Christmas Twice Over : Holidays: Armenian Americans celebrate on Jan. 6--and on Dec. 25.

Don’t bother feeling sorry for Armenian American families whose ancient church tradition holds that Christmas doesn’t come until Jan. 6. If anything, it might be excusable to envy the longer celebration they enjoy.

An extended religious and secular Yuletide is possible for parishioners of St. Peter Armenian Church in Van Nuys, which strives to accommodate the holiday habits of comfortably assimilated San Fernando Valley residents as well as of newcomers from Armenia and the Middle East.

For instance, the Chatsworth family of Ardella Jelloian, involved in the church for two dozen years, attends a Dec. 24 candlelight service featuring Christmas carols, mostly in English. This year, the joint choir includes Armenians who came from Turkey about a dozen years ago and the chamber orchestra features former philharmonic musicians from Yerevan, who left that Armenian capital before the republic’s independence from the Soviet Union.

On the morning of Dec. 25, the Jelloians open presents around their Christmas tree.

“Then it’s enjoyable to look forward to the religious aspects in January because you are not harried, running around shopping,” she said.

Likewise, Levon Keshishian and his family, who emigrated from Lebanon in 1991, last week decorated a Christmas tree, built a manger scene and already had some presents under the tree at their Reseda home.

“We handle Dec. 25 as a celebrating occasion but not as a Christmas celebration,” said Keshishian.

But in keeping with Armenian tradition, Keshishian and his family visit the homes of relatives on New Year’s Eve, with the adults sipping cognac or brandy and everyone partaking of candies and sweets. Presents are exchanged that evening, including gifts that might have been left by Gaghant Babog, the Armenian equivalent of Santa Claus.

In the week before the Armenian Christmas, the priest visits homes of members and usually leaves a wafer called nishkar that has been blessed. The wafer represents the hope that the home is never without food in the coming year, Jelloian said.

*

The earliest Christian churches observed Jesus’ birthday in early January. A number of Eastern Orthodox churches, for instance, celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7. In the 4th Century, western Christianity adopted Dec. 25 as Christmas to compete with pagan and other religious holidays.

Armenian church tradition also says that Jesus, on his 30th birthday, was baptized in the Jordan River, which the Gospels depict as an event signaling the divine mission of Jesus. Church members on Christmas eve and the next day exchange greetings in Armenian that reflect the double significance of the holiday: “Christ is born and revealed” and “Blessed by the revelation of Christ.”

On the Armenian Christmas eve, Jan. 5, services at the Van Nuys church involve the Sunday school children and, thus, are sure to bring out parents. The service and the Divine Liturgy that follows have been popular with Armenian Americans who have lived a while in this country, bringing out 500 to 600 parishioners, said St. Peter’s pastor, Father Shnork Demirjian.

The congregation’s Christmas morning service and Divine Liturgy attracted relatively few people a decade ago, especially if Jan. 6 fell on a weekday, he said. Armenian Americans who had children in public schools or daytime jobs often passed up the Christmas morning service.

But in the last eight years, the increased U. S. immigration of Armenians has brought churchgoers who wouldn’t miss the Jan. 6 rites, the priest said. It has developed into “a headache for the police,” Demirjian said.

The church on Sherman Way has a small parking lot and seating for only 600 people, but 2,000 parishioners came last year and the same number will probably show up this year, the priest said. Some churchgoers stand in the church hallway and watch the service via closed circuit television.

*

The Jelloian family prefers the Christmas eve service. “On Christmas day, the Communion line is so, so long, and it’s all in Armenian,” she said.

But “the newcomers,” as the priest calls the recent immigrants, often have children in the growing number of Armenian private schools, which close on Jan. 6. Many of the fathers are self-employed jewelers who simply shut their offices for the day, he said.

“The newcomers feel that if they do not come to the Jan. 6 liturgy that the entire year will not be prosperous,” he said.

Father Demirjian said that some tensions arise when recent immigrants encounter church members who don’t speak Armenian. “There is a sense of insecurity in the newcomer, who fears that his grandchildren will also forget the Armenian language,” he said.

“They also have a feeling that they may have betrayed their homeland by settling in the United States,” the priest said.

“The church is trying very hard to make everyone realize that they are the same people,” he said. “Now, every Sunday I give a sermon in English and a sermon in Armenian. The Armenian Americans and the newcomers at least tolerate one another.”

No matter what their background, however, parents do have to explain to children why Santa Claus only makes one appearance despite the observance of two Christmases.

“I would say that Santa spent all his money on the first one,” Jelloian said, “but that Jan. 6 is the most important one because that’s when Jesus was born.”