A few weeks ago, I have to admit, there were only two things that I knew about a small country called Armenia. One of course was the horrible genocide of the Armenian people and the other was a memory about the news from the 80's regarding a big earth quake there killing thousands of people.
And now I had the great opportunity to visit this small, very well hidden country, bordered by Turkey, Azerbaischan, Georgia and Iran. It was a wonderful trip, even though I could neither read nor understand their language. The food was wonderful, communication is very difficult, but the friendliness of the Armenians helps and makes traveling a special and inspirational experience. They have their own alphabet, and you can see some of their letters in my short slide show. If I were a traditional quilter I would for sure use some of the very elaborate stone or wood carvings as quilting patterns. But I am very sure the memories and pictures of this trip will become part in my future art work. Have a look at my slide show to get a small impression of this very special country.
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There are numerous other interesting facts about Armenia, such as Armenian people chronology comes from Haik who lived in 3rd millennium B.C., has got its own calendar started by Haik, and according to it it is today the 4501 year by Armenian ancient calendar. Also Armenia was the first nation to officially adopt Christianity in 301 AD, created its own alphabet in 403 AD, which is used till today almost without changes.
A very interesting website about Armenia - http://armenianhighland.com
Maya thank you for visiting our beautiful motherland. Mayrig Haystansi
I would like to add that Armenian women have been known for centuries to be expert quilters, needlework and Armenian Lace.
There is an exhibition of this in the National Museum of Armenia.
Please return soon
Before I left for my trip I tried to find armenian quilt artists, but I was not successful. It would have been wonderful to meet a fellow fiber artist. Maybe next time.
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