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Վահէ Յ. Աբէլեան

Վերնագիրը ընդօրինակած եմ Հրաչ Քալսահակեանին թեւ 179  վիտիոյէն։ Հրաչը գնահատելի սովորութիւնը մը ըրած է։ Մեր կեանքին հետ աղէրս ունեցող հարցերու մասին իր կարծիքը  կը ձայնագրէ եւ կը զետեղէ Եութիւպի վրայ։

Վերնագիրը ընդօրինակեցի քանի որ 1976-ին Ամերիկայ հաստատուելէս ետք անոր իրողութիւնը ապրած եմ եւ տակաւին կ՚ապրիմ։ Իսկ «գործող կենդրոն» իր ակնարկը ոչ թէ միայն Շարժայի մէջ հայ կեդրոնին նման կեդրոնի մը կը վերագրեմ, ալ նաեւ եկեղեցիին եւ ինչպէս նաեւ այլ հայկական հաստատութիւններուն։

Աւելի քան տասնամեակ մը մաս կազմեզի Նիւ ճըրզի Հայկական ծերանոցին հաստատութեան հոգաբարձութեանը (Board of Trustees).  Հոն ապրող տարեցներուն ծախսերը կը հոգայ կառաւարութիւնը։ Հետեւաբար կառաւարական հսկողութեան տակ գործող հաստատութիւն մըն է  եւ ենթակայ է անոր օրէնքներուն ինչպէս իրեն նման այլ հաստատութիւնները։ Բայց շէնքը կառուցած է հայ համայնքը եւ կը ղեկաւարուի համայնքէն ներկայացուցչներով եւ այսպէս պահած է որոշ հայկական դիմագիծ մը։

Նիւ Ճերզի հայկական ձեռանոցը սովորութիւն ունէր Հայրերու Օրուայ շաբաթավերջը ընկերական դաշտկերոյթ, փիքնիք, ունենալ որուն ներկայ կ՚ըլլային հարիւրաւորներ եւ հարիւրաւորներ։ Յեռնարկը կ՚ապահովէր հասոյթ հաստատութեան զանազան եւ այլազան կարիքներուն համար։ Այդ հասոյթը կարելի կըլլար ապահովել քանի որ այդ հսկայ ձեռնակը ամբողջութեամբ կը տարուէր կամաւոր աշխատողներու կողմէ։ Փիքնիքէն նուազագոյն շաբաթ մը առաջ պատրաստութիւնները կը սկսէին։ Ալ գնում ընողները, անոր նշանաւոր քէպապի միսերը պատրաստողները, ինչպէս նաեւ սարման, անուշեղէնները եւն եւն ամբողջութեամբ կը պատրաստուէին հոյլ մը կամաւորներու կողմէ եւ այսպէս եղած  էր տարուէ տարի, տասնեակ տարիներէ ի վեր։ Քանի մը սերունդներու համար ծեռանոցին Հայերու Օրուայ փիքնիքը անգիր բայց հաստատուած տօն մըն էր։ Երբ ես գործի համար նահանգէն հեռացայ 1995-ին արդէն փիքնիքը դադրած էր տեղի ունենալէ։ կամաւորներու այդ սերունդը կամաց կամաց հեռացաւ իսկ անոնց ձգած բացը լեցնողներ չեղան։ Նախքին սերընդակիցներ կը յիշեն ծեռանոցին հայկական փիքնիքը իր նուագով եւ պարով, անոր նշանաւոր քէպապը եւ պուլղուրով փիլաւը։ Բայգ նոր սերունդը գաղաբար իսկ չունի։

