On Sunday, November 9, St. John the Baptist Armenian Church celebrated its 79th anniversary with Divine Liturgy followed by a banquet and program. The Diocesan Vicar of the Eastern Diocese, Very Rev. Fr. Simeon Odabashian, was the guest celebrant.
A week before many events throughout the U.S. were being cancelled from fear of the coronavirus, the Armenian Church Eastern Diocese’s annual Midwest Saintly Women’s Day was held as scheduled on March 14. This year’s host congregation, St. John the Baptist, Greenfield, drew attendees from neighboring Armenian communities and the participation of several Midwest area clergy
Armenian Fest has become the Milwaukee Armenian community’s opportunity to give southeastern Wisconsin a taste of Armenian food, culture and hospitality.
over 85 Armenians from Southeast Wisconsin gathered for Outdoor Divine Liturgy and a madagh (memorial) meal at Holy Resurrection Armenian Cemetery in South Milwaukee. The date, Father’s Day, was chosen as an occasion for remembering the founding fathers of the cemetery as well as family members buried there. It also coincided with the 70th anniversary of the cemetery’s consecration.
the Primate of the Eastern Diocese, Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, conducted Divine Liturgy at St. John the Baptist Armenian Church. His visit marked the 77th anniversary of the parish’s founding. Very Rev. Mamigon Kilidjian, Dean of St. Vartan Cathedral, also took part in the celebration by conducting the church’s choir.
Grandfather’s writings became the basis for MacKeen’s book, The Hundred-Year Walk: An Armenian Odyssey. Called a “must read” by the New York Post, The Hundred-Year Walk reframes his memoirs and recounts her own journey to Turkey and Syria in 2007. She retraced his steps from his hometown in Adabazar (now Adapazari), east of Istanbul, to the Syrian city of Raqqua on the Euphrates River.
MacKeen’s grandfather left behind a memoir of his experience that became the inspiration for her own journey. In 2007 MacKeen, a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Smart Money and elsewhere, set forth for Turkey and Syria to retrace her ancestor’s steps.
Over eighty five dancers from the Sardarabad Dance Ensemble of Hamazkayin Chicago and the Arax Dance Group of Hamazkayin Detroit took the stage at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center in a performance whose focus was the resilience of Armenia’s people and culture.
The Hamazkayin Sardarabad Dance Ensemble transforms the ancient traditions of Armenia into a 21st century multi-media spectacle of music, motion and light.
“What of the Armenians left behind?” Ani Boghikian-Kasparian asked. A lecturer at the University of Michigan—Dearborn, Boghikian-Kasparian was the keynote speaker at St. John the Baptist Armenian Church’s 74th anniversary dinner. Her topic at the Nov. 15 event, “The Oral Histories of Life in Eastern Turkey After the Genocide,” explored the situation of Armenian families and communities that continued to survive in the Turkish Republic.
