My last day in Armenia happened to fall on the ancient water festival of Vartavar. “Vart” means “rose” in Armenian, and the day is dedicated to the goddess Astghig, the goddess of fertility. Armenians have been celebrating this holiday for thousands of years by throwing one another in rivers or, in the modern urban version, …
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The bird calls to us
When I was young, every Sunday I listened to the theme song of the WCRB-Boston Armenian classical music radio hour. This song was played on clarinet, but decades later I heard it on duduk. Then I found that it has words, and I learned to sing it. More than anything, I wanted to sing that …
Pagan Armenia
This week, as most of my interviews were completed, I took a couple of days to go touring. I visited the Temple of Garni, which most scholars believe was built in 77 c.e., dedicated to the Fire god Mihr. Ancient Armenians were sun worshippers, and their gods were similar to the Zoroastrian ones. Thus, the …
In which I become a warrior woman
from the Armenian History Museum: 12th – 11th centuries BC, Sevan Basin, bronze The chased bronze plate represents a model of geocentric solar system. In the centre of the lower part is the planet Earth, depicted as a semicircular battle-axe blade with a cruciform base (the image reminds of the sign for Earth accepted in …
I have seen the mountaintop
On Thursday I saw Mount Ararat with my own eyes, for the first time in my life. It was a hazy day, so I only saw the peak of Massis, and you cannot see the shorter peak (Sis) at all from this picture. But it’s been a lifelong dream of mine to see Mount Ararat. …
Return to the Land of Your Home
Over the weekend, my 95-year old father developed pneumonia, and on Monday he died peacefully in his sleep. Known as “Buddy” by his family and friends, my father was kind and compassionate, possessed of a curious mind and a gentle but mischievous sense of humor, and beloved by practically everyone who knew him. He was …
Apricot Season
The Latin name for apricots is prunus armeniaca, because Europeans first encountered the apricot in Armenia. It’s one of our national fruits. They are everywhere now, sweet, juicy, delicious, fresh. In Western Armenian, the word for rainbow is dzeeranee kod, lit. “apricot belt.” I saw a rainbow en route to Logan airport at the start …
You are a Plane Tree
The plane is flying over landscape that my eyes have seen only in dreams and fuzzy photographs. We are flying over Western Armenia — the Anatolian plateau, known to most people as eastern Turkey. We are between Sepastia (Sivas) and Malatya. Far to the southwest, near what might be Kesarya (Kayseri) is a tall mountain …
A lifetime in the airport
I always turn inward when I travel. Sometimes I think that this happens because, being unmoored from the geography of home, something inside me needs to remember who I am, to cling to myself, to find an anchor somewhere. Other times I think leaving behind all the material and geographical trappings of my life helps …
A pilgrimage to Armenia 