Based on an Armenian miniature from an illuminated manuscript, found here: https://armenianmanuscripts.org/page-3/page-44/
Sara, Olivia, Naira trchnakir names
Coloring pages for Lent 2024
Just the coloring pages from the Eastern Diocese’s “2024 Lenten Calendar for Families” publication. Full credit and kudos goes to the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern). (I wish they’d list the name of the actual artist for these!)
You can download the full calendar with coloring pages here: https://vemkar.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LENTEN-CALENDAR-2024-Web.pdf
But I also scanned in and present to you *just* the coloring pages. I did this before realizing I could use their PDF and only print pages 3, 5, 7… etc. Duh. But since I already scanned the physical copy, I might as well share it.
You’ll want to print in black & white, because I forgot to *scan* in black and white, the off-white background might show up if you print in color. It looks totally fine if you print in black and white, or you know, go ahead and print from their original PDF too. Sigh…
Armenian alphabet coloring pages
Playing around with fonts and Inkscape’s Trace Bitmap via Edge detection tool. Made a bunch of Armenian alphabet coloring pages (8 to be exact). Enjoy.
But really, if you’re looking for Armenian fonts, I use this: https://fonter.am/en
And if you’re looking for Armenian alphabet coloring pages, mine are nonsense/basic, but THIS is super fun from anoush dsgn® : https://www.anoush-dsgn.com/coloring-pages
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.
Western Armenian language resource pages updated!
Hiya, flagging for everyone who has signed up for blog post notifications/emails — I updated three “learn Armenian” resource pages last week.
Where to buy Western Armenian Books online — used to just be a blog post, is now its own standalone and updated page.
Learn Western Armenian Online — added a quick review of one of the online teachers we studied with for a semester a few years ago. Added THREE new online schools/tutors for Western Armenian.
Resources for Learning the Western Armenian alphabet — edited to focus on the most useful (to us), and added a bunch of items/in-real-life study materials.
The landscape has really changed in the last few years, since I last updated those resource pages in 2021. I want to continue overhauling the pages to make them more useful. If there’s anything else you’d like to see, services or apps I can trial for you, let me know!
Trchnakir art, girls names
Been on a roll with the trchnakir lately. Great way to keep my hands busy during meetings, and/or decompress after the kids go to sleep. Recently having fun with some different styles. Most of these are just names of kids in my kids’ classes, for practice/fun… we’ll probably end up giving them as gifts.
ARS “Let’s Chat” Western Armenian classes starting tonight
Okay, it’s super short notice, but the course is 10 weeks long and only $100, so even if you miss the first week, it’s probably worth it.
Armenian Relief Society of Eastern USA, Inc. is hosting a conversational Western Armenian course called “Let’s Chat,” that has 3 different “levels” of courses for beginners. (Beginner 1, Beginner 2, Beginner 3. CLICK HERE to view the breakdown of skills taught at each level.)
You can register here, on their website: https://arseastusa.org/armenian/
I *love* that they’ve got 3 levels of Beginner classes. I’ve only ever seen Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced described for conversational classes, and it’s so hard to know where I’d fit in that. Most people I talk to would consider themselves beginners, even if they’re able to carry basic conversations and/or know a ton of vocabulary. The way they’ve set this up feels really accessible.
I found out about this from my son’s teacher, and will TRY to make the Beginner 3 classes, only because they start at 8pm which is potentially/theoretically past when I’m putting the kids to bed. And if 8pm rolls around and I’m still laying next to a crib, holding a 2yr old’s hand… well, it’s a donation for a good cause 😛
Armenian manuscript coloring page for Nativity
I’ve been working on importing my art into Inkscape, and am learning how to edit and vectorize the images. Hopefully, eventually, all of this will turn into a coloring book. I’m still pretty new with the software and haven’t been able to do everything I wanted with it, but it’s been fun to learn something new. Here’s something I made, based on an Armenian illuminated manuscript page depicting the Nativity.
Download the coloring page here:
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.
“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.”
Hye Home 