ARMENIAN CHURCH CELEBRATES
By Patricia Norris
The Republican, MA
Sept 5 2005
SPRINGFIELD – St. Mark Armenian Church’s Festival was a little taste
of home for Irina Tumasyan.
Tumasyan, her husband and their children spent the day at the church
festival on Wilbraham Road, visiting, eating and dancing. She and
her family came to the area from Armenia six years ago, she said.
“We enjoy it. We meet other Armenians here,” she said as she watched
a group of women perform an ethnic dance called kochary.
“The dance is a tradition from Lebanon or places like Iran,”
Tumasyan said, two of the countries that absorbed Armenians during
the Diaspora resettlement from the Ottoman Empire at the beginning
of the 20th century.
Armenia is considered the first country to have officially embraced
Christianity as its religion, around 300 A.D.
At all food and drink tables, large glass jars were set up to collect
donations for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Money raised went to
the National Council of Churches Humanitarian Relief Effort.
People tossed change into the jars as they bought traditional breads,
sweets and foods like kufta – stuffed meatballs.
Eleanor Demirjian of Longmeadow, who organized the bake sale, said
she and other volunteers began preparing food a month before the
festival, freezing what they could and then working many hours last
week on the fresh items.
For many people it is a treat to try some of the foods, as many of
the traditional dishes are time consuming to make, Demirjian said.
She said there was no best-seller at her table, but many people seemed
partial to the cheese-filled pastries and the difficult-to-make
meat pies called lahmajoon that the church brought to the festival
from Boston.
“It’s a good reason to get together,” she said, “to share food,
family and camaraderie.”
It was also a time to let non-Armenians learn about their culture
and traditions.
Suren Tumasyan bragged about the fine brandy being served.
“Everyone says it is the best cognac in the world,” he said.