Անցեալ շաբաթ Մարին եւ ես ներկայ եղանք՝ Ուսթըրի (Worcester, MA) Սուրբ Երրորդութեան եկեղեցիին ներքնասրահը ուր այդ Ուրբաթ օրուան  երեկոյեան եկեղեցիին համար հասոյթ  ապահովելու համար տեղի ունենալիք հիրասիրութեան  պատրաստութիւնը կըլլար։ Հոն ալ խումբ մը, ընհանրապէս կիներ, ժրաջան կ՚աշխատայիին։ Բայց ամէնուն մտահոգութիւնը նոյն էր, երիտասարդ կամաւորներու պակասը։ Հիւրասիրութիւնը տեղի ունեցաւ եւ ըստ ակնկալութեան, շուրջ $20,000 շահ ապահոված պիտի ըլլայ։ Անշուշտ որ այդ կարելի եղաւ շնորհիւ կամաւոր աշախատողներուն եւ մատակարարողներուն։ Հապա՞ եթէ անոնք չըլլային կամ չըլլան օր մը։

Պարզուած պատկերը ընհանրական է եւ պատասխանատութիւնը մեր ամբողջին վրայ կ՚իյնայ։ Ոչ մէկ վարչութիւն կամ վարչական, կացութիւնէն շատ բան պիտի կարենայ փոխել եթէ տիրող մտայնութիւնը այսպէս շարունակուի։ Այնպէս որ անբողջութեամբ չեմ բաժներ Հրաչին ըրած ախտաճանաչումը։ Հոն հասարակած պատասխանատուութիւն մը կայ որուն մասին պէտք եղած ախտաճանաճումը չգտայ Հրաչին տեսաերիզին վրայ։

Հակասական վիճակ մը կայ այս կացութեամ մէջ։ Բացատրեմ օրինակով՝

Օհայօ Նահանգին, Քոլոմպոս քաղաքին մէջ հայկական կազմակերպուած համայնք մը կայ որ կապուած է Էջմիածնական Թեմին։ Հոն է որ անդրադարձայ թեմերուն անյաղորդ վիճակին պատճառած վնասը։ Պարբերաբար կղեր մը կուգայ եւ կը պատարագէ։ Բայց այդ կղերականը պէտք է ըլլայ Էջմիածնայ Թեմէն։ Կը պատահի որ շրջան մը, այլ եւ այլ պատճառներով, կղերական մը չըլլայ։ Բայց համայնքը արտօնուած չէ կապ պահել Անթիլեասի Թեմին հետ որպէսզի կղերական մը տրամադրէ Էջմիածնական Թեմին կղերականին բացակայութեանը։ Օտար եկեղեցի մը իր ներքնասրահը եւ պաշտամունքի եկեղեցիին սրահը տրամադրուած է հայ համայնքին Քրիստոնեայ եղբայրական զգացումներէ տարուած։ Բայց համայնքը ակնկալուած համեմատութեամբ ներկայ չըլլար։ Բայց երբ հարց կը տրուի շարունակել կամ դադրեցնել այս վիճակը, համայնքը չուզեր դադրեցնլ, բայց զարմանալիօրէն պէտք եղած տարողութեամբ մասնակցելու տրամդրութիւն ալ ցոյց  չի տար եւ միեւնոյն ժամանակ չուզեր առանց եկեղեցիի եւ որոշ կազմակերպուած համայնքի մը ներկայութեանը մնալ։ Այսպէս պատասխանատուութիւնը կը մնայ  կամաւորներու շատ սեղմ շրջանակի մը ուսերուն վրայ որոնք արդարաբար կը գանգատին եւ սպառնան դադրիլ պատասխանատուութիւն ստանցնելէ։

Կար ժամանակ երբ միւթենական աշխատանքի համար ոչ թէ միայն տրամադրութիւն կար, այլ յաճախ ներքին պայքարներու պատճառ կը դարնար ստանցնելու վարչական պատասխանատուութիւնը։ Յաճախ կը պատահէր որ այդ համայնքը կեդրոն չունենար եւ հետեւաբար կեդրոն ունենալը հիմնական անհրաժեշտութիւն կը դարնար։ Արեւմտեան Պէյրութի ժողովրդային տունը ուր ես անցուցի պատանեկութիւնըս եւ երիտասարդութեանս սկզբնական տարիները, կուսացութեան չէր պատկաներ։ Վարձու տեղ մըն էր։ Յետաքային կուսակցութիւնը ունեցաւ իր կեդրոնը որ դժբախտաբար չի կրցաւ օգտագործել քաղաքացիական պատերազմին պատճառաւ եւ ըսուեցաւ որ ծախուեցաւ։

Ներկայիս շատ աւելի դիւրին է շէնք մը բարձրացնելը բայց շատ աւելի դժուարացած է այդ շէնքը գործող կեդրոնի մը վերածելը։ Վարիչներ կամ որոշ մարդիկ կրնան որոշ օգտակարութիւն ունենալ շէնքը գործոն կեդրոնի մը վերածելու։ Բայց այդ մէկը դատապարտուած է աւելի շատ կանուխ քան ուշ  իր վերջալոյսին, եթէ համայնքին անդամներուն մասնակցելու եւ բաժնեկցելու ընհանրական տրամադրութիւնը օրէ օր պակսի։

HMEM: The Legendary Scoutmaster and his Son.

"Elevate Yourself and Elevate Others"-Բարձրագիր՝ Բարձրացուր

Dedicated to my childhood friend GARO ANTIKAJIAN

 "Mesh Badrast"- "Always Ready."

Vahe H. Apelian

Homenetmen (Armenian: Հ.Մ.Ը.Մ. pronounced [ˈhɔmɛnetmɛn], short for Armenian: Հայ Մարմնակրթական Ընդհանուր Միութիւն, meaning 'Armenian General Athletic Union') is a pan-Armenian Diaspora organization devoted to sport and scouting. The motto of Homenetmen is "Rise and Raise" (Elevate Yourself and Elevate Others with You) (Armenian: Բարձրացի՛ր, Բարձրացո՛ւր, Partsratsir Partsratsour). Homenetmen was founded on 16 November 1918 in Constantinople present-day Istanbul. Shavarsh Krissian, an avid athlete and footballer had promoted the idea of a pan-Armenian sports association for a number of years and is considered the founder of this eminent Armenian athletic organization. (Source: Wikipedia).

On October 20, 2014, Levon Sharoyan of Aleppo posted about Levon Apkarian where he noted the following.

“Give another year, half a century would have passed since Levon Apkarian’s death, He was the Armenian scoutmaster “Baden Powell”. The new generation may not know of him or even heard his name. But the older generation, as onetime students in Armenians schools, and orphanages in Syria, Lebanon, and Cyprus, knew this legendary person. They could never forget the athletic events he organized, the Swedish exercises he taught and scouting troupes he led wearing his hat, carrying a whistle around his neck and the emblems he wore on his formal scout dress.

Levon Apkarian hailed from Sassoun. His life would have made a captivating novel if one had been able to do the impossible task of narrating it. In the immediate aftermath of the genocide, his life was marked by his efforts of salvaging Armenian orphans from the Syrian cities of Deir Elor, Ras al-Ain, Arab Punar and entrusting them to the care of Armenian organizations.

After the war, he devoted himself completely to athleticism and scouting. The Syrian Arab community bestowed upon him the honorific title as the “Chief of the Scouts”.

After his death, the Armenian community did not have a scoutmaster of his caliber. There has not been another Levon Apkarian. Along with the genocide martyred founder of the Armenian Athletic organization and scouting Shavarsh Krisian, Levon Apkarian remains a towering figure in the history of Armenian athleticism and scouting."

Levon Apkarian, was also the father of the legendary artistic director and conductor of the Kohar Symphony Orchestra, Sebouh Apkarian”.

On August 5, 2014, Asbarez Daily also reported the passing away of the legendary artistic director and conductor of the Kohar Symphony Orchestra, Sebouh Apkarian. Many if not most of us remember him with his long white hair flowing down his back shoulder, his graceful, and undulating body as he conducted the Orchestra.

The following communiqué was carried in the Armenian press:  “Sebouh Apkarian was born in Cyprus. He was a composer, conductor, painter and educator. He founded the Armenian Radio Program at the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation, where he served for 46 years.

He graduated from the Melkonian Educational Institute, where he later taught music and conducted the school choir, following the steps of his music teacher and mentor, Vahan Bedelian.

After graduating from the Melkonian he continued his studies in Paris.

As an opera singer, he performed in Nicosia, Athens, Beirut, Aleppo, Cairo, and Paris.

He composed many songs, choral works, chamber music, oratorios, cantatas, symphonic suites and musical caricatures. Many of these compositions have been performed in Tokyo, Paris, Cyprus, Beirut and the US.

His work and performances with Kohar Symphony Orchestra and Choir were characterized by many as the most significant contribution towards the promotion of Armenian culture during the last decade.”

Worrisome Aleppo Armenians

Manuel Keshishian

Translated and abridged by Vahe H. Apelian

Born and raised in Aleppo, Manuel Keshishian is a playwright, stage director, and long-standing teacher.

Manuel Keshishian with the Aleppo youth

-       “When are you both getting married?” I asked a young man I know.

-       “God only knows.”  Answered the boy.

-       “True, God knows, but what are you planning?” I continued asking.

What plans? What can he plan? I know his fiancée. She is a recent graduate with dying dreams.

The boy has a good job. He works and earns well. He lives with his parents.

-       “How are you doing?” I asked a newly married young man.

-       “Don’t you know?” He answered.

A newlywed young man who married the love of his life should be happy and there should be no reason to ask.

However.

Before the conflict, the monetary exchange rate was 48 to 50 Syrian pounds to a U.S. dollar.

Today one U.S. dollar is equivalent to 460 Syrian pounds.

The salary of a young teacher before the conflict was between 20 to 25 thousand Syrian pounds (500 U.S. dollar). Today the adjusted salary with additional bonuses is between 40 to 50 thousand Syrian pounds (80-110 U.S. dollar.) 

Those who work for companies that deal with banks receive a salary between 60-70 thousand Syrian pounds.  Those who work for the United Nations receive even a larger salary. But the number of such persons is limited. The least paid are the teachers. Artisans and craftsmen likely earn similarly but those who own their business earn well. Owning a shop is a dream these days.

How are the young to get married to have families of their own? How are they going to support their families?

That is why asking a young person how is he doing, one receives a dismissive answer.

The prices of the houses nowadays are 50% of what they were. However, the salaries have dropped to one-fifth of what they were. Before the conflict banks extended a long-term favorable mortgage to those who wanted to own a house. Before the conflict, there were Armenian organizations that facilitated Armenian families own house by loaning them interest-free and long-term payment options. Before the conflict professional and trade associations erected buildings and sold them to their members for the cost. Before the conflict Armenian organizations built houses and rented them affordably to Armenian families in need.

In Syria, almost everyone owned a house. Many owned a few houses. They lived in one and had the other ready for their children. Many owned houses in the villages and many villagers owned houses in the cities. Would you believe that in Syria there were between 400 to 500 thousand houses that were not occupied year around?

Nowadays none of them exists.

Nowadays there are high prices, high prices, and high prices. Everything costs ten times what it cost before the conflict.

I know three married couples who work in the same office. Their spouses work as well. These three families live in vacant houses left behind by those who have left the country. They are in constant fear that the owners of the houses might one day call them and let them know that they put their houses for sale forcing them to vacate the houses and face inordinate high rents they can ill afford to house their families.

These days in Aleppo a family needs at least 150 thousand Syrian pounds per month to have a decent living while most earn no more than 50 to 60 thousand pounds per month.

Most families get by through with assistance. Incidentally, most of the benevolent organizations that assist them are not Armenian although we should note that the Armenian General Benevolent Association assists 1200 families. We cannot afford not to note that some of the families that receive assistance do not really need it.

