Getting Ready for Easter!

Now that you have those eggs dyed blood red (yes, blood red symbolizing the blood of Christ as the soldiers stabbed Christ as Christ hung dying on the cross), you must refrigerate the eggs to keep them fresh for Easter.  On Easter, you and your guests will play the age old Armenian Easter egg game which symbolizes Christ's breaking through the tomb and conquering death.  The game will be described in tomorrow's blog, so stay tuned!

Hot Cross Buns for the Neighborhood Kids on Good Friday

At noon (if not all day) on Good Friday, the clouds cover the sun. Yes, almost every Good Friday, the clouds cover the sun at noon.  This Friday, the first day of Passover and Good Friday, reminded Marash Girl that when her kids were growing up, all the neighborhood kids gathered to tell their stories of Easter and Passover, after which they all participated in shaping the dough for hot cross buns, and when the buns came out of the oven, decorating the baked buns with a cross made of white icing.  Yes, and of course, sitting on the front porch eating the buns they had hand decorated, buns still hot from the oven.

Onion Skins for Easter?

What?  Onion Skins for Easter?  Well, not exactly.  But we Armenians couldn't have Easter without onion skins.  It is the onion skins boiled in water that create a deep red dye.  Nope. Not red onion skins.  Brown onion skins!  (Who would have guessed?) Once the water turns red, you can remove the onion skins, and boil fresh eggs in the now crimson water, leaving those eggs to steep in the dye after the eggs have been boiled.  Or, alternatively, you can boil the eggs in the now red water with the onion skins remaining in the water with the eggs. (The egg shells are less likely to crack.)  This will result in boiled eggs which are deep red in color with an abstract design created by the skins with which the eggs were boiled.  Either way, the eggs are now ready for the Armenian Easter Egg game.  More on that tomorrow!

GATHER YOUR ONIONS SKINS WHILE YE MAY!

Have you started gathering your onion skins yet?  You'd better get to the grocery store and beg the fruit and vegetable man to scour the bottom of the onion bin for you!  Why?  Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Playing the Piano for the Marashtsis in Watertown

Recently, Marash Girl attended a meeting of the Union of Marash Armenians, Watertown Chapter.  The entertainment consisted of a young man performing a piano duet with his teacher.  The scene was reminiscent of a day many years ago when Marash Girl herself was introduced, walked onto that same stage, and stood curtseying at the piano (could it have been the same grand piano?).  After the welcoming applause, all was quiet -- all was quiet until she sat on the piano bench, and played the first notes of the piece she had so carefully memorized  . . . that was the signal for the audience . . . the folks in the audience immediately began to chatter.  No matter!  Marash Girl happily played on, aware that were she to make a mistake, no-one would notice!  At her last note, all became silent for one moment, and then a thunder of applause -- applause, she realized , that the audience gladly proffered as they realized they could now go back to chattering without guilt, which was, in reality, the reason they had all gathered that day in Watertown, Massachusetts.

The Doll at the Top of the Stairs

Auntie Azadouhi lived on the top floor of a third floor walkup in West Newton.  The stairs were dark and creaky, and after we reached the top of the stairs, and opened the door, there were more stairs to climb, but little Marash Girl and her cousins and siblings finally made it.  Uncle Paul would drive us there every year on Christmas Eve so that the six children could greet the commemoration of Christ's birth with song, Christmas carols sung (sans accompaniment) with zest to our Uncle Arakel and his daughters!  At the top of those stairs lived Uncle Arakel, and his two daughters, Azadouhi and Zarouhi, and his remaining son Ashod.  [Ara had gone drowned with his ship (he was a member of the United States Navy) when his ship was torpedoed during World War Two.]

Whenever we visited, Auntie Azadouhi would take down the beautifully crafted, beautifully dressed little doll from the top shelf of the closet at the top of the stairs and allow us to play with her childhood keepsake.  When we asked to take the doll home with us, she simply stated, "If you take it home with you, it won't be here the next time you visit, and you'll have no doll to play with!"  We accepted her reasoning as sound.  But years passed, and people passed, and Marash Girl still misses that doll that lived at the top of the stairs.

All Wrapped Up For Winter

All Wrapped Up For Winter - Ancient Maple Tree in Newton Corner

The Sidewalks of . . . . not New York, but Newton Corner!

"Step on a crack, you'll break your mother's back," so the kids at Claflin School used to chant!  (Only her shadow stepped on the crack, so that doesn't count!)

Musta Been a Lie!

Marash Girl's elementary school classmates had a smart retort for almost everything.  Today she's remembering (not forgetting) one such incident.  Whenever she wanted to comment to a friend, but forgot what she was about to say, the friend would snap back, "Musta been a lie!"

REMEMBERING THE WELCOME OF THE MOST MEMORABLE SPRING

It was our wonderful welcome when Karoun arrived and Karoun arrived!  Happy Birthday, Karoun!

Finish all the food on your plate!

Finish all the food on your plate, ordered Marash Girl's father.  "You don't know what it's like to go hungry!" he exclaimed.  In fact, if she, as early back as she can remember, left any food on her plate, she would have to eat it cold at supper, and if she didn't finish it then, she had to eat it cold for breakfast.  She learned quickly to finish all that was on her plate. .  . to the point where her friend asked her, many a year later, why Marash Girl was "cleaning her plate" of every bit of food.  Marash Girl stopped to ponder that for a bit, and then explained.  Her friend pointed out that it was only polite to leave a bit of something on your plate -- to show that you were not a "starving Armenian"!  Or to show, at least, that you were not food deprived.  The opposite in the Armenian culture -- finish it all to show that it was delicious, and that you appreciated the effort that your hostess, your mother, or the cook --  take your pick -- had made on your behalf.

