Reclaiming a Holiday

Lana Krouzian has spent plenty of time celebrating Christmas like an American. The substitute teacher went to parties every weekend in December, she played Santa for her students, and stayed up until midnight on Christmas Eve to watch her friend’s children open presents.

On Saturday, it was finally time for Krouzian, an Armenian American, to celebrate her version of Christmas.

“This is our holiday. Once I enter those doors, I’ll just be an Armenian,” she said outside the Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Montebello, the smell of sandalwood incense wafting through the air.

Armenian Christians and some other Eastern churches recognize Jan. 6, not Dec. 25, as Christ’s birthday. Early Christians observed Christmas in early January, but during the 4th century Western Christianity adopted Dec. 25 as the commemorative day to compete with pagan holidays.

Although many of the estimated 300,000 to 400,000 Southern California Armenians have adopted some Western traditions, most welcomed Saturday as a chance to reconnect with their church, culture and motherland.

“One of the things that has held Armenians together is the church; it’s like home,” said Siranoush Rousian after the service.

While Armenian Christianity has most of the elements of its Western counterpart, the traditions are practiced in different order. Christmas gifts are typically exchanged on New Year’s Eve, and church services are held Jan. 6.

“We get the gifts out of the way and then concentrate on the spiritual today,” said 77-year-old Wartan Gewenian.

Outside the church, families warmly shook hands and talked in English. Inside, the service was conducted in Armenian.

For many, ties go back several generations. About 8,000 people of Armenian descent live in Montebello, church officials estimate.

At Holy Cross, Krouzian found people who knew her grandfather, Michael Haruntunian who died in Germany before she was born. His friends told her about his habits and his personality and how horrified he was by the atrocities of war.

“Before, my knowledge came in bits and pieces. This is where I found out what it means to be an Armenian,” Krouzian said.

Many hope their families will learn similar lessons at church. Gary Jivalagian dressed his three young children in matching outfits and sat them in the hard pews for most of the two-hour service. Although they were squirming by the end, Jivalagian said the experience is good for their future.

“They’re too young to really understand, but it’s important to us they are brought up as Christians, that they go to an Armenian church,” he said.

But Jivalagian knows that sooner or later his children will be influenced by Western traditions.

“Once they start going to school they’ll expect presents on the 25th,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to explain to them why Jan. 6 is important to us and they’ll understand, and we won’t have to exchange gifts on Dec. 25.”