Best Stall Award astatine this year’s Mosaic Festival successful Adelaide, recognised for its creativity, taste storytelling, and assemblage spirit.

The Neoléa team faced the situation of capturing the richness of Greek civilization successful a single stall. Their reply was to recreate the yiayia’s saloni, grandmother’s surviving room, a space that has agelong embodied the warmth, hospitality, and traditions of Greek household life.

Yiayia’s saloni was much than conscionable a room. It was where stories flowed precocious into the nighttime implicit Greek coffee, where lace tablecloths and embroidered cushions spoke of representation and love, and where guests were ever greeted with kerasma (κέρασμα), something sweet to marque them consciousness welcome.

Greek Australian youth volunteers brought “Yiayia’s Saloni” to beingness with assemblage spirit and creativity.

Festival visitors stepped into this recreated surviving room, treated to homemade Greek sweets and vanilia (ipovrichio, the traditional “submarine” spoon sweet).

“Just arsenic successful a Greek home, this enactment of sharing was our way of saying welcome, travel in, you are portion of our family,” the Neoléa team explained.

The stall was inspired by memories of yiayiades’ surviving rooms.

A stall calved of representation and conversation

“This year, we recreated the spirit of our yiayiades’ surviving rooms,” said Chloe Katopodis, Neoléa committee member.

“Our stall was curated from our ain memories and shaped by conversations within the Neoléa community. It was astir honouring where we travel from, while sharing that acquisition with the broader South Australian community.”

Every detail, from lace tablecloths to embroidered cushions, reflected the warmth of Greek household life.

Visitors not lone admired the cautiously crafted details but besides experienced however practice is kept live done hospitality and connection. The stall became little an grounds and much a taste clip capsule.

Festival organisers were profoundly moved by the impact.

“My team and I were near speechless aft Saturday night,” said Lenard Sciancalepore, CEO of MOSAIC Adelaide Inc.

“We, and the audience, felt each emotion under the sun. It was very moving, I mislaid number of however galore times I cried!

Festival-goers were treated to homemade sweets and the traditional “submarine” spoon sweet, vanilia.

“I had assemblage members write to maine aft saying ‘This is the Australia I want to unrecorded in.’ And they couldn’t beryllium much correct. This is South Australia. This is us. This is simply a portion of who we are and we are so arrogant to person created magic together with so galore communities. We stand united and we can’t wait for adjacent year, we’ve already started planning!”

For Neoléa, the grant is not conscionable designation but affirmation that the Greek Australian story resonates widely. The radical thanked its volunteers, community, and festival visitors for helping bring “Yiayia’s Saloni” to beingness and invited everyone to proceed the conversation, “one java and 1 representation astatine a time.”

MOSAIC Adelaide CEO Lenard Sciancalepore praised the stall arsenic “very moving” and a vision of multicultural Australia.