lavash

Lavash: the Preparation, Meaning and Cultural Expressions of Traditional Bread

Lavash is a traditional thin bread that forms an integral part of Armenian cuisine. Its preparation is typically undertaken by a small group of women, and requires great effort, coordination, experience and special skills. A simple dough made of wheat flour and water is kneaded and formed into balls, which are then rolled into thin layers and stretched over a special oval cushion that is then slapped against the wall of a traditional conical clay oven. After thirty seconds to a minute, the baked bread is pulled from the oven wall. Lavash is commonly served rolled around local cheeses, greens or meats, and can be preserved for up to six months. It plays a ritual role in weddings, where it is placed on the shoulders of newlyweds to bring fertility and prosperity. The group work in baking lavash strengthens family, community and social ties. Young girls usually act as aides in the process, gradually becoming more involved as they gain experience. Men are also involved through the practices of making cushions and building ovens, and pass on their skills to students and apprentices as a necessary step in preserving the vitality and viability of lavash making.

A-Tradition-of-Making-and-Using-a-Wooden-Charm

A Tradition of Making and Using a Wooden Charm

A wooden charm is a horseshoe-shaped carved wood with geometric, vegetal and cosmic patterns. Currently, there are no restrictions on wood type or size. Used at home to protect the person and in the countryside to protect pets. Wooden charms are placed above the front door, on the front wall of the entrance or on a nearby pillar. To protect the animals, they are hung around the animals’ necks, horns, or on the door of the barn, on the post, and to get a lot of butter, they tie it to a cork string. Small wooden charms are hung on children’s cribs or sewn onto the back of children’s clothing. They are also worn by women along with beads. The cultural feature of wooden charms is that they are pieces of applied art designed with national style emblems expressing the ideas of celestial luminaries, animals, water, fertility cults.

Protective wooden charms are still used today and are widely used, especially among the youth. Currently, the scope of their preparation and use is related to the activities of woodworkers and various social groups that keep alive and preserve the tradition of folk beliefs. Their use has a certain purpose due to the belief of protection from evil forces and aesthetic significance, when the charm is used as an ornament or decoration of the apartment. Modern craftsmen are very successful in copying the old, traditional forms of charms, as well as making new styles of wooden charms that are widely used.

tohmatsar

Family Tree

It is a symbol of memory, phenomena, events and processes related to the history of the nation, the origin of the clan. Written information is found from the 19th century. It flourished especially in the 20th century and continues to thrive today. Fixes the awareness of the vertical and horizontal layers of family-blood kinship ties, lineage or super-lineage, memory, perpetuation of lineage names. Early versions of the family tree were a practice of recording the chronology of births and deaths of members of a family on the last page of the Gospel or Holy Book, which later became an independent unit, drawn on paper or in some other form, with an image representing the branching development of several generations through clay, wood carvings (from here (name: “family tree”). Varieties of family trees evolve along with life and modern technological capabilities are also used today.

It is vibrant and continues to evolve in terms of form and content. Today, family trees are drawn up in various artistic and aesthetic solutions, working to include at least seven generations of a family kinship group in vertical and as wide as possible horizontal directions.

sasna-crer

The List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Armenia

Folklore
  1. “Daredevils of Sassoun” epic / some of the widespread names are “David of Sassoun” “ The Family of the Giant”,  “The Family of the Brave”, “Tightrope Walkers of Sassoun” 

2012. “Performance of the Armenian epic of “Daredevils of Sassoun” or “David of Sassoun” was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Folk Dances
2. Kochari

2017. “Kochari, traditional group dance” was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

3. Yarkhushta

4. Batola /ritual wedding dance-song

5. Tamzara

Folk Music

6. Song ‘‘Krunk’’

7. Song ‘‘Gatseq Teseq’’ (‘‘Go and see’’)

8. Romance of the troubadours / musical-narrative, musical-poetic art/

9. Musical Instrument Tar and Tar making / traditional musical culture, performing arts, musical instrument making/

10. Sahari / traditional musical culture, instrumental performing arts, ritual music/

11. Duduk and its music / traditional musical culture, performing arts, musical instrument making/

2008. “Duduk and its music”was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