We get used to it, in fact, we got used to being in need for subsidy. Some of us are on the verge of losing our self-worth.

For how long and until what time, are we going to let our youth in such predicament?

We say. We herald loudly from the stage, and without exception during every occasion and event, we repeat that we will keep our community going and that we will rebuild.

What do we do to get the community going? What can we do?

The stark reality is that we do not believe in the possibility of overcoming the odds against us. Saying that “we will rebuild” is a sort of a social obligation, a duty. We have not collectively come to the decision to keep and rebuild the community.  We simply react to the circumstances; otherwise, we should have long planned to face the present. At the very least we should plan for the future from today and on. Who are our future, if not our present day youth?

What do we do, or what can we do for our youth?

We should have thought beforehand setting up an endowment fund the interest of which we would devote to our collective needs. We should have done it before the conflict, but we did not do it. We should have done at the start of the conflict, but we did not do it.  Many were articulating then to devote the 5% of all assistance received towards an endowment fund. But there seemed to be no one in the leadership to heed to the call.

Our youth are living in a precarious situation. This is not an unexpected sate. Extraordinary states call for extraordinary steps to be taken.

All of us realize individually that we have a responsibility. Each and every one of us is to set some money aside for our youth. Even those who receive assistance should set aside 5% of their assistance towards an endowment fund we need.

Let us not forfeit our individual responsibly if we do not want our youth facing an uncertain future  and if we want to preserve our community.

I repeat, extraordinary times demand extraordinary solutions. I pray that I do not invite the animosity of our organizations and establishment when I ask:

-       “To whom belong our communal real estates, if not for the people?” 

These real estates have been bought and built by the community as a whole during the past 100 years. Why can’t we devote part of these real estates for the benefit of our youth, if we want to preserve our community?

Why can’t we start implementing our much-said call for repatriation?

Why can’t we transfer the income from the sale of some of these real estates to Armenia and have housing built for our youth without interest and with a long-term payment option? I am sure that the authorities in Armenia will procure land for the Aleppo Armenian youth who would like to move there.

-       “You talk idly.” Some will say.

I will have no response other than repeating.

“Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures.”

Aleppo, October 28, 2018

Sbaghanants Magar (Սպաղանաց Մակար)

By Vahe H, Apelian

 

This is the translation of an article I wrote in 1993. The information pieced together is from Roupen Der Minassian’s “Memoirs of an Armenian Revolutionary” and Antranig Chalabian’s “Revolutionary Figures” books.

 

I had not yet stepped into my teens when my father enrolled in the A.R.F. Badanegan Myoutium (Youth Association) whose meetings took place in an old, single level building situated on a hill. It had a balcony that overlooked the street below, but we were not permitted to get on the balcony for fear it might collapse. The building seemed to have been a one time the Middle Eastern type home for an extended family as it consisted of a large central hall, surrounded by many rooms with a common bathroom and a kitchen. In my days, it served as the A.R.F. West Beirut Community Center.

The center had its permanent resident, Vartan Shahbaz, a one-time fedayee, a freedom fighter. In his frail old age, he had found refuge in one of the rooms. But the center was a veritable beehive. Young and older adults impressed us kids, as they entered in and exited these rooms with an air of utmost determination pursuing something very important. The walls of the central hall were laden with pictures of the founders of the A.R.F, fedayees, and of the statesmen who founded the First Republic of Armenia along with others. It was in this building that we youngsters held our meetings on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons as the Armenian schools we attended held classes six days of the week but had the afternoon off on these two days of the week.

In time the stories of the events and persons we learned during our meetings took shape and form for us thanks to the pictures on the walls. But that was the case with Sbaghanats Magar. There were no pictures of him on the walls or in the books although we remained much impressed by the story we were told of the young A.R.F. Burea envoy Roupen Der Minassian resolving the conflict between him and the legendary freedom fighter Kevork Chavoush, that threatened to split the ranks of the fedayees on the Mountains of Sassoun.

