With best regards and friendly smile
Always your
Zibaxa"

Captain St. Sarkis is one of the most beloved saints among the Armenian nation. He faith for christianity and with his sun lived in Armenia. They lived in the time of Armenian well-known king Tigran.

There are an interesting traditions in Armenia related to this holiday. The night before St. Sarkis Day, the teenagers go to church, firmly keeping an "Aghi plit" (salty cookie) in their pockets, which must be eaten before going to sleep (and they may not drink water). The salty cookie will make them thirsty and in their dreams whoever offers them a drink of water, will be their future husband or wife.

To be honest I must write down about Armenian church opinion. The church, however, does not connect folklore with the real significance of the holiday.
"St. Sarkis is an ideology, which appeals to have devotion and love towards God and religion. We should study from St. Sarkis to love our God and other people, but first of all, other people, because only in this case we can unconditionally love God, too, who is not visible."

The priest says that the Church does not encourage eating salty flatcakes, however, it does ban it either. "The church does not prohibit its children to be happy: if you want to eat salty cookies and be happy, do it!"

On the night preceding the feast of St. Sarkis faithful people place a tray full of gruel before the door believing that while passing near their door at dawn St. Sarkis will leave his footprint on the gruel symbolising the fulfillment of their dreams.
Also young lovers write love msgs' to each other and some lovers make their love proposal :) This is not only tradition, this is romantic day, during which you can get interesting msgs', balloons like heard and many other interesting things.

There is also sweets receipt :) We make sweets for st. Sarkis day. Try make it yourself. This one called "Halva"

Halva
3 C White granulated sugar
4 T Water
1 T Lemon juice
1 T Flower-water (orange blossom)
1 - 7oz Jar of marshmallow creme
2 lb Sesame seeds divided 1/3 and 2/3 (refrigerated)
Filling: walnuts or pistachios as needed.
Directions:
Prepare a sheet pan with a mound of 2/3 of the sesame seeds
Bring first four ingredients to a boil until the mixture turns to a golden color.
Mix in marshmallow, remove from heat and pour onto sesame seeds.
Spread the mixture adding more of the cool sesame seeds as needed to keep from adhering to hands or spatula.
Invert the complete sheet of sesame covered mixture onto a flat work surface.
Moving quickly to prevent the sheet from getting hard, add filling (walnuts, pistachios, etc...) and roll. Cut 1.5 inches apart and refrigerate.

Another one is Kumba cake. Try to cook :)

KUMBA Cake

5 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of olive oil
1 cup of boiling water
1 cup of sugar
½ cup of honey
1 cup of chopped nuts (walnut, almond, pistachio, hazelnut)
½ cup of raisins
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon of ground cardamom
½ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon of ground mahlab
a coin, wrapped in foil
½ cup of white sesame seeds for the top
1. If you desire, roast the flour, until it turns to pale. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and the spices.
2. Add the oil & boiling water, stir until a thick dough is formed.
3. Add the honey, nuts & raisins.
4. Spread the dough in a large non-stick pan. Put the wrapped coin in it & cover with dough.
5. Dip your hands in water and smooth out the surface of the dough.
6. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on the surface.
7. Bake Kumba at 350° F, about 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.

Zibaxa

The night before the ceremony pious people abided by their faith come to the church to sing religious songs and sleep inside the sacred walls. In the early morning with the sunrise they were getting ready for the celebration - sweets and infinite quantity of fruits accompanied by songs, dances and funny games. It is not necessary to stay and sleep inside the sacred walls, some people buy the grapes in the early morning, enter the church as "forbidden fruit" and leave it blessed.

After church ceremony we start to celebrate fruit festival.

Now as I promised some recipes. First of all is Gata also called Khata, we cook this for cheerful events and ceremonies as a kind of sweet. It is very tastefully, so I hope you can cook it.

