#armenian

Armenian beaded bottle/flask covers/sleeves. Early 20th C. Western Armenia.

There’s a word in Armenian — արևահամ (arevaham) — that has no direct equivalent in English, yet it carries the warmth of an entire season, both in nature and in one's life.

It’s made of two roots: արև (arev), meaning "sun", and համ (ham), meaning "taste" or "flavor". Together, they form a word that means "sun-flavored", but it’s much more than that. It's a poetic way of describing something that’s been touched, ripened, or enriched by the sun, and carries "the taste", the warmth of the sun within itself.

As Charents wrote: "I love the sun-flavored (arevaham) word of my sweet Armenia."

Alongside արևահամ (“sun-flavored”), we have another luminous word: արևաբույր (arevabuyr). It means “sun-scented”. It is warmth made fragrant. Light made tender and almost tangible.

I was lucky enough to make it up to camp again for one of their end of summer events.  This dance move happens pretty much every year… part of me gets the feeling it’s cause the guys usually aren’t as big on the dancing as the girls are.

I was never a dancer growing up so it’s not like I “missed out” on doing the girl’s part, but it’s nice to imagine performing that role now. 

As you might imagine, as far as I’m concerned the dance shouldn’t have gender-specific roles, but that’s the nature of traditional dances. 

Guys, gals, and enbys should do whatever part they would like.

Shoutout to Armen by the way.  My initial coming out to just a few folks was in 2017, but the next person I came out to was him.  In 2023 up at camp one night we had a conversation that went for hours.  During this, I came out.  Armen, cool and amazing guy that he is, was totally accepting.

I didn’t know it at the time, but coming out to him that year kind of got the ball rolling quicker on my eventual decision to transition and come out publicly.

It was sweet to have another shared moment like this comic with him, he’s a wonderful person and the world is a better place with him in it.