Vanadzor gets ready for New Year with pork, turkey and money from abroad

As in the capital, Yerevan, and Armenia’s “second city”, Gyumri, Armenia’s third-largest city, Vanadazor (100,000), comes alive with holiday bustle in the second half of December.

Mid-day marketplaces are crowded with shoppers bundled against the cold and bundled with shopping bags with foodstuffs aimed for the New Year table.

Many shoppers know Liana Chkheidze, 63, who makes the trip from Batumi, Georgia (some 580 kilometers from Vanadzor) to sell citrus and other items to Vanadzor shoppers.

“It sells well these days,” says the Georgian market-woman in Russian. “My son does not work so it’s up to me to provide for the family.”

Residents of Vanadzor are attracted by the fruits, the pickled Georgian herb called jonjoli and tkghemali (a sauce made of a special sort of plums and herbs).

The pickles she gets for about 700 drams ($2.30) in Batumi are sold here at a price three times higher – 2,000 drams ($6.60).

Liana stays with an Armenian family of her acquaintance for several days before the goods are sold.

No matter how high the prices go on the eve of the holiday the tables in Vanadzor homes do not get poorer. This year prices have grown by some 5.1 percent over the previous year.

The dishes on the tables have to be diverse – even if having just a bit of each, to please the relatives and the neighbors first and foremost and also the guests.

Those who have money start their shopping in mid-December, buying good that won’t spoil. Others wait for salaries; and many start their shopping only when relatives abroad send money.

43-year-old housewife Gayane Arakelyan drafted a list of goods she will have to buy and the quantity in her mind, before her husband sends her the money from Russia where he is a migrant worker: “I will need to manage to get turkey, pork, and presents for that sum.” The total reached 100,000 (about $330). In Vanadzor, the average salary is 40,000-50,000. ($130-160)

“I am absolutely embarrassed,” says the housewife, who says she’s afraid the neighbors will see her spending as extravagant.

Arakelyan’s case is typical in Vanadzor, where many families are dependent on relatives working – mostly in Russia – to provide remittances or bring money with them when they return from work in the winter.

“The New Year is a problem, and still, we want to feel good when having guests,” Arakelyan says.

“I’ll need $500 (155,000 drams), not more,” Vaspurakyan Gasparyan, 57, says estimating his expenses, the money for which must come from sources other than his own.

“How can one celebrate New Year with a salary of just $70? If you don’t have someone to send from abroad, you won’t be able to do the shopping.”

Haykush Mamajanyan 45, and her relatives meet the New Year together, under one roof, to avoid making excessive expenses for several years already.

“We spend less money that way; besides, we do not want to (appear excessive). Most importantly we enjoy it fully while having little expenses,” says Mamajanyan.

Grilled pork and turkey have become stars of the New Year table here. This year the price of pork has grown to 3,500 ($11) drams per kilo, up from last year’s cost of 2,500. ($8)

For Artak Marukyan, photographer, the New Year is also a period of earning money, besides being the most important holiday of the year. If it goes as it is, next year he will be celebrating the tenth year of spending the holidays on Hayq Square.

At the square, Marukyan makes photos of visitors for 300 drams each (about $1) and takes some 200-300 photos during the New Year celebration, mostly snapping family shots near the fir tree that is the celebration centerpiece.

From now until January 13 (“Old New Year”) the square will be the site of concerts and other performances.