Welcome to 2009! The strange thing about time zones is that I rang in the new year 10-12 hours (depending on where you live) before you did! Ha! I spent my New Year's Eve here at our building with some brothers and sisters. I made a lasagna (my first time) and we partied ALL NIGHT! A few people came at midnight, but the actual party started at 2am. We ate, played games, and danced until around 5:30am. Fun stuff.
January 2nd proved to be an eventful day as well. I attended my first Armenian wedding. Well, I did more than attend, I helped decorate and make the finger foods. I must say...I was pretty proud of my Ritz Cracker/cheese/fish/olive/pickle/ham creations! So, the wedding was not too different from our ceremony. There was the white dress, the short wedding sermon about love, a little music, and WAIT...WHAT? NO KISS???? That's right, he didn't kiss the bride. Apparently, some of my Armenian friends were a little surprised, too. So, onward to the reception! There were special toasts made, the cutting of the cake, and then lots of dancing! These people know how to party. (Whoever said that Bapt. don't dance obviously was not from this country!)
So, after a good reception, the bride and groom had to go do the traditional thing of going back to their home with their family for a visit. So, they went, but told us not to leave the party. We waited an hour or two, and yes, they did come back and we danced some more.
AND after they finally left for good, those of us who were left visited the groom's family for New Year's. This included a couple more hours of dancing. Armenian music, Russian music, and yes....it's shameful to admit, a little bit of Brittney Spears.
The wedding was a success. Several people who came had not ever been to anything "Evang." before. They had definitely never seen a non-Apostolic wedding. They were so impressed with how beautiful everything was, how fashionable we were, how intelligently everything was done, and how we could have a good time. So, it was a great day for Gorgan and Susannah, but it was also a good testimony to the non-believers.
p.s.
my favorite part of the wedding vows was when they were asked "Do you promise to accept him/her as part of yourself?" I thought that was very beauitful :)
7 comments:
You'll have to show us all your Armenian dance moves when you get back!
PARTY ON LITTLE SIS. SOUNDS LIKE A FUN TIME. WISH I COULD HAVE SEEN THE ARMENIANS DANCE. I GUESS THERE WAS NO MOTOWN OR BEACH BOYS. HA HA.
THE NEW YEAR IS STARTING OUT SLOW BUT I THINK ITS GOING TO GET BETTER. LOVE DAD.
There better be dancing at your wedding! I want to see these dance moves you are picking up in your overseas adventure! Whoever said Baptist's can't dance was definitely mistaken! haha, Love ya!
-Audrey
I'm so impressed that you are taking lessons in Armenian catering and dancing. Sounds like everyone was having a wonderful time celebrating the wedding. So.. is today Christmas in Armenia?
Hey did they serve any Armenian New Years pudding at any time for New Years? When I got back from Armenia I made some for one of my classes but I wasn't sure if they still served it on New Years.
Mabe
Sounds like it was a lot of fun! And the work you're doing sounds like they're ALL win-wins! Be diligent daily!
Ariann
It would be neat to see some pics of the Armenian wedding.
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