The flight from Canada to Thessaloniki for the 22-year-old Canadian and his Filipina girlfriend had a big surprise and a different destination. An unexpected love was born in the skies, with the two young people finally finding themselves, some time later, on the steps of the Thessaloniki City Hall and exchanging vows of eternal love.
The young man was coming to the city to study, while the girl was flying on the same flight to Germany, where she lived permanently. As soon as the plane landed in Europe and just before the 22-year-old got on the next connecting flight to Macedonia airport, he proposed to her to follow him and she said «yes». She said the same «yes» shortly afterwards at the civil wedding they held in the presence of the Deputy Mayor of Operational Planning, e-Government and Migration Policy, George Avarlis.
«They didn't know a single word of Greek. A lawyer had undertaken the translation process, while the newlyweds did not even have a second witness for the wedding, so a municipal employee was recruited to perform the ceremony,» Avarlis told the Athens/Macedonian News Agency.
The case of the two young people is not the only proof that love has no borders and can annihilate barriers and distances. Similar cases of civil marriages that took place at the Town Hall of Thessaloniki and stood out were between a Syrian national, a recognised refugee in Greece, who lives here, and a Canadian national of Syrian origin, a resident of Canada, and between two Lebanese residents of Thessaloniki.
«I want to believe that the city, which has been a crossroads of cultures, still gathers people from different cultures who decide to tie their lives here,» Mr Avarlis added, speaking to APE-MPA.
In 2021, the central municipality's population registers recorded an increase in the number of both civil marriages and civil partnerships. In particular, 604 marriages were performed compared to 572 performed in 2020 and 337 civil partnerships were signed compared to 302 the previous year. Of the 604 marriages, around 94% of the brides and grooms were Greek, while the remaining 6% were foreigners from various countries of the world. Of these, almost half of those who chose to get married at the town hall were between 31 and 40 years old, while the next age group to «dare» was between 18 and 30 years old.
Births also increased
Apart from the increase in marriages, however, there was also an increase in the births of children registered in the municipality of Thessaloniki last year. The municipality's municipal registers recorded the births of 4,544 children in 2020, compared to 4,480 babies who came to life in 2020.
Anastasia Karypidou