A while back my father gifted me the two coffee table size volumes of A.R.F. Centennial Memorial Album edited by Hagop Manjikian, a Kessabtsi friend of his. There I came across a drawing of Sbaghanats Magar placed next to his one-time nemesis Kevork Chavoush. I cannot say that the drawing impressed me for I doubt that there will be any drawing that will do justice to my youthful image of the man who has remained etched in my memory much like the legendary Dork Angekh of our mythology. According to our eminent ancient historian Movses Khorenatsi, Dork Akegh was the great-grandson of our legendary founder and patriarch Haig, who led our ancestors to the foothills of Mount Ararat so that they might live there free of oppression from the tyrant Bel.

The reason for the serious conflict between the two great freedom fighters, Sbaghanats Magar, and Kevork Chavoush, was the latter’s secret marriage to Yeghso. By doing so Kevork Chavoush had broken an unwritten but a solemn code of honor among the ranks of the freedom fighters of not marrying. This had raised the ire of Spghanants Magar. There might have been other reasons as well we do not know. After all, surely conflicts arose at times among the ranks.

Kevork Chavoush was an undisputed leader but the person who confronted and challenged him, Spaghanats Magar, was not an ordinary freedom fighter. Magar’s reputation and influence among the ranks spread far from the mountains of Sassoun all the way to the highest A.R.F. authority, the Burea, whose members took special notice of the conflict between the two and delegated young Roupen Der Minassian to resolve the conflict. I make note of the conflict just to point out to the Spaghanats Magar’s reputation. As to how Roupen Der Minassian resolved the conflict and ended up immortalizing the event in his memoirs, is an altogether different subject that will make for a fascinating reading.

Who Was Spaghanats Magar?

Magar was the princely chief of the village Sbghank of Sasoun. Roupen Der Minassian in his memoir noted that he was “a giant of a man, a formidable person”. Roupen also noted that the people said: “ Kevork is a wolf or a tiger, but Uncle Magar is a raging bull during a combat”. And indeed, Roupen further noted in his memoir, “with large and bloody eyes, a big head, giant of a body, that fearless person, during a combat, looked neither to his left nor to his right, with a roaring voice, his hands over his dagger, he either charged forward or stood still even if hundreds of cannons exploded around him.”

Born and raised on the mountains of Sassoun, Magar should have been a true son of nature who knew neither cunningness nor considerate talk. A veritable feudal lord he must have been who was rebellious and coarse. In his own dialect and is his own way he would say, referring to the well known freedom fighters of the day. “What? Educated people like Damadian, or Kourken or Armenag, bossing me? Whether it is Arapo, Mourad, or Abro and Kevork, not even Serop, none of them is worth more than Magar”. For the princely Magar, the most any one of the famed combatants could have been was as his comrade-in-arms.

When did Spagahanats Magar become a fedayee?

For all indications, Magar espoused the cause when the ringing of the liberty reached the mountains of Sassoun Having accepted the call to fight for freedom Magar remained faithful to the unwritten freedom fighters’ code and did not marry to form a family of his own. He became the comrade in arms of the famous fedayees such as Serop Aghpuyr, Kevork Chavoush, Hriair, Antanig, Mourad, Damadian and almost anyone who took any leadership role on the mountains of Sassoun. All of his comrades-in-arms had a picture that helped them secure their rightful places in the annals of our freedom fighting history, but not Spaghanats Magar. Even his one-time nemesis, Kevork Chavoush, had his only snap-shot that has survived to this day, taken by Vahan Papazian on the Island of Aghtamar where the fedayees had convened. No picture of Magar has reached us and since my youth he has remained etched in my memory much like another Dork Ankegh.

Why did Magar decide to become a freedom fighter?

Shenegi Manoug was Magar’s comrade-in-arm. Fate would have them both killed during the same fight. I will allude to that later on. One day Roupen Der Minassian asked Shenegi Manoug why did he become a fedayee for he came from a well to do family as well?

