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Yerevan to host Wine Days on May 11-12

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YEREVAN. – Armenia’s capital city will host  Wine Days on May 11-12, chairman of the State Tourism Committee Mekhak Apresyan told reporters.

The festival which is held for the second time and is expected to become a traditional event, provides an opportunity to represent Armenian wine at  the local and international market and to show the potential of Armenia’s ecotourism.

Apresyan said last year’s Wine Days were appreciated by tourists and the locals.

In turn, the head of tourism department of Yerevan Municipality Gevorg Orbelyan said the Wine Days and similar events contribute to the development of Armenia’s “eventful” tourism.

Over 25 wineries from Armenia and Artsakh will present their products, director of EventToura company Mary Badalyan said. Over 30 restaurants will join the event by presenting Armenian and other dishes.

This year’s event is dedicated to the 2800s anniversary of Yerevan.

“Our goal is to show that the wine drinking culture in Yerevan has a 2800-year history, because drinking wine is not a habit, it’s a lifestyle. We want to show that wine for Armenians is not a tribute to fashion, but a tradition,” said Nune Manukyan, director of Areni Festival Foundation.

Dec. 9 marks int’l day to commemorate victims of genocide

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In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly established 9 December as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime.

The 9th of December is the anniversary of the adoption of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”), the UN official website reported.

The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of the Genocide Convention and its role in combating and preventing the crime of genocide, as defined in the Convention, and to commemorate and honour its victims.

In adopting the resolution, without a vote, the 193-member Assembly reiterated the responsibility of each individual State to protect its populations from genocide, which entails the prevention of such a crime, including incitement to it.

Canada celebrates 150 with concerts, royals

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Canada – the home of hockey, maple syrup and a selfie-prone prime minister – has marked its 150th birthday with concerts and citizenship ceremonies. But a history of indigenous mistreatment meant not everyone celebrated.

Despite heavy rain, Canadians turned out across the country to mark the country’s 150th birthday with outdoor concerts, citizenship ceremonies and a royal visit by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kicked off the celebrations in the capital, Ottawa, speaking in front of the thousands of revelers on Parliament Hill.

“Canada is a country made strong not in spite of our differences but because of them,” Trudeau said. “We don’t aspire to be a melting pot – indeed, we know true strength and resilience flows through Canadian diversity.”

Indigenous protests

The anniversary was not without controversy, particularly among First Nations who noted Canada’s history of mistreatment of indigenous people.

On Thursday, activists erected a teepee on Parliament Hill on Thursday in protest, and on Saturday indigenous protesters marched through the streets of Toronto, some holding the Canadian national flag upside down.

Trudeau met with the activists in Ottawa on Friday.

Saturday was the 150th anniversary of the founding of the self-governing state. On July 1, 1867, the British North America Act united the British provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario into the Dominion of Canada.

Armenia: May triple holiday celebrated with grandeur in Artsakh

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Festive events marking the Victory Holiday, the 25th anniversary of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Defense Army and the Liberation of Shushi have started in Shushi and Stepanakert from early morning on Tuesday.

The celebrations dedicated to May holidays started with a military march at the Revival Square in Stepanakert. Events are planned in all regions of the country to be crowned with a final festive concert and a firework display in the capital city.

International Women’s Day: What gifts Armenian women want

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Today, 8 March is International Women’s Day. Although the origin of the holiday is highly political, today it has turned into one of the favourite holidays for women. Men, in turn, try to turn this day into a real celebration for women once more praising the female gender and evaluating women’s role in family and society. Gifts seem to be an integral part of this holiday. It is already a few days that the perfume, cosmetics and souvenir shops are crowded unlike other days. In these days, customers of these shops are mostly men. Starting from yesterday, the flower shops are also crowded.

The Armenian women seem not to be very demanding and do not wish to receive “unattainable” gifts from men.

In an interview with Panorama.am, advocate Liana Balyan said: “I am waiting for the spring holidays in a unique way, as the spring brings with it warmth, new expectations, hopes and dreams. March 8 is one of those wonderful holidays, when the form of the most desirable gift for me is not significant – be  it a small bouquet or a more expensive item. The most important thing is that the gift contains love, devotion and sincerity. I have always received flowers and perfumes on March 8. However, for me the happiest and the most cherished moment is when in the morning of March 8 I present flowers to my mom and kiss her on the cheek. And my mother’s sincere smile and happiness are the most important gifts for 8 March that I have always received and continue to receive.”

Head of the Rehabilitation and Intensive Care Unit of Yerevan’s “St. Virgin” medical center Anna Chobanyan wants to receive a very interesting book.

“I always receive diverse numerous gifts – flowers, jewellery or perfume. The presents are quite different. Today I want to receive a very interesting book,” she said.

Project Manager of Enterprise Incubator Foundation Zhenya Azizyan noted: “I do not like to receive gifts from women: only from my daughter or mother. Maybe it is pleasant to receive flowers on this day. The most important thing is the attitude, not the price of the gift. If they remember you and present a small bouquet, be it field flower or snowdrop, it is always pleasant.”

The gift that sculptor Nune Tumanyan wants is not, as she puts it, “very characteristic for a women.”

“It is desirable for me to receive an order to unveil one of my sculptors in the city. And also I want to have a large and bright workshop… it would certainly not do any harm,” N. Tumanyan said.

Gayane, who is a teacher, has already received her gift. “My students have organized an open class by themselves inviting me other teachers. Is there a better gift than this one?” she said.

March 8 was initially inspired by a New York City demonstration on March 8th, 1857, of women garment and textile workers who were protesting low wages, the twelve-hour workday, and uncompensated increased workloads. Although their march was brutally broken up by the police, they repeated their call for improved working conditions and equal pay for all working women as they formed their own union in March 1860.

In 1910 the first international women’s conference was held in Copenhagen by the Second International and an ‘International Women’s Day’ was established, which was submitted by the important German Socialist Clara Zetkin, although no date was specified.

The following year, 1911, IWD was marked by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany,Switzerland. Since 1914, IWD is marked on 8 March, as women of Austria, Hungary, Germany, Netherlands and Russia set the tradition.

Armenian law on “Holidays and Memorial Days” of June 24, 2001 defines March 8 official Women’s Day and April 7 Mother’s Day, both non-working days.

 

Source Panorama.am

Donald Trump’s inauguration: schedule and inaugural address @realDonaldTrump

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Friday

  • Trump, Pence and their families will attend a church services at St. John’s Episcopal. The ritual of attending morning church services before the inauguration was started by Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.
  • Trump and outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama will meet over coffee at the White House. The two leaders will then travel together to the Capitol with their wives for the inauguration ceremony.
  • The ceremony begins at 9:30 a.m. ET. The theme of the inauguration is “Uniquely American.” The vice-president will be sworn in first by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
  • Trump will be sworn in at noon by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. Trump will then deliver his inaugural address. Past great inaugural addresses have included Kennedy’s famous, “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country,” Reagan’s “We — the American people — we are the solution,” and Roosevelt’s “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Historian Douglas Brinkley told CNN that he met with Trump, who plans on writing the address himself along with a policy aide. He also said Trump planned to keep his address short.
  • Following Trump’s address, the Obama family will depart Washington aboard Marine One.
  • Trump and Pence will be honoured at a luncheon in the Capitol.
  • A procession of floats, soldiers and marching bands will pass by Trump during the Inaugural Parade along Pennsylvania Avenue. Trump’s team says the parade will last about 90 minutes. (Dwight Eisenhower presided over the longest parade — at more than 4.5 hours — in 1953).

Today January 6 marks the Christmas Day on the Armenian Apostolic Church

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January 6 marks the Christmas Day on the Armenian Apostolic Church’s calendar.
Catholic Churches traditionally celebrate the feast on December 25. The day is preceded by a week of fasting; in the evening of January 5, the churches across the country serve a candlelight divine liturgy to mark the Eve of  Nativity.
The people attending the mass later take home the lit candles which symbolize divine presence and the light shining from the Star of Bethlehem.

 

 

ETCHMIADZIN. – Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II presides over, at the Cathedral of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, a Divine Liturgy commemorating the Holy Nativity and Theophany of Jesus Christ (Christmas).

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, speaker of the parliament Galust Sahakyan, Cabinet members, diplomats and hundreds of faithful are attending the Divine Liturgy.

The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of Jesus Christ (Christmas) on January 6.

History of American Thanksgiving

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thanksgiving(history.com) In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.

In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers—an assortment of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith and other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the New World. After a treacherous and uncomfortable crossing that lasted 66 days, they dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River. One month later, the Mayflower crossed Massachusetts Bay, where the Pilgrims, as they are now commonly known, began the work of establishing a village at Plymouth.

Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. Squanto taught the Pilgrims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe, which would endure for more than 50 years and tragically remains one of the sole examples of harmony between European colonists and Native Americans.

Read More: http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving

European Heritage Days in Armenia

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european-haritadge-dayOn September 24-25 2016, under the motto “Heritage and Communities”, “European Heritage Days” will be held in the Republic of Armenia and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

According to information and public relations department of the Armenian Ministry of Culture, as part of the program numerous exhibitions and diverse events, concerts, meetings, discussions, lectures, watching movies, literary and musical matinees, educational and interactive programs will be organized.

This year’s program is dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Armenia.

 

Source Panorama.am