Author Archives: muncheri@usc.edu

The Significance of Pomegranate

There’s a story about a woman during the genocide, that she kept her family alive by feeding them pomegranates. I think it was that every day she gave each one of them a seed. They were able to survive off that. Pomegranates have a significant meaning in Armenian culture. Armenians say that a pomegranate, each one, has 365 seeds and that if you eat one seed a day you will be filled with health and good fortune. If you do not eat one a day you don’t receive those gifts. Famed author, William Saroyan uses the pomegranate as symbolism as the pomegranate is what sustained his mother during the death march of the genocide.

  1. Do you eat a pomegranate seed every day as suggested above?

No I don’t… I don’t… I really don’t eat pomegranates? I like them a little bit but not that much… They also aren’t really available all year long anyways.

My Thoughts:

Symbolism is very important in literature. And it’s almost like the pomegranate was a good luck charm for those during the genocide. Authors like Saroyan may see that as a beacon of light to write about. In Armenia, you can find many touristy items that are related to pomegranates including key chains, household knick knacks and even jewelry.

The Story of Santa Claus (as told by Lori)

When we were little, we used to believe in Santa Claus. It was just the way kids are, I suppose. Something that was a little different though is that we used to believe that Santa would leave our Christmas presents on the doorsteps of our house. We later learned that it was our grandparents. They would ring the back porch doorbell and leave all their presents there. Then later on we would find them coming through our front door. It’s so funny that we weren’t able to understand that they were ringing the back doorbell. But it was always a treat we would wait and wait and wait on Christmas Eve… Me and Uncle Gary, and Auntie Deanne and Uncle Paul… and when we would hear the back doorbell we would run together and get all our presents. It’s also funny how selfish we were as kids, less interested in out grandparents and more interested in the presents they got us haha.

 

My Thoughts:

I don’t really believe in allowing children to believe in Santa Claus. I didn’t really ever believe in Santa… I think I always knew it was my parents. I really appreciate the sentiment though that sometimes we get caught up in the glamour of Christmas and forget to cherish the moments with our friends and family.

Easter Eggs

In Aleppo, when I was growing up, we didn’t have fancy egg coloring kits. What we would use to dye our Easter eggs was skin of red onions. There weren’t a ton of colors… there was only red. There’s a reason for that. During the crucifixion of Christ, Mary had an egg in her shall. While she witnessed her son bleeding out on the cross she cried. Her tears mixed with the blood of Christ blended and colored the egg she carried. The color red represents Jesus’ blood. Also the hard shell of the egg is a sign of the tomb in which Jesus was encapsulated and as you break the egg you release Jesus from the tomb as He resurrected.

My grandmother would boil the eggs on either Good Friday or the Saturday after along with the skin of red onions. I would stand next to her and watch her peel the onions and put it in the boiling water. After the eggs were boiled they were removed and cooled and then we would put them on a platter. We put them in the living room… we didn’t have a family room… sometimes we put them on the dining room table. When guests would come, we would sit around the table and greet each other in the Easter tradition. One person would say “Krisdos haryal i merelots,” which means Christ is risen from the dead. One would reply, “Orhnyal e harutyun’ Krisdosi,” which means blessed is the resurrection of Christ.

We would leave the eggs overnight till Easter morning. I always got to be the one who carried the plate from the kitchen to the dining room table… it’s not much but it was my role. Then we would fight the eggs. My uncle would come… when he was born, Easter was very close to his birthday so they named him Harout after the Armenian word for resurrection, haroutune. In American his name is Harry. I fought the most eggs with him. I won most of the egg fights… I don’t know if they let me win or if I won off of merit but either way… I won.

My Thoughts:

I never knew there was a reason behind dying eggs. It’s interesting how now there are many different ways to dye eggs. Companies have monetized a religious tradition. I suppose that’s the case with many holidays though including Christmas, Valentines Day, and Hanukkah.

The Festival of Vardavar

  1. What kind of holiday traditions did you celebrate in your family?

I remember one thing called “Vardavar,” it’s 98 days after Easter celebrating the transfiguration of Christ.

  1. Where do you celebrate this?

I used to celebrate this as a child when I lived Aleppo, Syria.

  1. What does Vardavar entail?

It was a festival where people would gather with buckets and small bowls filled with water to pour water on each other. You would pour water on family and friends and even on strangers. Everyone knew on that day, that you would expect to get wet.

  1. What did the water signify/ What’s the origin of this festival?

I believe it began as a pagan festival worshiping the goddess Astghik, the goddess of water, beauty love and fertility. The name Vardavar comes from the Armenian tradition to give up roses as an offering to Astghik. The word vart means rose.

  1. What is the transfiguration?

The transfiguration is when Christ became radiant in glory. It refers to the experience of momentary divine radiance.

My Thoughts:

It’s an interesting idea that this ceremony is celebrated by splashing water on each other. I feel like the splashing water is similar to drowning, which is the opposite of fertility, however water is also cleansing and healing.

Easter Culinary Tradition

During Easter time in the Armenian community, there are a number of pastry recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. I lived in an extended family… I lived with them, two aunts, grandparents and parents, my sister wasn’t born yet. I was only six years old, living in Aleppo (Syria).   It was a tradition to make special cookies every Easter. They’re called ma’amoul and karabij. Choereg is Armenian Easter bread. They also made that. Karabij is a crushed pistachio filled cookie, and ma’amoul is a date filled cookie. Both the karabij and the ma’amoul are served with natef.

All the ladies in the house would prepare the cookies getting them ready for Easter Sunday.

In the Armenian community, family and friends would visit each other after church and during the week between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. It was tradition to serve guests these holiday pastries. My aunt was especially good at making choereg whereas my grandma did much better with Easter cookies. The ladies would purchase the ingredients to make the cookies, however they would have to take it to an outside place to make them. We didn’t have an oven at home so they had to go to an outside bakery. It was a local bakery, many of the people would come to the bakery to have things baked. Not only on Easter, there would be many different types of food being baked there at all times. There’s this Middle Eastern version of what today we call marshmallow fluff, and we would dip the Easter cookies in it. It’s called natef. It’s literally Arabic marshmallow fluff.

 

  1. Of all the pastries, which one was your favorite?

There were all so good, but I think my favorites were Karabij and Ma’amoul

  1. Did you ever go to anyone else’s house who made a better Karabij or Ma’amoul?

We didn’t really go to anyone else’s house we always had them over at out house?

  1. Were there a lot of people who came to visit?

I mean not that that many but on Easter especially we had a good amount of people come

  1. Why was your house the gathering place?

Most of the family was already there so it seemed easier to meet where we were.

My Thoughts:

I personally have had these Easter pastries. It’s not really that much of a pastry compared to American style desserts like sugar cookies and ice cream per say. They definitely aren’t as sweet. Of all three mentioned, my favorite is choereg, which is great for breakfast with a cup of coffee. It’s also the sweetest of the three.