Caucasus: New Year, Christmas

With Christmas and the New Year usually accompanied by lavish television spectaculars and decorations in the center of most cities worldwide, celebrations in countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are the same to some extent, but usually more low-key and family-orientated. A number of expat workers and Peace Corps Volunteers in all three countries offer an outside eye on proceedings.

Seeing in the New Year in the South Caucasus, however, is not without its risks, as Running Around Armenia explains.

My stomach and head hurt. Celebrating the New Year in this country is a little different. I haven’t done this much damage to my body in years. New Years lasts for 13 days, and I’m on day 3. I’m screwed. […]

Moore From the Source details the holiday season in Armenia.

Armenia has a different church calendar than the overwhelming majority of Christian denominations in the rest of the world. And, within this calendar, Christmas falls on January 6. And, it seems that the holiday’s celebration is masked, in a large share, by the magnitude of excitement that consumes the country in respect to New Year’s. […]

In the states we all get excited for a wild bash on New Year’s Eve. But here, the actual tick of the second hand at the stroke of midnight is not really that important. […] Certainly people stay awake for this nocturnal moment, but the party leading up to it is usually small and restricted to family. But that’s alright, because starting on January first, every home will have a massive table laid out for all of the neighbors, friends, and family to pillage. Essentially, it is a non-stop feast with traditional foods such as dolma, kyufta, pastries, cognac, vodka, dolma, and cognac. And these parties will last until January 6. It’s wild.

Yes, Santa Claus does exist here, but he goes by another alias…that crafty s.o.b. Here he is called something in Armenian that I can’t type because I have a western keyboard… and because dollars to doughnuts, you don’t speak Armenian. But, the literal translation of his name is “Winter Father”. […]

The full post is available on Global Voices Online.