Los Angeles Daily News
Jan 21 2005

Bread part of romantic tradition

By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer

Forget the tooth fairy’s measly dollar or that much desired sweater
from Santa. Even Cupid’s got no game when up against St. Sargis.
Those nighttime presents are chump change compared with what St.
Sargis leaves for single women: A vision of the man they are meant to
marry.

Marking the feast day of St. Sargis, the patron saint of young love,
unmarried Armenian women will eat a piece of salty bread tonight,
ideally after fasting all day, in the hope of dreaming about their
future husband. Tradition says the man who brings them water in the
dream will be the man they marry.

“It’s not something I take seriously or will put my hopes on, but
it’s entertaining, and Lord knows that in today’s dating scene, you
need entertainment,” said Talene Kanian, 29, of Burbank.

“After all, aren’t we all hopeful that ‘the one’ exists? As a modern
woman, I will take part in this old wives’ tale, and entertain the
thought that my soul mate will visit me in my dream and quench my
thirst.”

St. Sargis Day is celebrated 63 days before Easter, on a Saturday
falling sometime between Jan. 18 and Feb. 23. Popular and widely
anticipated in Armenia and Middle Eastern countries, where life was
austere and people looked for reasons to celebrate, the tradition is
being kept alive in communities throughout Southern California and
the United States.

These types of marriage traditions are prevalent in other cultures in
different forms. Assyrians, for example, celebrate a variation of St.
Sargis, where the dreams of unmarried women are believed to be
prophetic.

“It’s a celebration of the continuity of Armenian life and Armenian
traditions,” said Richard Hovannisian, chairman of Armenian history
at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“They were maintained pretty strongly down through the centuries,
even though now they wane in the secular society and in the rapid
pace of life here.”

Although St. Sargis is said to visit the dreams of both sexes, the
tradition is more popular among girls and women. And most Armenian
women either have a story to tell about their own St. Sargis dream or
know someone with a story.

Hrachik Hovanessian, 81, can still envision the dream she had when
she was 16.

“My girlfriends were standing by a stream and called me over. From
far away I saw a man approaching who was tall and thin, wearing
light-colored clothes, a coffee-colored shirt and tie,” she recalled.

“A few months later, a man visited our home to meet me, and I was
startled when I saw him because I immediately knew he was the man in
my dreams.”

The two wed less than a year later, and were married 61 years, until
his death three years ago.

This year, her granddaughter Helena Gregorian, 31, is going to taste
St. Sargis’ bread for the first time.

“It’s passing down a tradition. Though you know it’s not really true
and it’s like folklore, you kind of do it to keep it going so you
don’t forget where you came from,” said Gregorian of Sherman Oaks.

“It’s almost like when you have somebody read your coffee cup. Do you
really believe it? You never know, but you keep an open mind to the
possibilities.”

Gregorian’s paternal grandmother, Valik Khodaverdian, 80, is baking
the salty bread for her three single granddaughters and their friends
this year, hoping it will reveal for them the man of their dreams.

“Have an open mind and open heart when you go to sleep,” she
cautioned. “Don’t go to bed thinking you’ll dream of your husband.”

When girls wake up the following morning, they share their dreams
with their mothers and grandmothers, and the experience becomes a
bonding one, tying the generations together.

If a man does not appear, single women should not be discouraged, the
elderly Armenian women advise: Dreams are open to interpretation and
everybody can glean meaning out of what they see.

Newlywed Maral Sultanian, 29, had the dream four years ago before she
met her future husband. She saw herself as a little girl at her old
elementary school pouring water into a big bowl from the water
fountain.

“The bowl was overflowing, like, wow, does this mean there is going
to be a cornucopia of men to choose from? I immediately saw it as I
would have many suitors to choose from,” Sultanian said.

“I found someone who nurtures me and brings me water in real life,
not in a dream. It was a dream come true in this case.”