BURBANK CELEBRATES ARMENIAN CHRISTMAS
By David Laurell
Burbank Leader, CA
Jan 16 2007
ON THE TOWN:
Last week, while many Burbankers were packing away the lights,
decorations and other traces of their Christmas celebration, our
community’s Armenian residents were still deeply in the holiday spirit.
Armenian Christmas is celebrated on Jan. 6 in accordance with the
date that had been historically established as the observance of the
birth of Christ by all Christian churches until the fourth century.
Wanting to distance the Christian observance from a pagan celebration,
the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church changed the official date
of Christmas from Jan. 6 to Dec. 25.
While this decree was accepted by most Christians, Armenia had
neither pagan practices nor an affiliation with the Church of Rome
and therefore saw no reason to change the date that they had been
celebrating since 301 AD.
On Jan. 7, the Burbank Chapter of the Armenian National Committee
opened its community center for an evening of holiday cheer. The
organization welcomed guests from a wide range of factions including
elected and appointed officials and representatives from civic,
business and charitable organizations. The evening also included
the presence of members and supporters of Homenetmen, an Armenian
organization devoted to athletics and scouting, the Armenian Relief
Society and the Armenian Cultural Foundation.
Last week’s reception has become an annual tradition in which
the committee’s supporters look back at their previous year’s
accomplishments, and give thanks to Burbank community leaders for
their continued support. Garen Yegparian, co-founder of the Burbank
committee, joined the organization’s chairman, Dr. Arbi Ohanian,
as the evening’s hosts. advertisement
Among those they extended a warm welcome to were Mayor Marsha Ramos,
Councilman David Gordon, City Manager Mary Alvord, City Clerk
Margarita Campos, Burbank Police Chief Tim Stehr, Assemblyman Paul
Krekorian’s Chief of Staff Adrin Nazarian, Burbank Unified School
District Supt. Greg Bowman, and school board members Debbie Kukta,
Larry Applebaum and Dave Kemp.
Others who enjoyed the festive evening included the committee’s
Chairman of Governmental Relations Hagop Hergelian, the committee’s
Western Regional Board member Zanku Armenian, Alishan Mansourian, Vicky
Marashlian, Nanik Kopalian, Shoushan Boyadjian, Aghavni Khatchadourian,
Alice and Jeanine Boudakian, Burbank Fire Capt. Jess Talamantes,
Vahe Shahinian, Peter Musurlian, Mike Chapman, Cotton Thompson and
his wife, Joan Patricia "JP" O’Connor and Shanna Warren and Yeva
Aslanyan of the Boys and Girls Club of Burbank.