Part 1 (1/2)

Armenian Legends and Festivals.

by Louis A. Boettiger.

PREFACE

The author of the study which follows responded to the lure of his task for both theoretical and practical reasons. He seemed, because of his intimate personal relations.h.i.+p to Armenian life, to be peculiarly qualified to study and interpret a cross-section of that country's life. It is particularly urgent that we as Americans have authentic studies of Armenia and Armenian social life. Heretofore there has been a striking lack of such materials readily accessible in English. Because of the not inconsiderable immigration which reaches us from Armenia, and because also there has been a call for the United States to act as mandatory for this country under the peace treaty, we should penetrate more deeply into the Armenian heart than we have been able to do so far, if we are to carry through successfully our job either as a.s.similator or as friendly guardian. Moreover there is inc.u.mbent upon the United States in particular the duty of understanding a country like Armenia, since we have been foremost in proclaiming the doctrine of the rights of small nationalities. Those are the practical purposes from the standpoint of social politics which have given rise to and confer full warrant upon this study.

Of no less importance, however, is the contribution which Mr. Boettiger's study makes to theoretical sociology. He has sketched out for us the picture of a refractory culture which refuses to amalgamate with or yield to or be permeated by rival cultures. The social history of this st.u.r.dy people offers us a very clear-cut example of what really makes a society or a nation. Not mountains, not dynasties, not blood, but common interests, common traditions, common beliefs; in short, mental community.

The theoretical joins with the practical service of this study if it can strengthen our understanding that only as our own blood and that of our Armenian friends reach the place where they boil at the same temperature, or are cooled by the same application of reason, can we minister to each other or carry out the new partners.h.i.+p which may lie immediately ahead of us in the reestablishment of peace and the reorganization of world comity.

Arthur J. Todd

INTRODUCTION

The study which follows has a very definite objective apart from the mere gathering of materials, namely, to interpret as far as the subject-matter would permit, the social life of the Armenian people. The legends and festivals described have thus been selected from a larger ma.s.s of material with this principle in mind. I have, therefore, omitted such as seemed to me to be of little or no social value. Also, in full accordance with this plan, I have chosen to include certain church ceremonies which give rise to such festivals, and are of such social importance that I considered them an organic part of my subject. Otherwise I think I have kept within the strict confines as indicated by the t.i.tle of this study.

It must, therefore, be evident that neither Part One on legends, nor Part Two on festivals, is exhaustive, and this is necessarily so, not only because of my selective plan, but also because much of the work on this and kindred subjects has been done by the French, and is available only on the continent. All of the sources used are, however, original in two possible constructions of the term; that is, they are the works of Armenians who have lived for many years in their native land, or of foreigners, generally French or English, who have traveled through the country and gathered their material first hand. A large portion of this matter I have been able to check up and add to through my wife, an Armenian, who lived in Constantinople most of her life, and who is naturally versed in the folk-lore of her native land. While this has been the chief source of my interest, it is not the only one, for during my three years' work in Beirut, Syria, I became acquainted with many Armenians.

To describe a legend, or a festival, and to tag it Armenian, is about as purposeful and enlightening as to explain Plato's idea of social unity to a person who has no picture of Greek civilization. I have, therefore, found it necessary to fit these legends and festivals into the particular settings that seemed to me most natural. The legends that date from pagan times are meaningless apart from their historical background; the church legends and festivals are without value apart from their religious-historical setting, while such legends as those of Ararat require a description of the natural environment to which they belong. The conclusions and interpretation which this study gives rise to, as well as the manner in which I have organized and attempted to weave the material together into a unified fabric, are my own.

Most of the books used have been supplied by the Case Memorial Library of Hartford Theological Seminary, and I owe the Reverend M. H. Ananikian of that inst.i.tution my thanks for his gracious cooperation in suggesting materials and providing me with them. I am also deeply indebted to Professor J. W. Beach for his painstaking criticism and valuable suggestions, and for the corrections and suggestions offered by Professor W. S. Davis and Professor A. E. Jenks. To Professor A. J. Todd I am especially grateful, for it was under his direction and supervision that this study was carried out.

