Category: Uncategorized

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

Too busy to write!

No wonder there aren’t a bunch of Armenian or ABC working-Moms-of-young-kids out there blogging or sharing resources. Because this is HARD, friends.

We’ve still been active with the church and language-learning in our lives, though not too much (nothing?) has made it to the blog so far.

In the last few weeks, we’ve attended as many of the Christ as Hope sessions as possible, and participated in the Eastern Diocese’s stellar virtual pilgrimage to the tomb of Mary. We celebrated the Assumption of Mary, which I learned about in detail for the first time in my life, really. (Recovering protestant here.) We also took a quick vacation for a Big Fat Armenian Wedding, and attended another Armenian Church, where we weren’t super familiar with the parish or people, and weathered the entire service with our crazy kids without making complete fools of ourselves.

I’m working on a couple of blog posts about children’s books, bought a bunch more, and even have a grown-up book about orthodoxy & pregnancy/postpartum that I promised to review. (Oops. Eventually?) We’re still working on the translation of the book on Armash, waiting for the next version from the translator.

There was also a baptism in there somewhere (Vartan was/is the baby’s gunkahayr, and takes that role pretty seriously). And a Covid exposure scare. And Vartan was elected to parish council. And we’re co-running the silent auction for the church Bazaar. And we’re preparing to send Hagopig to a new Nursery School. And did I mention we’re due with our third baby in a month? (!)

Time flies, and there never seems to be enough time to get everything done… forget about writing things up or sharing resources here. But I see your page views, and I have grand ambitions, and I thank you for your patience and prayers.

Sirov, Kalyn

“Անուշ Քուն, Բարի Երազ” (Anoush Koon, Pari Yeraz) book review

We pre-ordered “Անուշ Քուն, Բարի Երազ” (Anoush Koon, Pari Yeraz / Sweet Sleep, Good Dream) as soon as we learned the always-wonderful Kids Reading Armenian (KRA) was coming out with another book. Anoush Koon, Pari Yeraz is the third self-published book by Taline Badrikian. It’s a 14-page board book, and a great addition to the small-but-growing library of Armenian books for the 0-3 age group.

Anoush Koon, Pari Yeraz is a strong follow-up to the author’s first two books, “Ուրախ Խոզուկը” (Oorakh Khozooguh / The Happy Piggy) and “Աշխատասէր Մրջիւններ” (Ashkhadahser Murchooner / ​Diligent Ants). It has the same adorable drawings, and the same kind of tight-knit, easy-to-follow story. This time, we meet a little bunny (Nabasdag) who doesn’t want to go to sleep, and see all of the things bunny does at nighttime instead of going to bed. It ends with a little lesson for Nabasdag and the reader about why sleep is so important.

Talk about relevant. Hagopig is almost 3 years old, just switched to a big boy bed, and is in peak bedtime-delaying mode. Mayrig yev Hayrig Nabasdag, I get you.

Any parent will understand what’s happening in this picture… “Hajeeees!” Cute shout out to “Oorakh Khozooguh” by the way.

The book is written in Western Armenian, with one line of Armenian text and one line of English alphabet transliteration on each page. If you don’t know any Armenian at all, you can still read this out loud to your kids by using the transliteration. If you’re a beginner or intermediate Armenian reader, this should be a good book to practice with. The sentences are short, and many words should already be familiar to you just from common usage. The book does not have English translation written in to the book, but the text is available on KRA’s website. AND, just like with KRA’s first two books, I think the story is so logical, the pictures so clear, that you really don’t need to fall back on the exact English translation. You can pretty much understand what’s going on either way.

English translation: NO
Transliteration: YES
Reading level: BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE

You can find more from Kids Reading Armenian:
https://www.kidsreadingarmenian.com/
https://armenianweekly.com/2021/05/05/anoush-koon-pari-yeraz-the-next-childrens-book-for-your-armenian-library/

Introduction to Western Armenian Alphabet Lessons

The Western Armenian Alphabet Lessons I have posted on this site are one of the most popular things I have here. That’s great! Hello! Welcome!

For some context, and so I don’t have to repeat myself on every lesson page, here’s a little disclaimer about the “Lesson” posts.

This series of lessons is based on an e-learning course created at St. Nersess Seminary.  I recreated them in these blog posts with permission, and since it seems like the original versions are no longer available on their website, I have also uploaded the original Powerpoint lessons. In my posts, you’ll also see lots of commentary, tips & tricks, that I used when I was memorizing the alphabet.

You’ll see that I’m going light on the information in these alphabet posts.  Do you really need to know what the letter is called before you can read it?  (No!)  

These lessons are designed to get you reading Armenian as quickly as possible, and to build up your confidence with the Armenian alphabet.  We don’t need to clutter up your mind with extraneous information about the letters, that’ll only make it more difficult to memorize them.  We’re starting with lower case, printed, and will get into upper case and handwritten letters later.

