What do you do when you’re out of hot dog buns, but have a ton of pita bread around? #fusionfood #dadjoke ?

Tehe.

And… Happy Father’s Day, all!

Confession:  I don’t know the Hayr Mer.  I’ve been going to an Armenian Church for almost 10 years, but I don’t have the Lord’s Prayer memorized in Armenian.

Why?  Because I’ve never been pressured to say it out loud independently.  I can always say it along with everyone else in church, a split second behind everyone else.  Same with singing the Hayr Mer.  I know the music, I know the words for certain phrases, but if you asked me to sing it solo, I’d only get halfway through before losing the words.

Now we’re trying to incorporate saying the Hayr Mer before bedtime, with our son*.  And I’m faltering.  So it’s well past time for me to learn.

(*When I was growing up, my Dad would always recite the Lord’s Prayer every night before we went to sleep, and it’s one of the fondest, warmest memories of my childhood.  I have his voice saying that prayer on my soul.  I want to repeat that with my kids.)

Here are some flashcards I’ve made to help myself (and maybe one of you!) memorize the Hayr Mer:

• Phrase by phrase, with Armenian transliteration
• Phrase by phrase, with Armenian script

And this from Der Hovnan:  All words in the Hayr Mer, and their meanings in English: https://quizlet.com/29600335/hayr-mer-our-father-flash-cards/

Came across this article in Massis Post, “Armenian Diaspora Opinion Survey Results Published,” and found my way to the “Armenian Diaspora Survey Pilot Project 2018 Report” (150 pages).  SUPER interesting.

The pilot year, 2018, surveyed 4 cities with active Armenian populations: Marseilles, Boston, Cairo, and Pasadena.  They’ll choose 4 new cities and do a new (shorter) survey next year.

More analysis to come, after I read through the data summaries and not just the mini-articles… but for now, here are some highlights and thoughts from the Armenian Diaspora Opinion, Pilot Project in 2018:

On identity:

• Identifying one’s self as an Armenian from a particular community (Bolsetsi, Romanahye, etc.) lasts generations.  More people reported that they feel “more at home” or “like family” with Armenians from the same region or city of origin, and answers were consistent among age groups.
• The Armenian LANGUAGE is a defining attribute of Armenian identity – especially for 1st generation immigrants (less surprising), and (more surprising to me) for 72% or the youngest age group (36 or younger).  Matches what I’ve seen anecdotally… younger people in the Armenian diaspora (in Boston at least) long for resources to learn and practice Western Armenian.
• A notable difference between Boston and the other communities surveyed – only 34% of respondents thought it was “very important” to marry/find an Armenian spouse/life partner.  In other communities it was more than 50%.  (Thanks for welcoming me, Armenian Bostonians!  Though I do hear you, that mixed marriages can be a threat to the strength of the Armenian diaspora, and it’s a conversation worth having another day.)

On religion, spirituality, church:

• Although 87% of Armenians consider Christianity “an important part of Armenian identity,” “only 14-16% of those surveyed attend church weekly or monthly.”  Still, 70% felt it was important to be married in an Armenian church…?  So they’re going for sacraments.  Finally some DATA behind something we’ve seen for a long time.  This is an important challenge (and opportunity) in our church.
• There’s some interesting data on spirituality and whether respondents believe in God, and the respondent’s spiritual life, which matches the PEW Research Center study that came out about religious beliefs and national belonging in 2018.  Armenians tended to be more philosophical than their neighboring countries, among the highest of all surveyed nations, and report an active spiritual life or desire for one.  Similar in these diaspora communities.
• “43% of respondents felt that women should be ordained in Armenian churches, while 30% had no opinion on the matter.” — head’s up to diocesan delegates!

Community engagement

• 39% of Boston respondents listed “distractions of career” as one of the main reasons they are not active in Armenian organizations or events.  Not surprised!  Boston is a gritty career-town.  Wondering if we should do more networking and career-related activities in the community then?  Or market our current ones as a “break” from the grind of your 9-5, etc.