12. Instrument “Kanon”/ / traditional musical culture, performing arts, musical instrument making/

Folk Culture of Life Support /National Cuisine/

13. Lavash, the preparation, meaning and appearance of traditional bread as an expression of culture in Armenia

2014 “Lavash, the preparation, meaning and appearance of traditional bread as an expression of culture in Armenia” was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

14. Preparation of Gata and its cultural expressions

15. Making of vodka from fruits / fruit processing /

16. The tradition of the preparation and use of matsun (yogurt)

17. Winemaking / grape processing/

18. The tradition of the ritual dish Kurkut in Kapan

19. The tradition of making dried fruits from persimmons and figs in Meghri /fruit processing/

20. The tradition of making Chechil (string cheese) and braided cheese of the Shirak province

21. The tradition of Kyavar pakhlava making and its use

22. Making of beetroot stem pickle/ traditional methods and use of food processing /

Folk Customs and Rituals associated with the Stages of Human Life

23. Traditional wedding ritual

24. Khavits / a custom related to a woman’s childbirth/

25. Uvula raising / a custom associated with birth and maturity of a child and child care/

26. Funeral rite

27. Yezidi Wedding ritual

Ideas and Knowledge about Nature

28. Symbolic use and ornamentation of tarehats (Year bread, Armenian national bread) / folk festive culture, an element of folk cuisine /

Skills Related to Economic Life

29. The tradition of collecting wild plants and fruits in the communities of the Tavush province of the Republic of Armenia

30. Going to the mountains. tradition of the culture of distant cattle-breeding in the Tavush province of the Republic of Armenia

Skills and Knowledge related to Traditional Crafts

31. Traditional Forging

32. Craftsmanship of Khachkars (cross-stones)

2010 “Armenian cross-stones art. Symbolism and craftsmanship of Khachkars” was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

33. Lace making /decorative-applied art, artistic knitted fabric/

34. Tradition of making and using tonir

35. Traditional rug weaving / decorative-applied art/

36. Embroidery /artistic knitted fabric/

37. Embroidery culture of the Syrian-Armenian community of Armenia

National Holidays

38. St. Sargis day

39. Tiarn’ndaraj (Trndez)

40. Vardavar

41. Ascension day /national and church holiday/

42. Resurrection day (”Easter”) /national and church holiday/

43. New Year

44. Celebration of Musa Ler (mountain) /national celebration/

45. Celebration of the New Year of the Assyrians

Folk Beliefs and Customs

46. Worship of Saint Tevatorus of Nigavan village of Aragatsotn province of RA

47. Worship of Tukh Manouk of Kasakh village of Aragatsotn province of RA

48. The tradition of making and using a wooden amulet /folk applied art /

49. Pilgrimage to the monastery of St. Thaddeus the Apostle / folk belief, holiday, Christian pilgrimage /

2020. “The pilgrimage to the monastery of St. Thaddeus the Apostle” was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Customs related to Social, Kinship, Family Relations

50. Family tree / symbol of memory, phenomena, events, processes related to the history of the nation, the origin of the dynasty/

Armenian Language

51. Armenian letter art and its cultural expressions

2019 “Armenian letter art and its cultural expressions” was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

krunk

“Krunk /Crane/” song

It is a lyrical song of the lyrical genre on the theme of sojourn, which embodies two characters. The crane is the allegorical character of the song, and the poet is essentially the main character, the lyrical hero. These two different, completely opposite lyrical figures are united, as a result of which the crane is no longer seen as an allegorical figure, but personifies the exiled poet, the exiled man.

Together, the two become the worldwide symbol of Armenian people.

Being invented as a written song and finding distribution

mainly in written form – preserved his invention

features, measure and rhyme, substance and content. It has a linguistic and stylistic expressiveness, an original verbal and pictorial system. Perpetuated in society, transmitted through formal and informal learning.