Christmas
page 4 of 4
I woke up on New Years Eve morning (the Armenian equivalent of Christmas Morning) and they had decided to blanket the city with its first large snowfall of the season!
I spent most of the day at home with my host family waiting for the New Years Eve feast to come, but in the afternoon I went for a walk around town to see how the city was celebrating. Outside our front door, I was greeted by a snow man.
Like the rest of the city Cascade (a Yerevan landmark which is mostly just a big staircase) had snow all over her. That is a statue of Tamanyan over his drafting table on the left. He was an architect and I think he created the layout of Yerevan.
Republic Square (the Times Square of Yerevan) was filled with snow, kids rides, mini-cars you could drive up and down the square, places to take pictures to welcome in the new year, cotton candy, Zmer Papiks (Grandfather Winter, i.e. Santa Clauses) and Tzun Anoushes. Tzun Anoush (~?Snow Girl?) is a young woman that accompanies Zmer Papik everywhere, I think she is supposed to be his granddaughter. This big carnival stayed up for several weeks as a sort of winter's fair. It got much bigger and more crowded later on. Into January a stage was set up where there we're a rotating group of child singers singing winter songs onstage with costumed animals and dancing kids.
There were also lots of ponies to be ridden and eventually carriages that would take people for rides around the square. There were also a couple of colorful, Christmas trains that blasted Christmas music that would ride around filled with children.
There were lots of sleds like this, many of which has Zmer Papiks and Tzun Anoushes. They have 2009 in big letters and you sit with your friend, your family or your date and you get a picture of you ringing in the New Year. I was confused at first didn't realize that you pay for a photo until after I took this picture, but it was the middle of the day, low-key and no one seemed to care. Most of them did not have taxidermied bears and mountain goats though. There was also a monkey in the square that sat on a plastic chair in a santa suit with a sad look on its face. In my mind I imagine that it is the only monkey in Armenian whose sole pupose in life is to sit in a chair in the freezing snow for a couple weeks a year and take pictures with groups of Armenians.
The mother and daughter of my host family spent days preparing a the New Years feast. It was filled with Armenian salads, sliced meats, wine, dried fruit, olives, chocolates, cheeses, sodas, a pork leg, nuts, vodka, and a half dozen different pastries. The table was slowly set over the course of the day and I kept on waiting for us to eat dinner. It was not until around 11pm that I realized that you don't start eating until after midnight passes and you toast the New Year with vodka. Then most of the food isn't even eaten, everyone mostly just munches on dolmas covered in yogurt (which were delicious). But the table remains set for a week or more and friends and family (who all have the week off work) visit each others houses for repeated meals and vodka toasts. There is a lot of pride in having a full, beautifully set table. It is the one time of the year that no matter who you are in Armenia, you have a beautifully set table filled with the best foods.
A lot of the time they spent was baking all of the pastries. I helped out by making brownies and they Armeniafied them by putting buttered frosting, nuts and chocolate glaze on top.
Right after midnight there was a knock on the door, when we opened it up there were presents on the doorstep. Zmer Papik had visited! Little Samo got a guitar that he wore around his neck for the rest of the night. Zmer Papik also brought me a gift! I got a photo album to put all my Armenian memories in!
After dinner, at a quarter to one, I went out into the freshly snowed streets to meet friends for a New Years celebration. It is standard to stay with your family until after midnight, and then go meet your friends for more celebration until late into the morning. I had never seen the streets in this part of the city so deserted, because everyone was either out partying or still with their families.
I went down the street the Beatles Bar to meet up with friends. It is partially owned by one of the re-patriot American Armenians who are in my circle of friends. Normally they play only Beatles songs, but tonight they were playing techno and encouraging everyone to dance. On the right is Armen, one of my birthright friends. To his left is Armineh who is on a Fulbright scholarship here, then is Rachel one of another Birthright participant (one of the few to survive through until the winter) and good friend of mine. Lastly is me. Sometimes I get bored smiling for pictures so I glare instead, and don't ask me why my collar is popped.
I really wasn't miserable, I swear!
After I got tired of all the loud mediocre techno, Armen and I went on a walk around town. Most everyone was in bars or clubs or inside partying somehow. Republic Square was filled with snow, flashing light, and dozens of packs of 3 to 20 young men hanging around enjoying themselves. We walked around until four o'clock and then he headed to another bar and I headed back home.
-end.