1993_04 Insight April 1993

              April 28,1993
Page A3
Armenian-Americans struggle
to preserve traditions, identity
♦ The Armenian
Orthodox Church
expresses concern
over loss of culture.
By Shari Vee Kazarian
Staff Writer
Armenians, like many other ethnic
groups, are faced with the struggle of
preserving their culture and language
outside of their home land.
On one hand there are the sccond-
and third-generation Armenian-
Americans who. although proud of
thcirheritage.havc drifted a way from
the Armenian culture. On ihc other
hand there are those who are passionate about preserving the culture.
In ihe play "Armenians," by Fresno
author William Saroyan, the character Father Kasparian, the priest of the
Red Brick Armenian Apostolic
Church (actually a reference to
Fresno's Holy Trinity, discusses cultural changes with the Reverend
Papazian, minister of the Pilgrim Armenian Congregational Church.
Father Kasparian satd: There is tlie
matter of our boys and girls growing
up unable to read and write Armenian. And many marry members of
other nationalities. And of course
manyofouryoungpeopleeitherrefuse
lo come to this church, or even to
yours, and if they do come, they are
bored, and they even tell jokes to one
another during the services."
The setting of the play is 1921, yet in
1993 the same issues remain for many
Armenians living in diaspora (out of
their country).
Father Kevork Arakelian, the priest
at St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic
Orthodox Church in Fowler, said that
in the 40's and SO's English was slowly
implemented into the sermon and ,
Badarak(the Divine Liturgy) because
the congregation wasmadeupof some
members that didn't speak Armenian.
The members he is referring to usually consisted of second generation
Armenian-Americans whose parents
came to America during the Armenian Genocide of 1915. the Turkish
attempt to eliminate Armenians, and
drive them from their homeland.
Though some English has been integrated into the sermons.all the hymns
are still in Armenian, and will continue to be, said Arakelian.
Arakelian said thata large part of Sl
Gregory's congregation is third generation, and are almost all English
speaking people.
Arakelian said only a few of the
older mcmbcrsofthechurchdisagreed
with using English, but as time has
gone on, using some English has noi
brought any recent complaints from
the congregation.
"We are a non-immigrant parish,
but we would go back to using all
Armenian if the congregation spoke
only Armenian. The church needs to
change for new surroundings." said
Arakelian.
Unlike the Fowler's Sl Gregory
church, Fresno's Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic church(Thc red brick
church on the comer of Ventura and
M.Street.) has a large immigrant congregation.
Father Hrant Serabian, the priest at
Holy Trinity, said," We have a bilingual congregation. They speak both
Armenian and English."
He said most of the congregation
has knowledge of both languages. For
those who do not know Armenian, the
sermons can become hard to follow.
To keep the entire congregation better in tune with the the sermon, the
Armenian sermon is read and then the
same sermon is given in English.
The Badarak at Holy Trinity is still
100percent Armenian, Serabian said.
"We have no right to touch that," said
Serabian..
Hakop Adjinian.a recent immigrant
from Yerevan, said he is a member at
involved in the church before marriage, then he or she will probably still
be involved in the church, and the
spouse may also become involved,
Arakelian said. But those who were
not involved with the church prior to
the intermarriage probably will still
not be involved and there is no loss to
the church, he explained.
Advantages "to marrying an Armenian, according to Arakelian, were
thai both spouses would have the same
faith, similar backgrounds and interests. He said it seems to be easier for
the couples to cope and manage with
Holy Trinity church, and he sometimes goes to St Paul's church. St.
Paul's church has implemented some
English into its Badarak similar to St.
Gregory.
Adjinian, a first year Business student at CSUF, said the only differences he noticed from his church in
Yerevan and the Armenian churches
in America was that English was
sometimes used.
Another conflict for many Arme-
the transition of marriage if both are
from ihe same background.
Dr. Dickran Kouymjian, director of
the Armenian studies program at
CSUF, said,"It is unfortunate our parents and their parents felt so strongly
that we should marry only Armenians.". He said that Armenians should
not feel compelled to marry only Armenians, but* that the Armenians
should not go out of their way not to
marry other Armenians.
