Balloum or the Feast of the Assumption

Vahe H. Apelian

I recently learned from Hagop Tcholakian’s posting that it was feast of Vartavar that the Kessabtsis celebrated among the ruins of Balloum on Mout Gassios and not the feast of the Assumption of the Holy Mother of God (Asdouazazin). However, during my summer long stays in Kessab, the word Balloum was frequently referred to the Kessabtsis celebrating the feast of the Assumption. It is likely that after the annexation of Mount Gassios to Turkey, the word Ballum became associated with the Feast of the Assumption. 

Hagop Toroyan, a graduate of Haigazian Univeristy of Beirut, is knowledgeable in the religious festivities of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He noted on his page that that the “The greatest feast exalting the Holy Mother of God is the Feast of the Assumption. It is also one of the five daghavars of the Armenian (Apostolic) Church. The Armenian Church observes the feast for nine days. The sharagans dedicated to the Asdvadzazin (Mother of God) are among the most poetic and beautiful of our hymnal. On Assumption Day, following the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, the blessing of the grapes takes place.” The feast takes place on the Sunday closest to August 15.

Why are grapes blessed?

I believe the reason the grapes became symbolic of  the feast because grapevines, unlike most other fruit bearing trees, appear not to flower. However, grapevines do flower too but the cluster of the flowers are not visible to the naked eye. Nature might have conceived it that way because grapevines self-pollinate and thus grapes appear to come  on the vines, on their own, without fertilization, and thus best symbolized the immaculate conception of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. The grapes in Kessab mostly ripened by mid-August. Our paternal grandmother Sarah forbade us picking grapes until the fruits were blessed during the feast.

The celebration of the Feast of Assumption in Kessab  took place in the Nerki Guygh village or Eskouran. The village was thought to have been the first settlement at the foot of Mount Gassios that would in time grew to become Kessab. Kessabtsi of all persuasions and religious denominations celebrated the feast together in the open air, under a large oak tree, next to the village spring. Following the ceremonial slaughter of lamb, their meat, along with cracked wheat is cooked in large cauldron for the preparation of the day’s meal, the traditional Armenian harissa. Religious services are performed while harissa is being cooked, which required constant beating the mix with large wooden ladles. The festivities start after the blessing of the grapes.

The main attraction of the festivity is the traditional Kessab circle dance. In my days, it was Hammoud who would enliven the day. Hammoud was an Alevi. After the repatriation of many Kessabtsi, there came about a shortage of labor and a few Alevi families were invited as sharecroppers and were settled in the vacant houses. Hammoud was the patriarch of one such Alevi family. The children of these Alevi families attended the local school and spoke fluent Armenian and were playmates. Many a time, I accompanied his son Mhanna grazing the animals. 

I still picture Hammoud playing his kavala, his twin barreled duduk, with his cheeks fully extended, head tilted on one side, at times leaning forward and at times standing erect, accompanied by the  davul player, the drummer. Every now and then they would stop shout something that sounded “subash”. Bash means leader. At each shouting someone would have handed them money would take the lead of the dancers waving a white handkerchief knotted at one end as he led the dancers for a few rounds. The circle dance thus would go and on and on, with dancers leaving and others joining as new dancers would take the lead. At time the dancers would chant a tune. I do not remember the words but with started with “Hammoudi, Hammoudi…”, which sounded the dancers pleading the two musicians to go on playing. Playing the zurna and beating the davul must surely have been a taxing. Of course, there were the kids at the tail end trying to keep pace with the adults while mimicking their steps. As I look back I realize that there was no commercialization or mechanizing of any sort. It was just savoring the harissa, doing the circle dance and enjoying being together in a festive mood.

On March 21, 2014, the Kessabtsis were forced to abandon their homes and flee as extremists attacked the villages from Turkey. After eight-eight days of exile, on June 15-16, they began returning to their sacked villages to find their houses, businesses, churches plundered and their orchards in ruin. In spite of the harsh realities, they tenaciously observed the feast in August far from the ruins of Balloum, and in the shadow of their beloved Mount Gassios.

But this year, the deadly tentacles of the Covid-19 have reached Kessab as well and I wonder how they will observe their beloved feast.

Courtesy Hagop Tcholakian

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