Famous Macedonia

The origin of the march is not certain. According to an ethnographic study conducted in villages in Serres and Drama, the song was not known or danced to in the area. Women from Ano Oreini and Petrousa attribute the Greek lyrics and the teaching of the dance to an anonymous teacher after World War II. Women from Petrousa claim that the melody of the song is a modification of a local malady of theirs, which was made "somewhere more centrally", and they dance to a similar melody with Slavic lyrics and different steps, similar to those of other local traditional dances.^[2]

The musicologist Markos Dragoumis found a cassette with Ladino songs of Thessaloniki, which included the melody of the song, as a composition made for the opening of the Schola de la Alianza, the first Jewish school of Thessaloniki, in 1873. Dragoumis guesses that it was either composed for the opening of the school and later was transmitted to the groups in the area, or it was originally composed in the middle of the 19th century by some Western composer for the Ottoman Sultan and later used by the Jewish communities.^[2]

In the original version, the song mentioned the Bulgarians and promoted anti-Bulgarian sentiments.^[1][3] The song promotes the idea about the Greekness of Macedonia and Alexander the Great, as well as expressing joy about regaining freedom. The lyrics either originate from the Balkan Wars or the Macedonian Struggle. In Greek folklore, the lyrics have been associated with the Makedonomachoi (Macedonian fighters). After the Balkan Wars, the song continued to be taught in Greek schools, especially in the northern part of the country. During the 1970s, when Greek–Bulgarian relations improved under the government of Konstantinos Karamanlis, the term "Bulgarians" was removed from the lyrics.^[1][3] During the Macedonia naming dispute, in the 1990s, the march was featured in demonstrations asserting the Greekness of Macedonia.^[4] The song has been often considered as the unofficial anthem of Greek Macedonia. It is taught in schools in the northern part of the country to promote national values.^[3]

According to the Greek Army's website, it is a military march or emvatirio based on the traditional Macedonia dance, which is related with Acrítes of Byzantium.^[5]