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ARMENIAN PICNIC DRAWS CROWD: ANNUAL EVENT FEATURES FOOD, MUSIC, MEMORIES
Journal Times
http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/armenian-picnic-draws-crowd-annual-event-features-food-music-memories/article_ff22bd9e-be71-11e1-9203-0019bb2963f4.html
June 24 2012
WI
RACINE - Rich scents of freshly prepared traditional foods mingled
in the warm summer air with the melodious sounds of Armenian music
as hundreds of people flocked Sunday to celebrate their heritage,
or the culture of their friends and neighbors.
Pewaukee resident Ken Larsen, who is Armenian on his mother's side,
sat under a tree during St. Hagop Armenian Apostolic Church's annual
Armenian "Madagh" Picnic. Cradled in his arms was the oud, an Armenian
string instrument, somewhat similar in appearance to a guitar. He
said he began playing it about five months ago.
"I wanted to start exploring my heritage a little more," said Larsen,
54, who is Danish and Swedish on his father's side. "My mother passed
away in November, but I started getting more desire to explore my
heritage. Enter the oud."
The oud is played with a risha or mizrap, which also can be called a
pick. He played the rich mahogany-, ebony- and spruce-wood instrument
during the all-day gastronomic extravaganza, hosted at Johnson Park,
6200 Northwestern Ave., in Racine.
"Mainly I'm listening to Armenian music and trying to play it by ear,"
he said.
"It's in my blood," said Larsen, a testing engineer for an IT company,
adding he played the organ by ear years ago, too.
Yet amid the melodies, peals of laughter from children, and entreaties
from women gathered around some picnic tables to try a cornucopia
of foods and authentic dishes, the festive fun of the massive annual
picnic carried a much deeper, humbling meaning.
The Rev. Hrant Keborkian of St. Hagop said the madagh, or a type of
offering, began about 1,700 years ago.
Originally, an animal typically was sacrificed, and he said the
offering was shared with the poor after it had been blessed. Racine
resident Var Krikorian - a local Armenian historian of sorts -
said madagh may be offered in remembrance of a loved one who died,
as well as offered in memory of Armenians slain by the Turks in the
1915 Armenian genocide.
"This is the result of the horrible stuff," Keborkian said. "It is
prayers for the souls of our departed. (Madagh) is made in memory of
our deceased members. Armenians tragedy brings us together."
Keborkian, who moved here from Lebanon, said Sunday's picnic was his
first madagh here.
Krikorian, however, said she has been attending the picnic her whole
life, or more than 80 years.
Having a little fun with her Armenian and non-Armenian friends,
she asked each of the dozen people sitting at her table to attempt
to pronounce a special dessert. She broke into a grin the couple of
times the uninitiated tongues got it right. She offered jovial ribbing
to others who proved way off, not even knowing its first letter and
winding up make the sound of someone blowing raspberries.
"It's fun to experience new things," said Racine resident Sharon
Cushing, 70. "There was no one Armenian in the town I grew up in
(Bloomington, Ill.)."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Journal Times
http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/armenian-picnic-draws-crowd-annual-event-features-food-music-memories/article_ff22bd9e-be71-11e1-9203-0019bb2963f4.html
June 24 2012
WI
RACINE - Rich scents of freshly prepared traditional foods mingled
in the warm summer air with the melodious sounds of Armenian music
as hundreds of people flocked Sunday to celebrate their heritage,
or the culture of their friends and neighbors.
Pewaukee resident Ken Larsen, who is Armenian on his mother's side,
sat under a tree during St. Hagop Armenian Apostolic Church's annual
Armenian "Madagh" Picnic. Cradled in his arms was the oud, an Armenian
string instrument, somewhat similar in appearance to a guitar. He
said he began playing it about five months ago.
"I wanted to start exploring my heritage a little more," said Larsen,
54, who is Danish and Swedish on his father's side. "My mother passed
away in November, but I started getting more desire to explore my
heritage. Enter the oud."
The oud is played with a risha or mizrap, which also can be called a
pick. He played the rich mahogany-, ebony- and spruce-wood instrument
during the all-day gastronomic extravaganza, hosted at Johnson Park,
6200 Northwestern Ave., in Racine.
"Mainly I'm listening to Armenian music and trying to play it by ear,"
he said.
"It's in my blood," said Larsen, a testing engineer for an IT company,
adding he played the organ by ear years ago, too.
Yet amid the melodies, peals of laughter from children, and entreaties
from women gathered around some picnic tables to try a cornucopia
of foods and authentic dishes, the festive fun of the massive annual
picnic carried a much deeper, humbling meaning.
The Rev. Hrant Keborkian of St. Hagop said the madagh, or a type of
offering, began about 1,700 years ago.
Originally, an animal typically was sacrificed, and he said the
offering was shared with the poor after it had been blessed. Racine
resident Var Krikorian - a local Armenian historian of sorts -
said madagh may be offered in remembrance of a loved one who died,
as well as offered in memory of Armenians slain by the Turks in the
1915 Armenian genocide.
"This is the result of the horrible stuff," Keborkian said. "It is
prayers for the souls of our departed. (Madagh) is made in memory of
our deceased members. Armenians tragedy brings us together."
Keborkian, who moved here from Lebanon, said Sunday's picnic was his
first madagh here.
Krikorian, however, said she has been attending the picnic her whole
life, or more than 80 years.
Having a little fun with her Armenian and non-Armenian friends,
she asked each of the dozen people sitting at her table to attempt
to pronounce a special dessert. She broke into a grin the couple of
times the uninitiated tongues got it right. She offered jovial ribbing
to others who proved way off, not even knowing its first letter and
winding up make the sound of someone blowing raspberries.
"It's fun to experience new things," said Racine resident Sharon
Cushing, 70. "There was no one Armenian in the town I grew up in
(Bloomington, Ill.)."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress