Christmas Has Arrived for Armenian Americans

Thousands of Armenian Americans living in Orange County celebrated Christmas on Tuesday, many attending special masses at two Armenian Apostolic Churches.

Parishioners observe Christmas on Jan. 6 in accordance with their Orthodox calendar. The date was once used by Christians worldwide.

“It was record attendance, and the church was full,” Arsen Guleserian, 53, said of mass at St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church in Costa Mesa. “It was really packed.”

Many, however, already had exchanged their gifts.

“That’s primarily the influence of Western civilization,” said Haig Tashjian, 72, a first-generation Armenian American living in Laguna Niguel.

In Santa Ana, about 300 people attended services at Forty Martyrs Church, where women wore traditional hair coverings as they took communion.

Evening feasts consisted of grape leaves, wheat husks stuffed with meat, rice, hummus and other Middle Eastern foods.

More than 10,000 Armenians live in Orange County, and most are Apostolic, said Sarkis Yegenian, 66, who attends Forty Martyrs. Others are Catholic.

Armenians are settled throughout the county but there are large concentrations in Orange, Mission Viejo, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach, Yegenian said.

“Because there are two churches here, a lot of Armenians live in Orange County,” Yegenian said. “Armenians look to settle around the churches and follow tradition.”