Arakelian
cans is the
issue of marrying non-
Armenians.
Intermarriages arc
occurring
more frequently lhan
Armenians
marrying
Armenians.
Adjinian
predicted
that "The Armenians
should be
around at
least another
150 years
with all these
intermarriages." He
also said," I
would prefer
marry an
"The Armenians
church's
commitment to its
should be around for ^mb
at least another 150
years with all these
inter-marriages. I
would prefer to
marry an American,
and so would my
parents, but I can't
guarantee anything."
•Hakop Adjinian
Christ. In
other
words, the
church will
always be
Armenian,
but its foundation is of
Jesus
Christ
"The
church
would
flourish
wiih any
members,
but the
church will
still be Ar-
Armenian, and so would my parents, menian," said Arakelian.
but I can't guarantee anything." Kouymjian said," The Armenian
He said that nine out of 10 times he diaspora is getting stronger." He said
seesparentspressuretheirchildren to the Armenians have survived for this
marry other Armenians.
Since 1980, the majority of the weddings at St Gregory have been intermarriages. Arakelian said it's no loss
to the church if the a member marries
a non-Armenian. If the Armenian was
long, so they should be around for
many more years.
Serabian agreed that the Armenians
are strong and should be around for
many more years.
He said that Holy Trinity in 1992
had 11 weddings, 41 funerals and 42
baptisms. He stressed that the 42 baptisms are a good sign for the Armenian church. These baptisms represent another generation with strong
tries to the Armenian church.
Some Armenian-Americans have
expressed concern about new generations not learning the Armenian language.
"The Jewish people have been without language for over 2,000 years,"
said Kouymjian,"and they still exist."
In other words, if the Jews can survive without using Hebrew out of
their country, though Hebrew is the
official language of Israel, as is Armenian in Armenia, the Armenians
may also be able to survive with new
generations not learning the language.
Kouymjian said.
The character from Bitlis Armenia,
in the play "Armenians"
said,"Armenia may be coming to an
end—the Russians in the seat of Government in Armenia where Armenia
is, and the rest of us faraway learning
new languages and living among new
people and forgetting how to read and
wri tc our own language, changing our
names, marrying outsiders, letting it
go, letting it all go. That is what is
making it sorrowful."
Some Armenian-Americans have
expressed concern that Armenian-
American children are nol speaking
Armenian and the preservation of the
Armenian language may be lost
Matthew Jendian, a graduate student in sociology at University of
Southern California, said he found in
several studies of intermarriage the
phenomenon known as the "mother-
tongue shift."
Jendian noted in his research he
found that 66 percent of children
whose parents shared a non-English
fust language speak only English,
while over 90 percent of children with
linguistically heterogamous backgrounds speak only English.
"Thus, non-English languages are
disappearing through mother-tongue
shift in large part because of ethnic
intermarriage," said Jendian.
By the second generation, the use of
Armenian as the frequently spoken
language in the home decreases by 50
percent Jendian found in his research.
Jendian has also found that intermarriages are occurring more frequently and that there seems to be less
participation by Armenian-Americans
in Armenian activities in the community.
Jendian said that in 1990, approximately 90 percent of the marriages in
Fresno County of Armenians bom in
America were lo non-Armenians.
He said Armenian couples in general bring with them different degrees
of ethnic identification and participation.
'There are some hard-core, U.S.-
bom Armenians who constanUy get
involved in Armenian community
activities," Jendian said. "There are
others who are proud of being Armenian but really don't have much interest or are too busy with their real lives
to participate in the Armenian community on a regular basis."
In "Armenians" Saroyan saw the
struggle the Armenian-American
people were facing then and are still
facing. He wrote in the program note
iotheplay:"It'shopeIessandweknow
it but not so hopeless that we don't
want to find out how hopeless it is."
News in brief...
