Christmas
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posted on 12/01/09
Shnurhavor Nor Tari yev Surp Tsenund! (Happy New Years and Merry Christmas!)
It is Christmas in Yerevan! So in America, it is my understanding that most people celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas day with our families, then on New Years everyone goes and parties with their friends. Well in Armenia Christmas is not only celebrated on January 6th rather than on December 25th, but it is a religious holiday. If you celebrate it, you do so by going to church. New Years is the big event to spend with your family. But not only is there a big feast on December 31st, but it also lasts for about a week or two into the new year as friends and family visit each others houses.
The whole city shut down for a week, with everything except for grocery stores and a few restaurants being closed, allowing Armenians to spend some well deserved time eating, drinking and visiting with one another. My guess is that New Years became the big holiday over Christmas after the Soviets overtook Armenia and started to suppress religion in favor of more secular and nationalistic symbols.
At the beginning of December, they started to put up the big tree in Hanrapetutyun Haraparak (Republic Square). It started out as merely a metal skeleton pointing into the sky.
After a week or two, they started dressing her with authentic fir branches.
And finally they draped lights down her sides.
Until she was finally finished in late December and ready to be frosted with New Years snow!
At night they lit her up for a wild light show using blue, orange and red lights to represent the colors of the Armenian flag!
I put it in the last dispatch, but here again is a movie of her in action: