Category: Parenting

Review of Bábo: A Tale of Armenian Rug-Washing Day

This book was an unexpected treat. My stepmother brought it home from the library, and I had no idea is existed. (I try to stay on top of publications like this, but am human. Sorry.) AND IT’S GREAT! It’s a hardcover book recommended for ages 3-7, by Astrid Kamalyan and illustrated by Anait Semirdzhyan.

“Bábo: A Tale of Armenian Rug-Washing Day” is SO fun to read out-loud and gives you many opportunities for fun voices, sound effects, and poetic license. It reminds me of all of the other car, truck, and vehicle books I’m reading these days… except instead of “VROOM! beep-beep,” it’s “SWOOSH!” and “pop-pop-pop” as Tato, her siblings, and her neighbor take out the family’s traditional Armenian carpets. The story is very tactical, and touches on all five senses… the feel of bubbles under Tato’s feet, the sound of bubbles popping, the smell of brown soap, and (after work is done) the taste apricot pie. It does a great job of transporting you into a world that (for our family at least) feels very familiar and very foreign at the same time.

That familiar/unfamiliar feeling leads me to a stumble I had with the book: Artsakh Armenian! There are certain phrases in the Artsakh dialect in Armenian, spelled out with English characters, like “Bol-bol loq-loq un ural” (they jumped around). While this is ultimately great, I wish there had been a note about it just inside the front cover, instead of at the end. There’s no single standard for how to transliterate Armenian into English. Eastern and Western Armenians transliterate in very different ways. When I got to that part of the book, I felt like an idiot because I didn’t recognize most of the words, and the transliteration was hard for me to interpret. So personally I would’ve loved to see the phrases written in Armenian characters, next to the transliterated phrases, and not just in the Glossary at the end.

Overall this is a great introduction to Armenians, Artsakh Armenians, Armenian carpets (styles! details! historical information at the end!). The Watertown-based publisher even has an “activity kit” to go along with the book, which is really well-done: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0750/0101/files/babo-activity-kit.pdf?v=1693512063

It seems like they’ve gotten some good press and visibility on the book, which is fantastic in so many ways, especially given what happened/is happening in Artsakh. I hope this book brings awareness to more non-Armenians. From NPR: https://www.npr.org/2024/01/13/1224459521/mop-mop-swoosh-plop-its-rug-washing-day-in-babo & on the list of New York Times best books for kids of 2023!

Anyway, I’m happy to share this super fun read, in case you live under a rock like I do and hadn’t come across it. It’s going on our birthday wish list for sure.

Nareg, not being particularly gentle with a library book.

Armenian prayer for St. Nicholas

I took the English translation of a sharagan (hymn) about St. Nicholas, arranged it in a Word doc with a decorated first letter (a la old manuscript style), printed it, and had the kids rip up/glue yellow paper to make a frame around the prayer. The sharagan is sung on St. Nicholas’s feast day, which is almost always the third Saturday of Advent in the Armenian church. (I think it was moved this year, because the 3rd Saturday of Advent fell on Dec 9th – one of the Armenian church’s few fixed feasts, when we celebrate the conception of Mary.) I grabbed the translation of the sharagan from “Saints Nicholas in Armenia,” linked to by the Eastern Diocese here and you can also find the full publication on Google Scholar. It’s not a very user-friendly / modern / usable / readable translation, to me at least, but fussing with it is way beyond my abilities so I left it as is for now. Maybe someday will redo. Download the doc below to make your own.

st-nicholas-prayerDownload

“The bodiless ones were amazed when they saw blessed Nicholas, whose conduct in the body was without compare to those possessing a body. By his prayers, entreat forgiveness of sins.

Rejoice, Mother Sion, and ineffably adorn your bridal chamber, for blessed Nicholas in his body has triumphed over bodiless Beliar. By his prayers, entreat forgiveness of sins.

Imploring, we sinners entreat you, Most Holy Trinity, to forgive our sins by the supplications of Nicholas. By his prayers, entreat forgiveness of sins.

Holy lady, Mary, golden urn and ark of the covenants, who gave the gift of the Bread of life from heaven to our starving natures. Intercede always with him for the expiation of our sins.”

Armenian alphabet cards, printable doc

Quick post with a super simple resource – Large print letters from the Armenian alphabet, in a word document. They’re not set up to be used as flashcards, but you could make them into that, or they could be used for a bunch of other random things.

armenian-alphabet-basic-cards-for-gameDownload

Personally I’m printing these on cardstock, cutting them out, and using them for a hide-and-seek / hide-the-thing/find-the-thing game with our kids.

Like Holy Translators Sahag and Mesrob “found” the Armenian alphabet? I don’t know. But if it saves me from watching “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Tiger Family Trip” for the 12th time this week, I’ll try it.

