January 9, 2010

January 6th was Christmas Day in Armenia, and my expectations were running high.

On Christmas Eve, four volunteers and I met in Gyumri’s main square for a candle lighting celebration. It was a very cold day (20 degrees) and the streets were deadly with ice. Outside the main Armenian Apostolic Church, people were selling candles and holders (Coke, Sprite, etc., plastic bottles with the bottoms cut out) for 53 cents. (This answers the question I had about seeing so many people rummaging through public waste bins and gathering plastic bottles.) We each bought one and headed into the church. There was a service going on but at least a thousand people were talking and pushing their way in to light their candles at the candle offering stands. We lighted ours and walked outside, and then decided to get something to eat. So as we walked into the restaurant to have beers and pizza (very mediocre) we put out the candles. On leaving we lighted our candles again, using a volunteer’s match, and walked home. My family was thrilled that I brought them a lighted candle from the church. They promptly used it to light four other candles and then got another one out of a drawer for me so that I would have “blessed” light all evening!

(Mass on Christmas Day.  Note Bishop's mitre, staff, and medallion. Also note manufacturer's label on red water bucket.)
On Christmas Day, I left the house early for Mass knowing that the church would be crowded. I was so disappointed. The church was sparsely filled; there were no Christmas decorations, no nativity scene, no changes at all. As the Mass started the church began to fill with latecomers. The Mass was no different than any other Sunday. The service and music were the same. The bishop offered the Mass, but there was no sense that this was anything other than a normal offering. At the very end, tubs of water were blessed, and people filled up their empty soda bottles with the water to take home.

(People crowding up to get their "blessed" water.)

As I passed by the main square, I saw a crowd of people jostling at a platform. Again people were selling empty plastic bottles. At the platform, people were handing up their water bottles to be filled with water spewing from a faucet with a gold cross above it. Nearby was a city water truck (to refill the water tank?) I did not feel like buying an empty bottle, or pushing through the crowd. So I went home empty handed and as I walked in the door, my host Mom asked me if I had brought blessed water.

(Gyumri's Christmas tree.  Note water tank on left and crowd to get "blessed" water on right.  The snow is for real!)

My Christmas Day at my host family’s home was no different than any other day. It was hard not to feel a little depressed in this "Christian" country.

One thing that surprises me about Armenia is that people do not take labels off of things. For instance, our toilet bowl still has the large manufacturer’s label plastered to the tank, and it must be 20 years old. All the glasses we used for the six days of New Years had the small sticky labels still on them. Everyone’s computers still have all the manufacturer’s labels on them. We have several small buckets around the house for garbage and water that still have all their original labels. And this was true at every home I was in over the past week. And where this really struck me was at the candle lighting and the “water filling” where everyone’s holders advertised Coke or Sprite or Jermuk (fizzy water).