Gata/KhataDough:
4 cups flour
1 yeast cake
2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter
Pinch of salt

Filling (Koritz):
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1/4 cup chopped raisins (optional)
1/4 cup chopped nuts optional)
1/4 cup sugar (optional)
Cinnamon to taste (optional)

Soften yeast in one cup of milk, melt the sugar in the other cup of milk, then combine the two.
Add melted butter, saving two tablespoons to use in brushing the dough.
Gradually add the flour and salt to the liquid and when all of it is absorbed, knead well. It should be a soft dough.
Cover and let it rise.
When dough has doubled in size, divide it into six portions. Take one portion at a time and roll out to thickness of 1/4" or less.
Brush the entire open dough with melted butter. Then fold the dough to a square 5" x 5". Place some koritz in the center of this square and bring over opposite corners of the square to cover the koritz.
Then roll out the dough to the size of a small pie. Brush with eggs, and design on top of dough with a fork or some other gadget. Let this rise again, then bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees) until browned.
Koritz: Melt your butter and blend in the cup of flour, on low flame, and keep stirring until the flour and butter are well blended and the color of the koritz is pink. Stir in other desired ingredients.

The second one is Mahlab. It cames from Sirian Armenians.

Ingredients
For the brioche dough:
1 package (5/16 ounce) dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110° F)
2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/2 tsp
3-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus 1 Tbsp
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, brought to room temperature
2 extra large eggs
1-1/2 Tbsp vegetable shortening
1-1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil, plus 1 Tbsp
1 Tbsp finely ground mahlab
1/3 cup warm milk
1 egg yolk for glaze
Poppy seeds to top rolls (may substitute sesame seeds if desired)
For the filling:
8 oz pitted chopped dates
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2-3 Tbsp honey

Directions
Mix yeast with water, 1/2 tsp sugar and 1 Tbsp of flour and stir until smooth.
Proof 10-15 minutes, until mixture begins to rise and is foamy on top. This step assures yeast is live and active.
Beat eggs together in large mixing bowl (for use with an electric mixer).
Add sugar, butter, shortening and 1-1/2 Tbsp of vegetable oil, mixing thoroughly.
Add ground mahlab, proofed yeast mixture and begin alternating with flour and milk.
Mix using the dough hook of an electric mixer and stir until dough is firm, smooth and elastic. If needed, add up to 1/4 cup more flour (or up to 1/4 cup more milk) to ensure dough is the correct consistency.
Thoroughly grease a large bowl (non-aluminum and non-stainless steel, so as not to create too cool an environment for the dough to rise) with remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil. #
Place dough in bowl, turning once to coat entire surface with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and keep somewhat warm, ideally 75-80°F if possible (placing covered bowl inside an unlit oven with door shut creates a temperature-controlled environment -- just make sure the oven is turned off and stays off). Allow dough to double in size; this should take approximately 2 hours.
[If dough isn't rising as it should, find a warmer area to store the bowl or proof another package of yeast (by adding yeast, warm water, sugar and flour as directed above and allowing mixture to rest 10-15 minutes, becoming foamy and risen), then knead proofed yeast mixture into existing dough.]
After dough has doubled, punch down center, cover, place back in unlit oven (or warm spot) and let rise another 1-1/2 hours. Punch dough down a second time and let rest 10 minutes before shaping into individual rolls.
If necessary, you may refrigerate the dough at this point, then shape into rolls and bake the following day. Should you need to refrigerate, simply coat dough surface (lightly, yet thoroughly) with vegetable oil and seal tightly in plastic wrap (you may wrap the dough itself or cover the entire bowl -- just make sure it is airtight so dough does not dry out). Also, if refrigerating, be sure to remove dough from refrigerator a minimum of 1 hour before shaping into rolls. Dough must come to room temperature, have time to rest and be punched back down if necessary before shaping rolls and baking.
On easy-release aluminum foil or parchment paper, divide dough into 20 equal-size rolls (approximately the size of a ball that fits comfortably between your palms). Let shaped rolls rest approximately 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F. If baking more than 1 sheet of rolls at a time, use convection setting if available. To begin filling dough, simply flatten each roll between the palms of your hands, creating a circle. Using a standard spoon, place a scant spoonful of date, honey and walnut filling in the center of each circle and pull edges of dough up and over to cover filling and create a sealed ball (i.e., pouch).
Continue shaping ball (pouch) with your hands, ensuring that filling is evenly covered and dough is sealed, then return filled ball to easy-release foil or parchment paper and allow to rest until each pouch is filled and ready to bake. Fill one pouch at a time for best results.
As filled rolls rest, lightly brush the surface of each with egg wash and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds as desired.
Place rolls 2 inches apart on lined cookie sheet (or jelly roll pan) and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for approximately 15-20 minutes. Watch brioche carefully -- rolls are done when they turn light golden in color and bottoms are set. If baking rolls in more than 1 batch, be sure to make a note of finished baking time for subsequent batches.