Sahag and Mesrob are commemorated as a team, distinct from the rest of the Translators, on the Thursday following the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost. This year in 2023, that commemoration is tomorrow, June 29th. More on those saints here: https://vemkar.us/feast-and-saints/the-holy-translators-sahag-and-mesrob/

Next day update: used them for a matching game too.

Armenian orthodox service for a child’s first haircut

Well two more kids and four years later, I finally have a follow-up to my “An Armenian child’s first haircut should be in church?” post. Hah!

In May, yes, Nareg got his first “haircut” in church, from our priest Der Arakel. This is an ancient Armenian tradition which isn’t done too often anymore, but we’ve found it to be quite sweet, and it is genuinely important to us to integrate liturgy and regular life milestones whenever feasible.

We’ve done this service twice now, once for Hagop and now for Nareg. After the service at coffee hour, someone came up to us and and Der Hayr, and mock-offendedly asked, “why not for girls?” But you CAN do this service for girls too! We just haven’t cut our Zabel’s hair yet. (Our 2nd child, a girl.)

This all started with a coffee hour chat years ago, when Hagop was little, when an older Armenian woman asked if we’d do this service. Thank you Digins everywhere, for continuing to be nosey and opinionated and educating well-meaning Odars everywhere.

A recording of the haircut service can be found on our church’s Facebook page here from 2:02:00-ish to 2:06:00-ish:

More about the service (and an English translation of the service linked there too): http://www.stsarkis.org/first-haircut.html

Orthodox Lent with little kids: prayer chain templates

Here’s one thing we’re doing for Lent with the kids this year: a prayer chain. I wish I could claim credit for the idea, but nope – I Googled, “Orthodox Lent with little kids” and someone had commented on some orthodox Mom blog with this idea. So, I made one!

Basically we picked 40 things to pray for, printed them, then cut them into equally(ish) sized strips of paper. Every night of Lent, we’ll pick one, and add it to the chain, and say a prayer as a family for that thing/person.

The project includes prayers for things that are very specific to our family (i.e. all of our kids, grandparents, etc.), things that are relevant in the world right now (30,000 kids under blockade in Artsakh, earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria), but then also more universal things – for instance, we basically copied over the prayers from Badarak every Sunday for “Travelers, Prisoners & captives, Anyone who is sick and suffering” etc. I hope we’ll be able to use it with minor tweaking for the next few years.

You’re welcome to use the template too, and adjust as needed for your family:

lenten-prayer-chain-for-kids-filled-out-black-textDownload
lenten-prayer-chain-for-kids-filled-out-outline-textDownload

Armenian girl saints names

When I was pregnant with Nareg, I didn’t know if he would be a boy or a girl. Vartan found out early, and kept it from me the whole time! He must have been chuckling to himself as I stressed out over picking girls’ names. We wanted names to have meaning and be pronouncable for Americans… so I put together a list of female Saints in the Armenian church calendar as a place to start. Many of these names aren’t in actual use in Armenian communities, or at least the ones I’ve come across. For lists of beautiful and more commonly used Armenian girl names, check this list from the fantastic artist Arpi Krikorian or this from The Pomegranate Mom. If you want a list of female Saints names, here you go:

NameLink to more information
Akyoulinehttps://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-10-21/1
Anatoliahttps://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-11-16/1
Anna https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-08-24/1
Ashken, Ashkhenhttps://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-06-26/1
Christina, Christine https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-07-19/1
Dambeuhie https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-09-27/1
Domna https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-11-29/1
Eugine https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-08-03/1
Euphemia https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-07-19/1
Eupraxia https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-10-07/1
Gayane, Gayaneh https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-06-01/1
Helena, Heghineh https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-10-24/1
Hermione https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-09-28/1
Hripsime, Hriphttps://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-05-31/1
Juliane, Juliana https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-11-29/1
Justina https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-07-19/1
Kalinike https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-10-21/1
Kayane, Kayaneh https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-06-01/1
Khosrovidoukhthttps://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-06-26/1
Klothia https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-08-03/1
Maneh, Mane https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-06-08/1
Mariane https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-09-21/1
Martha https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-10-18/1
Mary, Maryam, Marihttps://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-10-18/1
Nektarine https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-09-28/1
Nooneh, Nune, Nuneh https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-06-08/1
Peghigea, Pelagia https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-10-05/1
Peprone https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-09-21/1
Sandoukht https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-07-17/1
Satenikhttps://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2010-02-02/1
Shamuna https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-07-26/1
Shoushan, Shushanhttps://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-09-21/1
Tekegh, Thecla https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-10-05/1
Theodota, Theoditeh https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-10-25/1
Theopista https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-09-28/1
Vardeni, Varteni https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-09-21/1
Varvara, Barbara https://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-10-05/1
Vasilouhie, Basiliahttps://www.qahana.am/en/holidays/2021-11-29/1