On Sunday, March 3rd the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates Bun Barekendan or Great Barekendan. This is called Great because it is celebrated before the Great Lent, a time of abstinence and repentance for the faithful. The word Barekendan derives from the word “bari” which means “good” and “kendan” which means “life”. On the day of Great Barekendan people organize games, festivals, carnivals and large, plentiful meals as an implication of the angel’s words to the prophet Elijah: “Arise and eat, because you have a long way to go.”

The children of St. Stepanos church presented, after Badarak in our church hall, a performance dedicated to the memory of the Armenian kings and queens, military heroes who had a great role in the history of the Armenian kingdoms.

The children of different ages participated in the project which gave an opportunity to all little members of St Stepanos church to be on the stage and participate in the performance. The beginning of the show was announced with beautiful music written by Robert Amirkhanyan “Eraz em erkir hayreni “.

The stage and the hall were beautifully decorated by the members of the community according to the play scenarios. Each child acting like a king or queen was dressed according to the distinctive features of the hero he or she presented which helped to introduce each hero according to its characteristics. The children recited lines dedicated to the kings and queens of the Armenian history thus they briefly introduced what was the most important deed done by this or that character and the meaning that they had for our history. Fr. Daniel created impressive slides on the screen which gave the guests an opportunity to see the characters the way they appear in our history. The kings and queens went on the stage in historical order. The purpose of the performance was to introduce the history of the Armenian kingdoms and main characters who became the carriers of that history. We consider this the easiest way to teach children our great history and to make it more impressive. Everybody found the performance both enjoyable and educational.

Varduhi