Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

For many Los Angeles-area Armenians, it's two days till Christmas

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • For many Los Angeles-area Armenians, it's two days till Christmas

    Los Angeles Times, CA
    Jan 4 2010

    For many Los Angeles-area Armenians, it's two days till Christmas

    The traditional date of Jan. 6 is still observed by many Southern
    California Armenians, who find it more meaningful and spiritual -- and
    less commercial -- than the Dec. 25 celebration.

    By Esmeralda Bermudez
    January 4, 2010


    Never mind the stripped Christmas trees cast out along the driveways
    or the holiday house lights that stopped shimmering over the weekend.
    According to Richard Dekmejian's Armenian calendar, Christmas is now
    two days away.

    The choir director at St. Peter Armenian Church in Glendale must tune
    his singers' voices one last time. His wife must prepare a feast for
    the family. And when Jan. 6 arrives, he will proclaim to those he
    knows:

    "Kristos dzunav yev haydnetsav!" "Christ is born and revealed among us!"

    On a date that comes later (or, some might argue, much earlier), than
    traditional Western Christmas, Armenians across Southern California
    will gather Wednesday to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and his
    baptism in the Jordan River. Many will flock to Orthodox Christian
    churches to participate in a solemn, centuries-old service in which
    people drink holy water believed to contain some of the same oil used
    to baptize Jesus. Then they will gather, generally without gifts, to
    dine and rejoice in their homes.

    The celebration, known to some as Theophany or simply Armenian
    Christmas, follows the original Julian calendar as opposed to the
    standard Western or Gregorian calendar. When Christians began to
    celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25 as dictated by the Romans, Armenians
    held to the original Jan. 6 date.

    It is not to be confused with El Dia de los Reyes or Three Kings Day,
    which is celebrated by many Spanish-speaking Catholics on Jan. 6 and
    marks the adoration of the Christ child by the kings, or Magi.

    For Armenians living in America, the dual holidays add more cheer to
    an already-packed season.

    "We double-dip," Dekmejian said. "It's an extended Christmas period
    from the 24th until the sixth."

    For those who emigrated from formerly Soviet-ruled Armenia, where
    religious events were banned, Christmas may be a relatively new
    concept. For many, the holidays typically revolved around New Year's,
    when gifts were exchanged and relatives filled the streets visiting
    one another's homes.

    In America, some families have adapted to new customs, gathering for
    dinner on Dec. 25 or, in some cases, adding the all-American staple,
    turkey, to a traditional Armenian menu of fish and rice with raisins
    and nuts.

    "Some in the new generation, they want more American Christmas now,"
    said Robert, an Armenian father of two from Glendale who declined to
    give his last name. "Armenian Christmas, it doesn't mean so much."

    But for many who observe their native country's Christmas, the Jan. 6
    date carries a deeper meaning. Without gifts, malls or Santa Claus,
    Suzie Shatarevyan, 30, of Van Nuys said, her family is able to focus
    more meaningfully on family and church.

    "It's a real Christmas," she said, "none of that commercial stuff."

    At Armenian churches across Glendale and the San Fernando Valley, the
    tradition was alive and well in recent days as priests prepared
    parishes for hundreds of visitors, each seeking a few ounces of holy
    water to carry home. In Montebello, where Armenians once lived in
    great numbers, Father Ashod Kambourian readied his church to host a
    community dinner for about 600 guests.

    "In old days, the priests would visit the homes and bless them," he
    said. "It's good news. It's happy days."

    At St. Peter Armenian Church, Father Vazken Movsesian said he hoped to
    take all the extended good cheer and put it toward charity. The
    church's volunteers doubled their year-round outreach efforts in
    December, delivering toys to local children and sweaters to nearby
    hospitals.

    Jan. 6 "is nothing more than a date," he said. "We want people to let
    love be born in their heart every day."

    http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-m e-beliefs4-2010jan04,0,7407808.story
Working...
X