I encourage you to follow along with the lessons using these Western Armenian Alphabet Worksheets, that I created for myself when I was first learning.

Enjoy!

Also visit my page, “Resources for learning the Western Armenian alphabet”

Random things about parenting

RANDOM, I tell you.

  1. Hagop has named his stuffed animals: Michael, Alleluia, Fluffy, Arch (bear in Armenian), Pistachio, and Isaac. Hah! Feels like we’re doing something right as parents.
  2. Hagop has started saying the Hayr Mer along with us at bedtime. A friend of ours said that would eventually happen… I was worried about trying to teach him. But it’s happening naturally, and it’s so sweet. Reminds me of when my Dad would say the Lord’s Prayer when he was putting us to sleep, when I was little. The sound of his voice is imprinted on my soul. I hope that happens for our kids.
  3. Hagop is going to an Armenian-owned daycare, but neither of his teachers right now are Armenian.
    1. On his “report card”, he “met expectations” for all developmental milestones except for “names body parts” which was marked as “developing.” Well, that’s because he says them all in Armenian! We got a kick out of that.
    2. Now that Hagop is back at daycare, he’s speaking more and more English, and less Armenian at home. It HURTS to see that happen in front of our eyes. There’s an Armenian preschool nearby where I’m sure they’d be speaking Armenian with him, but it’s more expensive. We’re feeling torn.
  4. We do have more than one child, I swear. Zabel. I just don’t write about her much because she’s still so little, and there’s not that much going on. We did a virtual “blessing of the babies” service with her back in February, and hosted a virtual agra hadik party for her about a month ago too. A full post to come about that soon.

Medzmama commission

Wanted to share pictures from this recent piece of art I was commissioned to do. I’m really proud of it!


It was a gift for someone’s mother’s 80th birthday. There’s only one grandchild in the family, so the top and bottom of the piece has pictures of grandma and grandson together (blurred here for privacy). One picture of them together, for every year of the grandson’s life. I picked the pictures, edited and arranged them, had them printed, and even did the framing myself.


I love this super sweet, sentimental kind of thing. If you’re ever interested in working together on something similar, let me know! Can arrange shipping anywhere in the US.

Woah, hello new subscribers!

I’ve had a big jump up in readership lately. It’s equal parts thrilling and intimidating. I’m not a blogger… I started this site to share resources that I’ve created, because I couldn’t find them online when I was looking. A LOT of those resources and a lot of what y’all are viewing = for learning Armenian.

Which… Isn’t a huge part of my life right now. I SO wish it was, but it can’t be. I’m working from home full time, with a toddler and an 8 month old, not in daycare, in a global pandemic. Life is insane. We’re barely surviving.

The 1 good hour we have to ourselves every night after the kids go to bed is used up catching up on work work, moving laundry from one pile to another, or trying to move forward on some other life goals. Vartan is studying a lot, aiming to get ordained as a deacon in the next year (currently a sub-deacon), and has been getting really involved in a deacon’s council for the Eastern Diocese. I’ve started selling my trchnakir art, so I’m working on commissions and drawing. I’m also involved in a women’s collective giving group that’s taking up a lot of my time right now. (I’d eventually love to start one for Armenians… Let me know if you’re interested.) So, gone are the days when we’d make Anki decks and worksheets and go through the Armenian textbook together as a couple. It’s just not possible right now. I know anyone with young children understands, and I hope the rest of you do too!

I do still have a bunch to share on language learning, though it might be outdated or not as clean as it could be. And I’ll be posting about church things and other resources when I can. But PLEASE, new readers, new friends, new community, take this as an invitation for YOU to share with each other as well. If you have online flashcard decks, or great apps you use, or anything else you want to share, I’d be happy to link or upload it here. We’re all in this together!

Sirov and solidarity,
Kalyn

Life is a little crazy right now!

Vartanantz & Harissa

A few days ago was Vartanantz. I told Hagopig it was coming up, tried to explain the significance of it… But he’s two, so he doesn’t understand war, or convictions, or any of the complicated stuff. He’s got a little Roman soldier shirt and hat that my brother-in-law Aram bought in Italy on his honeymoon, but Hagop doesn’t understand what a soldier is. (Probably that’s good, for now.)

I tried to read Hagop the story of St. Vartan from this book of church stories we have (I’ll link it later), but it only has one picture per story so… Hagop didn’t have much patience for it. Instead, we had this exchange:
“Vartan was a Christian. Hagop, are you a Christian?”
“No.”
“Vartan was a General. Hagop, are you a General?”
“Yes.”
“Vartan was Armenian. Hagop, are you Armenian?”
“Yes.”

Hah! At least he got one of the three right. Uh… I’ll have to work on correcting the other two with him.
On another note, St. James had a fundraiser selling harissa, and we ordered a few meals. Oof. Still not a fan… Sorry. Maybe I need to try a different version? With chicken instead of meat? I don’t know. Send me recipes if you have a strong feeling about it.