Like Buckingham Palace or Arlington cemetery, the Greeks have their own tradition of an unblinking, unmovable elite ceremonial guard unit.

In the case of Greece they are called the "Evzones". They stand in front of the parliament building guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier. They also form a ceremonial guard around the presidential residence.

Here one of my students temps the guard, to no avail. Back in 2001 someone threw a Molotov cocktail at one of the guard shacks and set it on fire. The guard held his post unblinking at the cost of a singed uniform until officially relieved by order of an officer.

Their uniform occasions much comment. The day-to-day uniform is in the first picture, the dress uniform is shown here. The uniform however is not as odd as it might look. It is derived from the uniform worn by mountain fighters in the 1830s who led the efforts to secure Greek independence from Turkey.

Think of the 'skirt' as a 'kilt' -- a useful dress when you are crashing through bogs and streams since it allows you to dry off with only a change of socks. In Greek this is not a kilt but a 'fustanella' and is said to have 400 pleats, one for every year the Turks ruled Greece in a sort of "never forget" motif.

Evzones are members of the Greek armed forces and must be at least six feet tall. The man in fatigues is an officer.

Each hour on the hour they perform an odd ritual to accomplish the change of the guard. You'll see them move every 15 minutes to relieve the stress of standing.

I'm willing to believe that each gesture -- such as we see here -- has a symbolic meaning, but I've not seen them explained.

Detail of the dress uniform.

The hobnailed shoe is useful for kicking people.

Evzone officers have their own uniform, also derived from early 1800s costume. I believe this officer is from Crete.