After that day I don' want to see Sona in mornings. I don't understand why is it so hard to go with her grandma. And what does it mean "stupid grandma"? She is an old women. I think we must take care for our grandmas, grandfathers, one day we all will be grandmas and grandfathers... Isn't it good and pleasure when grandma cares about you. For sure it is! And Sona needs to understand this, and all of us needs to understand this. We must be careful to others, especially when they are old. And I understand one more thing. You can be very beautiful, very kind but it can vanish on one second. For me Sonas' kindness and beauty ends on one second.

Is it hard to speak in a normal voice, to say good words and to be quiet?
My lovely actress Audrey Hepburn said "For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people....".

It is not hard, just try, try now to say a good word to your friend, family or to men who is near, try to smile. Try and you'll see it is easy and it helps to live. I know for sure it lift your mood too.

Thank you for reading this post.
I'm Zibaxa and I'm sending a lot of smile to you :) and wherever you are "Good morning, afternoon, evening or night".
Have a good day!!!

Another miracle of Syunic is The Monastery of Tatev which is 9th century monastry. Popular etymology includes a legend telling of an event that is tied to the construction of the main church, where an apprentice secretly climbs to the top of its steeple intending to place a cross of his own design. However, the apprentice is spotted by his master during his descent. Shocked by his discovery, the apprentice loses his foothold and falls into the abyss as he calls upon God to grant him wings, which, in Armenian is: "Ta Tev".

Devile bridge. Terrible name isn't it? Lets see what is it. Devil's bridge is located on Vorotan River to the east from Tatev village. The bridge consists of travertine and has natural origin. Its length is about 30m, width 50-60m, along the bridge passes the road Goris-Tatev (village).

Shaki waterfall. Origin of the name Shaki comes from beautiful same-named girl... According to the legend a conqueror admired the beauty of Shaki and ordered her to come to him. Shaki didn't want to become a victim of his violence jumps from a high rock. When falling down her long dress opens and turns into a waterfall. Since then it is called Shaki waterfall.

Vorotnaberd. It is in ruin presently. It has a north-western and a south-eastern stretched saddle-like scheme. It was supported with the fort-walls only from the south-western side. There is a stronghold 50m. higher than the rest of the territory. To the north-west from the stronghold, there is a rampart made with large basalt stones, which has a gate on the south-western side connected to the fortress through the arch. On the eastern side of the stronghold, there are the semi-circular ruins of a chapel. The tunnel to the Vorotan River was located there also.

Tatever rope way. It is a longest rope way. You can find a videos and see how beautiful is that way.

There are many other beautiful and miracle places in Syunik, but todays topic ends.
I can add, that I'm a very happy person, because I've been there and I've seen and felt all this beauties.

Best regards
Zibaxa

Today I want to speak about the children nobody wanted.

It will be better for each of us to be more attentive to others, especially to children from child home. One thing always eating me. We all have family, so that we had a childhood. That children havn't childhood. I remember when I was a child and I saw a bad dream, I went to my parents room and lied down to their bed. Child homes children have nobody for bad dreams, have nobody to hug and they have to cry under the table instead of mothers shoulder.

All my toys, playthings and childhood books I gave to them, and till now eveery month I cut down from my salary and buy for them presents, toys, etc. On the spring with a group of volunteers we plent trees and sometimes organasing summer performances . I think each of us can do something good for them, we just have to look over and just a minite forget about our selfes.

People look over there are children nobody wanted.
This is my first topic and I hope you'll like it.

Best regars

Zibaxa