Month: December 2023

Growing up in a multi-generational Armenian household, New Year’s Eve was much like Saturday mornings, except the laundry and cleaning were on turbo drive. You see, the Armenian women in my family faithfully believed that starting a new year with dirty laundry, dirty house and dirty sheets would carry over the dirty demons from the previous year. And that meant the hampers needed to be completely emptied before any celebrations began.

Fast forward to the next generation, when I waived the Saturday morning cleaning rituals with my children but not the New Year’s Eve laundry and cleaning extravaganza. You can decide whether this is an Armenian superstition, folktale or tradition. As for me, I’m too afraid to care about the difference and believe my mother Rose and grandmother Lucy will haunt me from Heaven if I don’t comply. Now that my children are grown and on their own, they dodge my texts leading up to and on New Year’s Eve knowing full well what I will be checking on. Thankfully, there are young grandchildren to indoctrinate and keep the tradition moving forward. 

Ironically, this ritual has become much more than a to-do item on a checklist, but rather a beloved homage to my ancestral traditions. It tickled my curiosity to discover more rituals that are celebrated by Armenians and many other cultures around the world. Here are a few: 

Food and Drink

Unsurprisingly, a significant portion of rituals for Armenians and other ethnicities include food and drinks that are doused with good luck. Friends from the Armenian Cooking Facebook group speak of gatherings with family and friends to enjoy traditional dishes ranging from full course meals of pilaf, turkey or roast beef and beloved side dishes of kufte, sarma and boreg to sweet and salty desserts like paklava and assorted nuts and dried fruits. Many families pray at the stroke of midnight, kiss and exchange gifts. Some even talk about the benefits of khash (cow hooves simmered overnight for a roasted broth) on New Year’s Day to cure hangovers, including the late, great Anthony Bourdain on his 2017 Parts Unknown episode titled “Anthony Bourdain – Khash in Armenia.” The experience wouldn’t be complete without the guests raising glasses of spirits with a toast for the hosts and the khash makers that is loosely translated as, “Let my feet bring luck to your home.” 

Armenian khash (Wikimedia Commons)

Many cultures combine food with a game of chance, such as in Greece where a clean penny is baked into pita (spinach pies), and the lucky finder is said to have good fortune for the year. Other cultures combine food with symbolic origins, such as in Japan where eating a bowl of long thin soba noodles (firm yet easy to bite) is believed to symbolize a literal break away from the old year, signifying a new beginning. Additionally, some cultures associate fish as an auspicious New Year’s dish, as fish swim forward, mirroring the forward movement of time.

First Footing

The first person who walks through your doors on New Year’s Day may set the tone for the new year. In Albania, if it’s a small child, preferably a little boy who enters the house, the year will go well. But even more importantly, the person must enter with their right foot first. Similarly, in Scotland the first person to cross the threshold into one’s home indicates the theme of the year to come. Stemming from the days of Viking invasions, if the first footer is a tall and dark man, the year will be protected against the Vikings.

Water

As one of the critical elements of earth that drives the ebbs and flow of life, using water as a symbolic gesture is a natural place for new beginnings. Brazilians head to the warm beaches at midnight to jump seven waves while making seven wishes. In colder climates, people have flocked to freezing cold water for a ritual known as a Polar Bear Plunge since 1920, albeit without an origin of good luck. The ritual was started by a swimming enthusiast who felt that everyone should swim once a day, and it has become a philanthropic tradition to raise funds for charitable causes. In Puerto Rico, many believe that dumping a bucket of water out the window drives away evil spirits, while other cultures send their children running around the house to turn on faucets at midnight. 

Making Noise

Whether it’s the squeaky sound of party horns at the stroke of midnight, the unconventional tradition in Denmark of throwing plates and glasses at loved ones’ front doors for good luck, or the practice of banging pots and pans to ward off demons—New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world are here to stay. 

While there are no guarantees that any New Year tradition will make the year ahead a better one, there’s no harm in trying something new to ring in the new year with a fresh start. And take it from me, if you want to make an Armenian mother or grandmother happy, call her at midnight to tell her that you have finished your laundry and have clean sheets on your bed. That should start fresh beginnings for both of you!

Happy New Year, and may our feet bring good luck to each other’s homes.

Armenian nativity scene (Flickr)

Christmas is the celebration of God’s revelation of Himself in and through Jesus Christ. God reveals Himself in many ways—in historical events, in nature, through the Bible, through persons and supremely through Jesus Christ.

God’s revelation through Jesus Christ is called Incarnation. Incarnation tells us the truth about God. It tells us about His intervention in human affairs. It tells us about His true nature, about His self-giving love. It tells us that God came into this sin-filled world out of love in order to save it.

