Armenian-Letter-Art-and-Its-Cultural-Expressions

Armenian Letter Art and Its Cultural Expressions

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Inscribed in 2019 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Armenian letter art and its cultural expressions constitutes the centuries-old art of Armenian letters, Armenian scripts, the rich culture of decorating letters and its various uses. The element is based on the Armenian alphabet created in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, following the ‘one-letter-for-one-sound’ principle. The element is also distinguished by its wide range of ornamental scripts, generally classified by their shapes; knots, birds, animals, people, and mythical or imaginary creatures. Since their invention, Armenian letters have not only served their primary function to create written heritage, but also as numbers, cryptographs, riddles etc. Today, the letters are also used in handicrafts. Armenian letter art has penetrated almost all layers of society, particularly folk art. The element is practised across the Armenian territory and is integral to the cultural identity of Armenian people. Its bearers and practitioners include artists, carpet weavers, embroiderers, sculptors, linguists, calligraphists, jewellers and others. Educational institutions at all levels are involved in transmitting the related knowledge and skills to future generations, and several youth centres accord great importance to teaching Armenian letter art. Since 2008, continuous support has been shown for the annual ‘Granshan’ international design competition, and the Armenian Apostolic Church is central to acquainting children and youngsters with the element.

lavash

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

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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

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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

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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.

krunk

“Krunk /Crane/” song

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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.