The Calm Before The Storm

We're waiting.  We're waiting.  The weather promises snow and the supermarkets are full.  The Boston area has been hit numerous times in the last several weeks with snow storms and the threat of same, and everyone seems surprised . . . snow?  Again?  Really? . . . but, hey, this is New England, and if you've lived here for any amount of time, you should be used to it (it being snow storms) by now!  Nevertheless, just a whisper of a pending snowstorm, and the supermarkets are full, the kids are joyful, (the possibility of no school and the chance to play in the snow), the electric company anxious! Those of us who live here in New England wonder what it must be like to live  in those areas of the USA where school is never called, folks never have to bundle up and stock up with supplies,  because there is not even the whisper of a chance for a snowstorm!

Raffi as Grimsby

 Takoma Park, Maryland:  Takoma Park Middle School's Drama Club Presented 

Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID on March 15, 16, and 17, 2018

Rafayel Charkoudian-Rogers playing Grimsby (second from left)

"Never Again!"

"This is What 'Never Again' Looks Like." Lorig Charkoudian (white hat) in upper left corner of photo.

Lorig for Delegate in Maryland!

Finish all the food on your plate ...   So many supporters, so few yard signs!

There are so many people who want to show their support for Lorig's campaign with a yard sign, we're running out!

Come on, folks! Help us get a yard sign to all who want one by contributing to Lorig's Yard Sign Fund! We just need $2,000 to reach our goal of 400 more signs!

Click here to help!

Don't let these kids be the last to have a Lorig Charkoudian yard sign. (Seriously, they can't even vote.) Support the fund today!

Help us get a yard sign to every supporter! Thank you!

Free Writing, Free Thinking!

Have you ever just let your mind wander?  It's amazing what you might come up with . . . a long buried memory, a beautiful poem, a new way to make paklava . . . you never know!

Fall without ceasing!

Watching the snow fall without ceasing!  That is to say, watching the snow, winter without ceasing!

 Just saw a Cedar Waxwing on the top branch of the tree outside of the dining room window . . . looking around, confused.  Join the crowd, Mr. Cedar Waxwing!

Or have a seat on our front porch!

"Amah da fasulia!"

And speaking of Armenian exclamations as Marash Girl was in her blog post of  3/10/18, Marash Girl remembers Dr. Hrair Atikian, an Armenian man born in Kessab, Syria, then studying in Boston,  Massachusetts, often exclaiming, "Amah da fasulia!"  and laughing joyously when visiting his soon to be wife in Newton, Massachusetts.  )Which translates, "But the green beans!"

Happy Birthday, Deron Djan!

May our Deron have the happiest of days today as he celebrates his birthday (won't tell which one)!  Happy Birthday to the anoushigest, sirounigest, aghvorigest son in the whole wide world!  Even his NNHS senior class got the message when they presented him with the Boy's Senior Cup, the highest high school honor that could be bestowed upon a student at NNHS!

Amahn!

And thinking of "Oho!", how many of you grew up with the expression, "Ahmahn!"  (When you say "Ahmahn", the "Ah" is said on a lower note and the rest of the word ends on an much extended higher note as an exclamation!)  How many years has it been since you've heard anyone say, "Ahmahn!"  Marash Girl can't even count the years.

An expression of annoyed amazement, an expression used by the folks from Marash and Aintab (by the Marashtsis and the Aintepsis), and expression of that Marash Girl wishes she could still hear.

"Ahmahn!"

"Oh, ho!"

"Oh, ho!"  How in the world would you translate that?  Marash Girl exclaimed, "Oh, ho!" this morning when things seemed to be going awry (the napkins wouldn't fit in the napkin holder after numerous tries . . .) but this expression has music attached to it and situations in which the expression would fit or would not fit.  Do any of you remember the Armenian old folks saying, "Oh, ho!"?  Do old folks say, "Oh, ho!" in other cultures?  Help Marash Girl out here, folks!

An introduction to a stranger . . .

Marash Girl, writing to a new acquaintance, introduced herself in the following way:  "I grew up in an extended family — My dad’s mom and dad on the third floor, my uncle and auntie and 3 cousins on the second floor, my mom and dad, sister and brother and me on the first floor.  We had a big back yard to run around in and my dad had a wonderful vegetable garden, my uncle had fruit trees — mostly apples and pears, and my mom cooked delicious Armenian food.  It was a wonderful childhood."

Step on a crack . . .

Growing up (many years ago), walking to and from Claflin (elementary) school, the kids would chant, "Step on a crack, you'll break your mother's back!"  Stepping on a crack was, therefore, to be avoided at all costs.  But recently, Marash Girl forgot the warning, and a week ago, upon receiving an upsetting (anti-immigrant) email from a sibling, Marash Girl needed to walk off her "marakh" and walk it off she did . . . down the street, across the parking lot, tripping over the crack where the parking lot met the sidewalk.  Yes, she did.  She tripped on the crack, but instead of breaking her mother's back (thank goodness that could not happen), she fell and injured her left knee.  Now that's some excuse, is it not, for not writing blog posts, but sometimes pain can be distracting enough to distract one from what one must do.  And write she must.  So she's back to writing.  More tomorrow! Promise!