We had a wedding past Saturday; a Canadian-Barskahay got married with a local girl. Two young people made a beautiful couple.
There are two more weddings planned for the summer (that we know of): a Lebanese-Armenian with a local girl; and a Swedish-Armenian with a local girl. Also, yesterday an Anjartsi from Canada got engaged to a Hayasdantzi girl, wedding has to be planned yet.
Armenia is also exporting brides.
According to local custom couples get married very young between 18 and 22. However the economy of the past decade pushed eligible single men abroad (more men than women), or made it very difficult for them to make families. Hence we have eligible single young women waiting. And we do have double standards: a guy over 25 is a good catch, a woman over 25 is 'dunmna'. Diasporan Armenians don't mind the 'dunmna'; one got engaged to a 23-24 yrs old, (12 years younger than him), and the other to a 25 yrs old (15 years younger).
Local attitudes and values are completely different from the values I was raised with. One local attitude is, it's OK to be divorcee woman but is a disgrace not to be married at all. Mothers encourage their daughters to get married at all costs and later divorce their husbands if they're unsuitable. Another puzzling value is the morality of the unmarried woman: at a young age if a girl dates a guy a few times then she should marry him. It's a matter of morality and men of the family are very protective of their young sisters' or daughters' reputation. However, if a woman has not married and she's in her 30's and wants to become a single mother, it's condoned by the society.
Diasporan Armenians have mostly adopted a combination of Christian/ western values. Locals are more fatalists and instinctually created their own morality code, which closely scrutinized, is the appropriate one for the continuity and survival of the nation.
There are two more weddings planned for the summer (that we know of): a Lebanese-Armenian with a local girl; and a Swedish-Armenian with a local girl. Also, yesterday an Anjartsi from Canada got engaged to a Hayasdantzi girl, wedding has to be planned yet.
Armenia is also exporting brides.
According to local custom couples get married very young between 18 and 22. However the economy of the past decade pushed eligible single men abroad (more men than women), or made it very difficult for them to make families. Hence we have eligible single young women waiting. And we do have double standards: a guy over 25 is a good catch, a woman over 25 is 'dunmna'. Diasporan Armenians don't mind the 'dunmna'; one got engaged to a 23-24 yrs old, (12 years younger than him), and the other to a 25 yrs old (15 years younger).
Local attitudes and values are completely different from the values I was raised with. One local attitude is, it's OK to be divorcee woman but is a disgrace not to be married at all. Mothers encourage their daughters to get married at all costs and later divorce their husbands if they're unsuitable. Another puzzling value is the morality of the unmarried woman: at a young age if a girl dates a guy a few times then she should marry him. It's a matter of morality and men of the family are very protective of their young sisters' or daughters' reputation. However, if a woman has not married and she's in her 30's and wants to become a single mother, it's condoned by the society.
Diasporan Armenians have mostly adopted a combination of Christian/ western values. Locals are more fatalists and instinctually created their own morality code, which closely scrutinized, is the appropriate one for the continuity and survival of the nation.
posted by Nigol at 3:13 PM
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