Shenegi Manoug responded saying  “when people go atop Mount Maratouk or to Saint Garabed for pilgrimage, they do not choose the sickly animal as offering for sacrifice. That would not be acceptable to the Saint. People chose the best among the animals for sacrificing so that the purpose of the pilgrimage would be fulfilled. Our god is the freedom of the Armenians. Well-to-do and wealthy Armenians should be among the first offering to the sacrificial cause”.

We will never know the reason that drove the princely chief of the Sbghang to become a fedayee. But the fact is that he became one at a great personal sacrifice and went down in history having not an even a snap shot of him and without a family of his own..

What combats did Spghanats Magar take part?

I have pieced together the following, surely not all:

·                 Under Antranig’s leadership, in the assassination of the person, with his entire family, who treacherously had the legendary freedom fighter Serop Aghpuyr poisoned and rendered incapable to defend himself.

·                 In the defense of Sbghank when the Kurdish Khalil Bey attacked the village.

·                 In the ambushing the convoy and beheading of the same Khalil Bey under Antranig’s leadership.

·                 In the defense of Sassoun villages Dalvorig, Andog, Tsovasar between 1890-93.

·                 During the 1904 second revolt of Sassoun.

·                 In the combats in Daron and Vaspouragan during 1904-1908.

In all these combats Spaghanants Magar had assumed a leadership role. It might not be farfetched to claim that he took part in almost all combats in the Daron and Sassoun region from 1890 to his death in 1907.

For all indications he was illiterate, that is to say, he did not know how to read and write, which was unusual at the time on the Armenian Highlands. He appeared not to be a modest man for he did not shy away from claiming, if not boasting of the role that he thought rightfully belonged to him and to his village. In his own way, he would say. “ The whole nation looks up to Sassoun and Sassoun is the soul of the nation and the soul of Sassoun is Sbghank.” He would go on claiming that more than any other village of Sassoun  “it was Sbghank and Uncle Magar” who hosted and backed the fedayees in their times of need, for which they ended up paying a hefty price.

How was he killed?

After the martyrdom of Kevork Chaoush during the combat with Ottoman forces that came to be known in our history as the Battle of Soulukh, Spghanants Magar and Roupen Der Minassian became de facto leaders of the fedayees. It was during that time word reached them that Kevork Chavoush’s son Vartkes and wife Yeghso are in danger.

Spaghanats Magar and Shenegi Manoug took upon themselves to move the family to a secure place. But the enemy tracked them down. Spaghanats Magar had Varktes left behind to trusted hands saying “he is a kid, he might survive”, But he retained Yeghso under his protection saying that “Yeghso is honor, she should not be captured by the enemy.”

Spaghanats Magar had now assumed the safety of the woman whose marriage to Kevork Chavoush had raised his ire and caused serious conflict within the ranks. During ensuing combat, Shenegi Manoug and Spaghanats Magar were killed becaming two other sacrificial rams on the altar for freedom.

 

It’s the Masara Season

Vahe H. Apelian

Once again, it’s the masara season for the Kessabtsis as it was on October 20, 1906.

In a letter dated Oct. 20, 1906, Kessab missionary Miss Effie Chambers alluded to masara to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) on whose behalf she was doing mission work among the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The letter pertained to the schools in Kessab.

Miss Chambers said that there were six schools in Kessab. The Kessabtsis supported four schools. The Kessabtsis and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) jointly supported another to prepare students to further their education in Aintab Central College. Many students became beneficiaries of this joint venture and charted their courses in life. Among them, Dr. Avedis Injejikian, as his son Gabriel attests. Dr. Soghomon Apelian and his brother Rev. Bedros were also beneficiaries of this college-level preparatory school.

The other school was for girls. It was entirely supported by the ABCFM. The school's existence is telling as to how open Kessabtsis were in matters of gender and education and that over a century ago they let a foreign mission run a school to educate their daughters. Not every community in the Ottoman Empire, whether Armenian or not, would have been so open as to trust their daughters to be educated by foreigners.

