Easter and Genocide Memorial Day

It’s been a busy week… I’ll start with Sunday and then write more later. Sunday was both Easter and Armenian Genocide Day. Easter moves around, of course, and it was unusual already in that “Western Easter” and “Eastern Easter” were celebrated on the same day this year; usually they are a week apart. April 24 is Genocide Memorial Day – on that date in 1915, the intellectuals were rounded up in Turkey and killed.

For breakfast, my host mother had dyed eggs with onion – natural dye! The red (it’s more brown than red but that’s a technicality) is supposed to represent the blood of Christ. Some people put leaves on before they dye the eggs, so they make kind of a stencil pattern. I learned at dinner that an Easter tradition is to have an egg fight – one egg taps the other and person whose egg breaks the other wins both. One strong egg can amass quite a collection of broken ones! Breakfast also included rice pilaf with dried fruit and fried lavash – I hope I can convince her to make that again when it’s not Easter.

Katie, Theo and Theo’s brother William stayed through the weekend, in part to experience the day (more on them next time). They hadn’t been to Etchmiadzin yet and thought that it would be interesting to be there on the holiest day of the year. We arrived around 10:00 am; we had been told to get there really early but didn’t – and I’m glad, because it wasn’t very crowded, and we would have just been waiting. As it was, we waited a while – once we were in a good spot, we didn’t want to walk around the complex. We saw dignitaries, including the Ambassador, the Prime Minister and the President, the last of whom came in with the Catolicos. The altar and icons that had been covered when I was there before were on view now. The singing was beautiful – this time by a mixed-gender choir – and the Catolicos spoke from the altar. It was an impressive service. We didn’t stay inside until the end, partially because we were getting squished, partially because we thought it might be nice to let some Armenians have our spots if they could! Walked around a bit, listening to the rest of the singing over speakers, and went to nearby St. Gayane Church again.

Then we went to the Genocide Memorial. We had gone there the night before, around 11:30 pm, and the commemoration had already started. There were several other people there, laying flowers down and staring at the eternal flame. I had heard there would be lots of candles; there weren’t, but it was nice to have the time to contemplate. Katie had taken a Comparative Genocide class in school and shared some of what she remembered from it. When I got home on Saturday night, my host mother had tears in her eyes, and she thanked me for going and for caring about her people.

I knew that on Sunday there would be a procession of people but I didn’t really know what to expect. When we arrived – around 4:00 pm – there was a huge stream of people – thousands – and I know it had been like that all day. The only other time I have seen thousands of people walking purposefully in one direction was at the Mackinac Bridge Walk. This was all the more amazing because it wasn’t for fun – it was for determination, the determination to remember and to pay tribute. The pace was about the same, though – not slow and solemn, but purposeful and proud. You walked up a long path and then down the sidewalk to the flame, you put your flower down, you got out of the way so the next person could put his down. The walk to the Memorial might have been a mile, and then there was maybe another half a mile out the other side, down the hill and into free buses that took you back into town – extremely efficient. We also went to the museum – most people did not. I am so glad I went – and glad I had company!

They went on to Verdi’s Requiem (which I listened to today, on the internet); I had a prior commitment – dinner with the Ambassador! Yes, this is whom I had the egg fight with – my egg won, but since I am a Peace Corps volunteer she said she I should take the eggs anyway – along with the leftovers (and she treated!). Though we have seen each other several times now, we hadn’t had a chance to really talk, so she invited me out to the finest restaurant in Yerevan, where I had by far the best meal I’ve had in Armenia (this would be a candidate for best dinner worldwide!) – same Armenian food (eggplant rolls, tomato with goat cheese, dolma), but with superior ingredients and preparation – and wonderful conversation. It was really special.