Diana Baldrica / The Fresno Bee
Maggie Sarkuni of Los Angeles stomps on a burlap sack
containing grapes to produce the juice for the
traditional sweet prpoor. Karo Khanjian, also from Los
Angeles, helps adjust the sack. This 800-year-old
Armenian tradition took place at the Grand Armenian
Festival at the California Armenian Home in Fresno on
Saturday. Photo

Rekindling tradition

Annual harvest celebration goes public, allowing many
Armenians to reconnect with their roots.By John Ellis
/ The Fresno Bee09/23/07 05:01:27

Last year, Hratch Abdulian relived a bit of his
childhood at an Armenian harvest festival in the
northern Syrian village of Kessab, where he was
raised.

"It was one of the best things I did," said the
resident of Irvine, in Orange County.

But though he had heard rumors, Abdulian never has
been able to find such festivals in the United States
— until now.

On Saturday, he was at the California Armenian Home on
East Kings Canyon Road, where the Armenian Cultural
Foundation is going public with an annual harvest
celebration similar to one that had been held
privately until now. It is akin to Thanksgiving and
centers on a sweet grape molasses froth called prpoor.

The decision to hold a public celebration has allowed
many Armenians to reconnect with their roots, and this
weekend they have come from across the nation and even
Canada. It also gives some non-Armenians a chance to
experience a uniquely Armenian celebration.

"Instead of losing the tradition, we are rekindling
it," said Raffi Zinzalian, who was born in Istanbul,
Turkey, and lived in Lebanon and Cyprus before moving
to Southern California, where he is publisher of the
University of La Verne Press.

The celebration — which started Friday and continues
today — has roots that stretch back 800 years, but
many Armenians who come to the United States lose
touch with such old-world traditions, Abdulian and
others said.

It is especially true, they said, in urban areas. In
Southern California, Abdulian said, "people don’t even
know about" prpoor or the harvest celebration.

Zinzalian brought his three daughters to show them
about prpoor. As Abdulian stood over a bubbling
cauldron of crushed-grape juice with a camcorder in
his hand, making a tape he plans to send to his family
in Kessab, Zinzalian told his daughters about the art
of making prpoor.

Earlier, the grapes had been crushed and the juice
boiled for an hour over a wood fire, while men like
Fresno resident Hratch Hovsepian used ladles to spoon
impurities from the top of the cauldron.

The clear, reddish liquid was then put into smaller
buckets and moved to a large cauldron, where it was
boiled for several more hours to create a thick
molasses.

The festival is said to have started in Abdulian’s
home village, Kessab — birthplace of Karekin I, the
Armenian church catholicos who died in 1999.

For more than 50 years, the celebration has been a
well-kept secret in Fresno County. Each year, more
than 100 people have been attending the harvest
celebration at the Santikian family ranch in Del Rey,
where they ate, danced and brewed prpoor.

This weekend’s event even attracted non-Armenians such
as Ken and Pamela Grover, who came out of curiosity.

The Dinuba residents attend ethnic festivals as much
as possible — Japanese, Mexican, east Indian, Greek,
Arabic. "We like to experience other cultures and
their food," Ken Grover said.

And there was plenty of food Saturday — chicken and
beef kebab, falafels, kofta and cheese boreg, a
puff-pastry turnover. There were clothes, jewelry,
books, handicrafts, CDs and DVDs for sale.

Music blared near a dance floor.

Will it catch on with Armenians looking to recapture a
bit of culture?

"Today, we find out," said Fowler resident Bedros
Khederian.
The reporter can be reached at jellis@fresnobee.com
Enlarge this imageDiana Baldrica / The Fresno
BeeHratch Hovsepian takes boiling prpoor from a
75-gallon container and puts it into buckets to cool.
The clear juice will be boiled for another three to
four hours to obtain the sweet grape molasses froth
called prpoor. Prpoor is at the center of a
traditional Armenian harvest celebration.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress