Christmas Mourning : Armenian Community Forgoes Traditional Festivities

Normally, Christmas and New Year’s Eve are the biggest days of the year for Hermine Janoyan and her family.

In the Armenian tradition, her family exchanges gifts on New Year’s Eve and celebrates Christmas with grand feasts on Jan. 6. Her two brothers come from the East Coast to participate in the elaborate celebrations, which are held by most Armenian families in their homes, or in dance halls and hotels throughout Southern California.

But this year, her brothers did not come to celebrate. They came to mourn.

Throughout the country, Armenian families have canceled their New Year’s and Christmas festivities to pay their respects and pray for the victims of the devastating earthquake that shook their homeland Dec. 7. Many Armenian children will forgo the traditional gifts as their parents donate the money to charity.

Immediately after the quake, in which tens of thousands lost their lives, Armenian church leaders nationwide called for a period of mourning and forbade any public celebrations until Jan. 22.

“Nobody’s celebrating. They can gather at home, but there are to be no public functions. Even marriages are to be postponed,” Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian, of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, said in an interview.

Instead, most of the estimated 250,000 Armenians who live in Los Angeles County have donated their holiday funds to Armenian relief charities, and they will gather in churches for special services to pray for those who have lost their loved ones and their homes in the catastrophe.

“It makes us feel a little better to do whatever we can to help our brothers and sisters in Armenia,” said Janoyan, 45, who lives in Van Nuys. “We are so far away that we can’t physically help them, but at least we can help financially and let them know that we share their suffering.”

She added: “My brother’s children are only 8 and 10 years old, so they were a little upset that Santa Claus was not coming this year, but we promised them a better Christmas next year, and now they understand that many children like them are buried under piles of rubble in Armenia.”

Onnik Keshishian, principal of the Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian school in Hollywood, said that even those Armenians who were not born in the Soviet republic, or who have no known relatives there, are terribly distressed over the catastrophe.

Close Community

“One of the students at my school said it best. He said: ‘They are all my brothers and sisters. Armenia will always be my fatherland,’ ” said Keshishian, 56, who was born in Jerusalem. “The Armenian community is very close.”

Normally, he said, the 700 students at his school exchange gifts and bring food for classroom parties.

“This year, they decided on their own that they would not have parties. Instead, they plan to donate their money to Armenian charities,” said Keshishian, wearing a patch of black cloth on his lapel in memory of the earthquake victims.

Keshishian’s son, Nareg, 25, a field representative for state Sen. David Roberti, said he and his friends will not go party-hopping this year.

“We’ll probably just get together at one person’s house and reflect on this past year,” he said, referring to the earthquake and conflicts in the Soviet Union over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that Armenians unsuccessfully demanded be transferred from the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan to Armenia.

“1988 has not been too good for our people,” Nareg Keshishian said. “We just have to pray that 1989 will be better.”

Armenian churches throughout the Southland have planned special prayer vigils for New Year’s and the Armenian Christmas on Jan. 6.

Before AD 336, Christ’s birth was celebrated on Jan. 6 worldwide. But during the 4th Century, most churches followed Rome in adopting Dec. 25. Armenia, which considered the December celebration paganism, kept its Christmas celebrations on Jan. 6.

“It’s going to be a lot quieter at church this year,” said Vicki Kalayjian, 53, church secretary at St. James Armenian Apostolic Church in Los Angeles. “We usually have a big New Year’s Eve party with food, an orchestra and lots of dancing. I mean, we’re the type of people who like to get up to dance.

“But the disaster has really hit everyone very hard,” she said. “There are no activities--no parties. If someone did have a party, no one would go.” For example, a special service is scheduled for New Year’s Eve at St. Mary’s Apostolic Church in Glendale and on Jan. 5, the Armenian Christmas Eve, a midnight vigil will be held at the Armenian Martyr’s Monument in Montebello.

“These were scheduled as a way of replacing the parties that we normally have, but they give Armenians a chance to get together with their friends and families,” said Berdj Karapetian of the Armenian Relief Society. “It will be a time to pay respect to those who are suffering, not to celebrate.”