Text:
Atam Hatik is an Armenian tradition that families do to celebrate their baby’s first tooth coming out. The baby is places around several different objects that correlate to a certain job (one example is a stethoscope. If the baby picks up the stethoscope, the family believes that the baby has a high chance of becoming a doctor in the future). On my own Atam Hatik, I picked up a pencil. Now, I am an English major and hope to pursue screenwriting as my profession.

Context:
TL is a sophomore in college and is pursuing her passion of screenwriting and working in the film industry. She was brought up in a culturally rich Armenian immigrant family and enjoys listening to her grandmother’s folk tales. TL told me about the Armenian tradition during a conversation through text.

Analysis:
The Armenian birth tradition is another example of the celebration of one of the three major events- birth, marriage and death. The celebration of birth, in this case, also works to integrate the child into society by assigning an occupation at the time of birth. This tradition also reflects one of the major trends in Asian societies which are predominantly centered about finding a stable job to make oneself financially stable.