Ex-All-Pro to speak
at awards banquet
Former All-Pro tight end Kellen
Winslow will be the guest speaker
at ihe Second Annual Student Athlete Awards Banquet on Friday at
the Residence Dining Hall. (April
23rd) - CB.
Winslow played eight seasons
for the San Diego Chargers, and
was a finalist in January for the
Pro Football Hall of Fame. Advance tickets for the event arc S10.
There will be a social hour from 6-
7 p.m. and the dinner and program
will last from 7-9 p.m. The event is
hosted by the AEO.
First-hand account of
life with AIDS offered
To end the 1993 "Week Against
AIDS" students are encouraged to
attend panels featuring AIDS
awareness.
"Person (sic) with AIDS and
HIV panel" will be held on
Wednesday April 28 at 7pm in
McLane Hall room 162.
People living with AIDS and HTV
will share their experiences of living with AIDS and HIV.
Sponsors of the panel are
LGBSA, Women's Alliance, University Democrats and Central
Valley AIDS Team.
On Thursday April 29 at noon
and at 7pm in the Upstairs Cafeteria in room 200 the County of
Fresno Health Department is sponsoring "Women and AIDS Day
Programs."
Jazz Band A plays
free in The Pit today
The popular "Jazz Band A" will
be performing today in The Pit
The free concert begins at noon.
Helmet to perform
next week at Cadillac
The hard roc kin' alternative band
Helmet is performing at the
Cadillac Club, Saturday May 1 at
8p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Tickets are available at Bass outlets for S13 plus service charge.
Services to be held in
Delano for C. Chavez
A rosary for Cesar Chavez will
be recited at 7 p.m. Wednesday at
the United Farm Worker office
complex at Garces Highway and
Mettler Avenue in Delano accompany by an all night vigil.
A march is schedule for Thursday in Delano, the time and place
will be announced later. Burial
service will follow.
Card dealers needed,
free T-shirt offered
Dealers are still needed for ihe
Vintage Days Casino Night
Two shifts arcavailable on April
30 from from 7-10 p.m.
S ign ups are in the Student Union
Room 306. or call 278-2741.
New support group
meets weekly at CSUF
A self-help and support group
named Rational Recovery is an
alternative to Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous.
They believe that all people have
intrinsic worth and arc capable of
living as "self-respecting, happy,
civilized human beings."
The group desires more involvement to move in new and enlightened ways.
The meeting arc held every
Wcnsday 7-8 p.m. room 232 in the
Agriculture building at CSUF.
For more information call 2922-
6343.
Ballet Hispanico to
play Saroyan Theatre
The Ballet Hispanico will perform at the William Saroyan Theatre on Saturday May 1 at 8 p.m.
Tickets are available at Bass out-
- lets; adults for S35 and juniors 12
and under for S33, plus service
charge. Tickets can be purchased
at the theatre the day of the show.
Judaism, possession
played out in Dybbuk
"The Dybbuk," opens Friday,
April 30 at 8 p.m. and runs through
May 9at the John Wright Theatre.
"The Dybbuk" focuses on a Jewish society, and demonic possession.
Tickets are S4 students with current CSUF ID cards. 56 faculty/
staff, and S8 general.
New education option
unveiled for Fall '93
The School of Education and
Human Development has approved a new graduate program in
educational technology effective
in the fall 1993 semester.
The program recognizes completion of graduate-level work in the
field without having to meet al I the
requirements for the masters of
arts in education degree.
Applications for fall 1993 admission should be submitted as
soon as possible. For more information contact Dr. Nancy Hunt at
278-4461 or the school's Graduate Program Office at 278-3084.
Derby Days begins to
help Valley Children's
Sigma Chi Fraternity is in the
middle of its spring fundraiser
benefitting Valley Children's Hospital. "Derby Days" is one week
long, and fundraising activities
range from T-shirt sales, sponsorships for the teeter-totter marathon
and donations from sororities and
local businesses.
"Derby Days" includes sororities competing to raise the most
money. Six sororities will also try
to capture the "Derby Days" trophy by showing the most spirit.
-SAE
$A   SOFTBALL   $A
"Let's win it all!"
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