Incarnation also tells us the truth about human nature. It tells us that mankind has violated God’s will and has alienated itself from Him. God, however, wants to reconcile humanity, to restore the broken relationship and bring His sinful children to Him.

Christmas is the celebration of God’s presence with us here and now. Centuries ago, God told the prophet Isaiah that a baby was going to be born whose name would be called Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Isaiah 7:4).

One of the central affirmations of Christmas is that in Jesus Christ we see the love of God for humankind made flesh. In the fullness of time—God’s most opportune time—He intercepted human history with the gift of a Savior to redeem a world that had lost touch with its Creator.

In Jesus Christ we have come to know who God is. He indeed is Immanuel—God with us. Not a remote God beyond space and time, but God within us, among us, a deity that binds us to Himself and to one another.

The greatest news that Christmas imparts is that the God who came to mankind in the babe of Bethlehem two thousand years ago can come to us today if we make room for Him in our lives.

In the nativity story of Jesus, Luke tells us why it was necessary for him to be born in a manger. It was because there was no room for the Holy Family in the inn (Luke 2:7). And the most obvious reason why there was no room for Jesus was because the inn was occupied to capacity. One wonders whether the innkeeper could have done some rearrangement in order to accommodate the Holy Family. Most probably he would, had he recognized the significance of the occasion.

An existential question that arises in one’s mind is: If there was no room for Christ two thousand years ago, is there any room for him today? It appears that some people are so preoccupied with so many worldly cares that there isn’t room for anything else, not even for Christ.

Having room for Christ involves some rearranging of life. His very presence requires some commitments and changes.

Those who have made room for Christ in their lives are those for whom Christ is Immanuel (“God with us”). They have experienced the true joy of Christmas.

The advent of Christ into the world is not limited by time. Mary and Joseph held him in their arms. We can hold him in our hearts. If and when we do that, then our Christmas celebration will truly be a joyous one.    

Christ is born and revealed
Tidings of joy unto you and unto us.

Meghri

On October 3, 2023, the Armenian National Assembly passed into law the prohibition of the sale of animals that were not slaughtered in a licensed slaughterhouse. The law went into effect on December 3 of this year. This means that local cattle herders and shepherds must deliver their animals alive to licensed slaughterhouses, and the slaughterhouses then deliver the meat to butcher shops. 

In the United States, this would be a normal law, protecting citizens and guaranteeing the quality and safety of meat purchased. As I dig deeper into what the government of Armenia is trying to achieve with this decision, I remember many years ago when I read Upton Sinclair’s  in school to learn about the evolution of food and drug regulations in the United States. Is our new legislation a means of making safer, cleaner meat a standard in Armenia, or is it a sinister move to force a taxable step into the livestock economy? The Ministry of Health would have to answer this question, by sharing instances of meat-related poisonings in Armenia, broken down by frequency and location. 

Having lived in Meghri for the better part of the past three years, my arguments come from a local perspective on this matter. The closest registered slaughterhouse to Meghri, which is located along Armenia’s southernmost border with Iran, is in the Syunik capital of Ghapan, which is 80 kilometers (about 50 miles) away, a one and a half hour drive from the city of Meghri itself and even farther for some of the surrounding villages. However, since slaughterhouses are private entities, and the slaughterhouse in Ghapan only butchers meat from its own farms, a person from Meghri would have to drive three hours to Goris for the closest slaughterhouse that accepts outside livestock. 

Since the law went into effect on December 3, the local meat that takes advantage of the rich pastures surrounding Meghri is no longer available for sale and has been replaced by lower quality product that is raised on industrial feed. While you may pay top dollar for Whole Foods grass-fed free range organic beef, Armenia’s latest legislation is preventing Meghri from having access to local livestock, raised by farmers who are known to locals and have a reputation that they have upheld proudly for years. In Meghri, we have not seen the sanitation standards of the slaughterhouse and do not have a good impression from witnessing the supplier’s truck, which brings a mix of lamb, beef and pork, mixed together, lying open and exposed on a piece of cardboard for at least the three hours on its journey from Goris to Meghri. Additionally, considering that I have not heard locals recount any instances of poisoning or disease directly related to a local butcher shop, the government’s intent is clear. 

But why not build a slaughterhouse in Meghri? As the American saying goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Meghri does not have any issues with local meat and is not seeking regulation on its local markets. However, due to the centralized legislative system in Armenia, this is not a choice. Multiple shepherds and cattle herders met with the Syunik state governor, and the response they received was that the onus is on an individual to open a slaughterhouse in Meghri or to take their livestock to Goris for slaughter, both of which are not economically viable solutions. The Armenian government’s rash geopolitical decisions have caused tensions with Russia, leading to the closure of its fruit import market, Meghri’s largest buyer of local produce. Now with the livestock business freezing in its tracks, how are local villagers supposed to make a living? Worse yet, with the slaughterhouse law, how will the church perform a traditional madagh?

