How The Armenian People Live - By: David Bunch

The majority of the Armenians are farmers, though many have gone into business. Under many harsh foreign rulers, the farmers were kept poor and ignorant of modern ways of farming. In the past thirty years, with the introduction of better irrigation and new machinery, the Armenian farmer has been able to grow more and bigger crops, and so he has prospered. He raises cotton, grain, tobacco, and grapes and other fruits. People are also finding more and more work in the large cities like Yerevan (or Erivan), the capital, and Leninakan, both of which now have many factories. Here the people make cloth, rubber, furniture, food and artificial rubber, all of which help them to live better.

Once only the children of wealthy families went to school, and so most of the people grew up without knowing how to read or write. In recent years, more schools have been built, and the children go to them as they do in European and American countries. Once there were no colleges at all for the Armenians, and now there are ten, as well as special schools where they can learn different trades. More than three out of four Armenians-all but the older people-can now read and write. Formerly, only about one in ten could.

The Armenians like food more highly spiced than Americans do. Their favorite meat is lamb, prepared in various ways. A most popular food among them is called madzoun, which is like junket, or clabber. In some American cities there are Armenian restaurants where a person can get food very much like that eaten by the Armenians in their own country. One of the favorite games of the people is tavli, which is their word for backgammon, and the Armenians love to play it by the hour. They also have colorful folk dances and songs, in which men, women and children all join when they have their festivals.

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