Louis A. Boettiger

PART ONE

LEGENDS

CHAPTER I

THE GEOGRAPHY OF ARMENIA

Armenia is a huge plateau, a westward extension of the great Iranian highland, bounded by the Caucasus Mountains on the north, the Taurus Mountains and Kurdistan on the south, the Persian lowlands on the southeast, and the Black and Caspian seas. The average height of the plateau is 6,000 feet. As it ends abruptly at the Black Sea on one side, so on the other it breaks down in rugged terraces to the Mesopotamian lowlands; on the east it sinks gradually to the lower levels of Persia, and on the west to the plains of Asia Minor. The chief mountain ranges run from northeast to southwest, rising above the general level of the plateau to an alt.i.tude ranging from 8,000 to 12,000 feet and culminating in Ararat, the lofty summit of which stands 17,000 feet above sea level. Broad, elevated, and fertile valleys range themselves between the mountains, the main lines of which are determined by the four chief rivers of the country, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Aras, and the Kur. All four rise in the plateau, the two former emptying into the Persian Gulf, and the latter two into the Caspian Sea. The Euphrates divides the country into what is known as great and little Armenia, or Armenia major and Armenia minor, Armenia major on the east and Armenia minor on the west. Although the valleys are generally broad expanses of arable land, gra.s.s covered and treeless, the gorges of the Euphrates and Tigris can not be surpa.s.sed in grandeur and wildness. The winters are long and severe, and the summers short, dry, and hot. In the city of Erzerum the range of temperature is from -22 to 84, and snow is usually present in June. [1]

In consequence of the long and severe winters the villages are built on gentle slopes of the hillsides in which the houses are excavated. Robert Curzon, who traveled through the country about 1850, has written the best description of them. [2] A rectangular plot of ground about the size of an English acre is laid out and excavated to a depth of seven or eight feet at the back side, decreasing gradually with the slope of the hill to a depth of about two feet. After a careful leveling of the ground, trunks of straight trees are cut and arranged in rows for the support of the ceiling, which consists of cross-beams interspersed by a wooden frame-work upon which the removed soil is laid to a considerable thickness. The walls are made of stone. In entering the habitation at the lower slope of the hillside, one is obliged to descend three or four steps to the outer door, which opens to a pa.s.sage six to ten feet in length, at the end of which is a second door, constructed of wood like the first. This door swings to through the operation of a curious wooden weight pa.s.sed over a kind of pulley, in order to keep the outside cold from entering the inner chamber. The inside of the door is usually covered with a rough, red-dyed goatskin. Directly before the inner door is a wooden platform raised some two feet above the ground and known in Turkish as the ”Salamlik,” the hall of reception of the head of the family. Chairs and tables it possesses none, only divans richly draped with Kurdish stuffs placed against the stone walls that bound the two sides of the platform. The floor is carpeted with tekeke, a kind of grey felt, and the walls are decorated with swords, knives, pistols, and other weapons. On the other two sides, the Salamlik is bounded by wooden rails to keep away the sheep and cattle which occupy the greatest proportion of floor s.p.a.ce, and whose breathing helps materially to keep the chamber warm. The other members of the household are confined behind the stone wall where the s.p.a.ce is sometimes split up into two or more chambers for the various families of the patriarchal household. One of these rooms is the common eating-room, and is provided with an open hearth, fireplace, and chimney which leans forward over the fireplace and draws up the smoke through a hole in the turf-covered roof. A great stone is placed over the chimney to keep children at play and grazing animals from falling through. In traveling through the country on horseback, particular care must be taken lest the horse step through an old chimney hole and break his leg. The windows are funnel shaped holes through the ceiling spanned with oiled paper.