• A big hearty YES, ME TOO, to what the respondents did want: “lectures and activities on Armenian history, language, art, music, cooking, dance, etc.” (45%)

Language and education

• Nearly 60% of all respondents say that knowing the Armenian language is very important to Armenian identity.  This was one of the (if not the) most emphatic “very important” responses in the whole survey.
• People who didn’t have access to Armenian school (full day, or weekend) themselves growing up are more interested in sending their own kids to Armenian educational institutions

Connections to Armenia and other Armenian communities

• “75% of those surveyed have visited the country at least once, while 93% intend to visit”
• Armenians in the Boston area who donate money to Armenian organizations do so almost exclusively (75-100%).  I work in philanthropy and am very interested in this line of questioning.  More research and possibly another post to come.
• The data suggests that Armenians still have strong ties to the Middle East, where many of their families may have came from, even generations later.  Supporting Armenians and Christians in the Middle East is “fairly/very important” for the overwhelming majority of respondents.

In Lesson 1 (A; and B), we learned that there are some characters in the Armenian alphabet that are very similar to the English alphabet. When the letters also sound the same, that’s great! When they don’t… it’s less than helpful. These “false friends” look like English letters, but are pronounced differently in Western Armenian, so they can really trip you up.

Here’s how I remembered them:

1. ա ≠ w, ա = a
   • I found this to be an easier letter to remember, just because it’s the first letter of the Armenian alphabet. I already had it down, with “ayp, pen, kim.”
   • But you could also think of “awww” – looks like a w, is really an a.
2. ո ≠ n, ո = vo
   • NO, not an “n,” this is a VO
3. ս ≠ u, ս = s
   • u looks like a Smile, smile starts with “s”
4. ց ≠ g, ց = ts
   • goats
5. ւ ≠ L, ւ = v
   • ւ o v e
6. յ ≠ j, յ = h
   • յ looks like a hook, hook starts with “h”

Other tricks:

• I kept mixing up “u” and “ո,” because they’re shaped similarly. Grouping similar shapes and drilling them, or coming up with mnemonics for why they were different helped. e. “u” is “ո” upside down, like Snow falling from the ground to the sky.
• Read this post about other tricks for learning the alphabet, and see if any of them work for you: Top tips for learning the Western Armenian alphabet
• Sometimes it helps to look at these letters in different fonts, to see how they’re differentiated a bit more from the Latin/English letters:

CONGRATULATIONS
You’ve learned 15 Armenian letters! You’re almost halfway there!

Test yourself:
You’ve already learned two Armenian equivalents for the letter “o” – what are they?
………. Highlight in between the brackets for the answer: [ո & օ]
And two for the letter “h” – what are they?
………. Highlight in between the brackets for the answer: [հ & յ]

Homework:
Find an Armenian book or newspaper and write out 6 words that contain ONLY letters that you have learned so far.

Follow along in the St. Nersess online learning course, and/or using these Alphabet worksheets

Or try this worksheet I made to help yourself differentiate:

Access the rest of the lessons in this series here:

• Western Armenian Alphabet, Lesson 1A: You CAN Learn to Read Armenian
• Western Armenian Alphabet, Lesson 1B: E, E, E
• Western Armenian Alphabet, Lesson 2: False Friends
• Western Armenian Alphabet, Lesson 3A: Odd Couples
• Western Armenian Alphabet, Lesson 3B: Alien Beings
• Western Armenian Alphabet, Lesson 4A: Look Alikes
• Western Armenian Alphabet, Lesson 4B: M & N
• Western Armenian Alphabet, Lesson 4C: An important letter (and more practice reading)
• Western Armenian Alphabet, Lesson 5B: The Last Few Letters

Just a few photos from the Armenian Festival at St James!

For a disclaimer/background, read this: Introduction to Western Armenian Alphabet Lessons
To jump right in, keep going…!

If you know the English alphabet, there are some letters in the Armenian alphabet that will look very similar to you! In fact, six letters are so similar in shape and in pronunciation, that it is fair to say you already know them.