Miss Chambers also noted in her letter that Kessabtsis have been supportive to her. However, she also voiced a complaint that getting the students to attend school in the fall was difficult. She wrote: “The first part of the term is greatly interrupted by gathering in the vineyard products and the making of molasses, which is a sort of general good time for everybody, makes it difficult.”

Not being a Kessabtsi, Miss Chambers did not know that Kessabtsis call “making of (grape) molasses” masara. Then and to this day it's “sort of general good time for everybody”.

What is a masara?

It seems impossible to find a Kessabtsi who does not know what masara is, although the origin of the word seems to have been lost in obscurity. And yet many among the new generation born to expatriated Kessabtsi parents may not have heard the word, let alone attended its preparation. Masara remains one of the major social events that binds Kessabtsis together.

Masara is “making (grape) molasses”, but it is not a chore, however tedious the preparation is. It is a time for merrymaking. The process obviously starts with the harvesting of the grapes. I would not be surprised if parents looked for the help of their agile children who would climb and reach the grapes on vines wrapped on tree branches high above. There were no vineyards in Kessab the way we envision vineyards these days. It would not surprise me that the kids, in turn, surely made ample use of their parents’ masara disposition and skipped school. I would have been tempted to do the same.

The grapes are then piled and sprinkled with a clay-like material, covered and left standing for a few days until the grapes are ripened for the juicing process to start. Juicing consists of stepping over them bare-footed. Young men wash their feet and get into the troughs and start tramping on the grapes until the grapes are juiced. The juice flowing from the trough is collected while the remaining pulp would become a source of nutrition for the animals.

Masara in Kessab on October 19, 2018, Courtesy Stepan J. Apelian 

The grape juice that contains the clay-like dirt is placed in a deep container and the dirt is allowed to settle down taking with it all the insoluble components in the grape juice and leaving a clear supernatant solution above. The latter is collected and placed in a large shallow pot and heated on ovens specially constructed for the process. The supernatant is heated until it attains a syrupy consistency. The process, which takes hours, provides the people with time to sit by the fire, relax, converse while periodically replenishing the wood to keep the fire going and making sure that the juice is heated no longer than needed.

Once it is determined that the molasses, which Kessabtsis call eroup, is formed it is transferred to a holding container. That transfer is the climax of the process and all would be waiting to savor its exquisite tasting foam, prpor. The person who transfers the warm syrup to start its foaming breaks the stillness of the evening or the night by shouting loudly "prpor, prpor", inviting everyone to savor the exquisite foam. To maximize the foaming of the warm syrup it is scooped with ladle made of gourd and poured from a distance through a perforated metal plate attached to a wooden handle back into the container thus creating a yellowish thick foam over the warm syrup.

The best way to taste the prpoor – the foam -- is by scooping it with laurel (gasli) tree leaves. Some would simply snatch a leaf from a gasli branch and fold it to taste the prpor. Others, especially the kids, would be more inventive and shape different kinds of wooden spoons with the gasli leaves.

Oct. 20, 1906, the day Miss Chambers dated her letter, turns out to be a Saturday, much like this year, in the fall in Kessab--a time when masara would have already commenced or would be commencing soon, depending on the ripening of the grapes. The world has changed much since, especially for the Armenians who would experience the Genocide nine years later. Two-thirds of the Kessabtsis would vanish in the Genocide. Amidst all these changes, masara has remained the way it was.

To this very day, in spite of the March 21, 2014 sacking of Kessab by extremists who assaulted the villages from Syria, the Kessabtsis held masara after their return in early autumn.

Nowadays Kessabtsis hold masara not so much as to prepare a rich source of nutrition for the long winter ahead (as it was done once), nor for commercial reasons, as it was also done once with the surplus. Masara nowadays is done to keep the tradition and the social bonds alive among the Kessabtsis in and outside Kessab.