Makedonia Ksakousti is a traditional Greek song, a folk song considered something like the anthem of Macedonia in Northern Greece. It is translated to “Famous Macedonia”.
It is a song much beloved by the Greeks, especially the ones in Northern Greece. The song Makedonia Ksakousti is associated with the Macedonian fighters also known as Makedonomahoi and it was sung during the Balkan Wars.
The song can be heard on parades and national anniversaries and is included in the list of military marches, based on the traditional Macedonian Dance, associated with the Byzantine guards of the borders, known as Akrites.
In its original form, in the third line of the song they used to sing: you drove away the Bulgarians, but as relations between Greece and Bulgaria normalized over the years after the Balkan wars, the word “Βούλγαρους” (“Bulgarians”), was later substituted with the more politically correct “βάρβαρους” (“barbarians” – which traditionally meant foreigners, ie non Greeks) to avoid problems and nationalist passions.