To add salt to the wound, for the last two months the pistol and iPad clad “Baregayin” police have been deployed to Meghri and are wreaking havoc on a once free region of Armenia, where local customs did more to dictate law than official legislation. Some locals have shared with me that, according to unofficial data, more than 150 million drams (350,000 USD) in fines have been issued to the 100,000 residents of the Syunik area since the Baregs’ deployment. From traffic violations and missing paperwork to unlicensed drivers and absurd laws that have no regard for the local infrastructure or way of life, locals now live in fear of being fined every time they leave their homes. There is no DMV equivalent, no smog and brake test centers, and limited public transportation in the Meghri area, giving the Baregs a field day with the poorest of villagers.

Since PM Nikol Pashinian’s arrival, the supposed crackdown on corruption has mostly affected the lives of those living farthest from the capital city Yerevan. Before Pashinyan, and particularly before the arrival of the Bareg police force, who are not locals to the areas of their deployment, there was a natural equilibrium through which laws were and were not enforced, based on local customs and available infrastructure. Legislation comes from Yerevan, and there is no representative body to uphold the rights and livelihoods or make decisions for those living in Meghri. The new police, equipped with body cameras, also have no choice but to issue the fines, as a review of the footage could lead to an investigation as to why a fine was not issued for a violation, which can lead to a corruption investigation. I myself have witnessed a 10,000 AMD ($25) fine to a friend for having their driver’s license out of date by three days. The same occurrence in the U.S. would likely end in the officer giving a reminder to get it renewed.

EU-sponsored courthouse placard

Since, according to the World Bank, only 60-percent of Armenian adults have a high school education, with that number being much lower in rural villages, it makes sense that driver’s licenses have traditionally been obtained through bribery. With bribery no longer an option, many are left in a hopeless state, given the difficulty of the driving test. Here are two sample questions from the exam’s official English version:

What are the signs of principal arterial bleeding, and how does first aid for principal arterial bleeding begin? 

1. Dark blood flows slowly out of the wound. A compression bandage is placed on the wound on which there is a note on the time of holding it on the wound. 
2. Bright red blood flows from the wound, spouting strongly with intermittent flush or like a fountain. The injured artery should be squeezed with the fingers, then above the wound, as far as possible near the wound, a bleeding cord is placed, on which there is a note about the time for keeping it on. 
3. Blood flows slowly from the wound. A bleeding cord is placed below the injury, with a note of time for keeping it on.

The answer is number 2.

In what cases should the victim be taken out of the car? 

1. In the event of a car overturning, ignition, high probability of explosion or loss of consciousness of the victim. 
2. In case of a car overturning, ignition, high probability of explosion or hyper freezing of the victim, loss of consciousness and breathing, as well as in case of impossibility to provide first aid directly in the cabin. 
3. In the event of a car overturning, ignition, high probability of explosion or severe bleeding, craniocerebral injury.

The answer is number 2.

Regardless of how one obtained their drivers license, prior to the arrival of the Baregs, residents in the Meghri area had the liberty of driving without a license, which was particularly advantageous to teens who live far from school in a region with no school buses. The closest location to take the driver’s test is in the provincial capital, Ghapan. I would be interested, and also surprised, to see if there is a correlation between accidents in Meghri and unlicensed drivers to justify the strict enforcement in such a rural area.

One of six EU-sponsored Bareg police cars in Meghri

Over the last 50 years, there has been a heavy migration from the surrounding villages of Meghri to the city of Meghri itself, leaving many villages completely empty. The villages of Vank, Galer, Lijk, Guris, Gudemis, Vahravar and Garjevan, once thriving, now only have a handful of residents, if any at all. However, many people with family roots in those villages maintain their relationships to the villages by visiting frequently, hosting celebrations and spending their summers as well as keeping livestock, bees and gardens in the very cottages that they or their parents grew up in. 

The recent strict enforcement of various laws is destroying what was left of any remaining life in these villages, and leaves me increasingly feeling that we are living under foreign rule and not in the homeland we were raised to believe was our home.That may be so, as the Meghri courthouse and the new Bareg police vehicles all feature EU flags, and the similarly foreign-funded red beret contingent is scheduled for deployment to Meghri this January. Jungles are synonymous with being unruly, but in its own twisted way, life in rural Armenia is feeling more and more like a jungle, and less like the civilized society that it was when I first moved here.