Of the Anna Temkina and you will Lilit Zakaryan, Company of one’s Sociology out of Public Health insurance and Intercourse, Western european University within St.Petersburg, Russia and you can National Academy from Sciences, Armenia
Karmir khndzor (Armenia)
Evaluation the girl love – owing to comparison the girl virginity – in order to affirm honor and you can standing from their family relations is obtainable within the various ‘layer ceremonies’ inside patriarchal communities regarding the Mediterranean societies so you’re able to Latin American peasantry and you can Indian castes, as Dark ages (Kandiyoti 1988, Carpenter 2005, Ortner 1978: 19). The thing is that exist towards practice of blaga rakija when you look at the Macedonia. Ladies virginity try of public status while the an excellent woman’s updates on social structure is defined by the exactly how ‘pure’ otherwise ‘polluting’ she is (Ortner 1978: 24-26). Which religion has been ‘enforced from the scientific and sometimes slightly really serious command over ladies’ societal and especially intimate behaviour’ (Ortner 1978: 19). According to Simone de- Beauvoir, virginity are a beneficial patriarchal make and this objectifies people because the Other (1949 ).
Karmir khndzor try hardly mentioned throughout the Armenian ethnography throughout the later 19th and you can very early twentieth ages since Armenian society are mostly hushed towards activities away from sexuality. Mainly men ethnographers don’t take a look at the wedding evening ceremonies into the sufficient detail with their women informants. In case your fiance was really young, this new ritual was not performed to your relationship nights after all and you can is delay for several years (Shagoyan 2011: 497). Red apples accustomed gamble a unique part about local rituals accompanying the increased loss of the brand new bride’s virginity (Shagoyan 2011). Because the a symbol of virility in accordance with a sexual meaning, fruit was used since the a gift box for gold precious jewelry, talented toward fiance. The fresh new https://datingmentor.org/pl/mocospace-recenzja/ circular shape of the fresh new fruit displayed integrity and excellence and you may the virginity of fiance is actually in addition translated since the girl ‘integrity’ (tselostnost, compare with tselka, ‘virgin’).
The current type of karmir khndzor which is used during the Armenia plus in multiple diasporic communities shot to popularity during the Soviet months on improve from urban migration on seventies. The fresh new routine has the following rules: To the morning following the marriage, a little gang of women (new couple’s godmother otherwise groom’s mommy, maternal sis or partnered cousin), constantly 2 or 3, give mom regarding bride-to-be a holder regarding apples, sweets and you will cognac. New groom’s mom encourages the lady neighbours otherwise close loved ones, again two or three girls, over getting java, beverage, sweets and you can fresh fruit. The newest godmother slices the fresh new apples into five bits and you will shares him or her with the website visitors. Cakes in the shape of an apple are the right current. The latest practice boasts about three measures: examination, sanctioning and recognition. After the groom’s mom or other people seek out lines away from blood on the bedsheet of one’s bridesmaid few (examination), the latest bride obtains something special in the eventuality of their affirmed virginity otherwise a belief and you may censure if there is inability (sanctioning). About next step, a red apple or a tray with oranges is distributed because the recognition for the bride’s mom, whom awaits which signal followed closely by family relations otherwise neighbours on their household (Shagoyan 2011, Pogosyan 2010).
Community search presented on middle-2000s revealed that karmir khndzor was performed extremely rigorously and you can vigilantly for the outlying areas where sex norms were more conventional and you can hierarchical. About urban centers, this new routine got a more reasonable function – the routine was performed but the virginity investigations was much more lenient (Temkina 2008, 2010). Several alter has assisted change the fresh habit as the 2000s (Temkina 2008, 2010, Pogosyan 2011). First, the fresh new ritual might have been articulated about personal commentary by mass media, NGOs plus the ladies path, plus educational commentary, educational courses and you can university courses towards intercourse, sociology, psychology and you may equivalent specialities. Virginity might politicised immediately following several NGOs (Wo-men’s room Investment Heart of Armenia, UTOPIANA, WOW) structured shows intended for deconstructing the newest routine having headings including ‘Red Apple is for eating’ and you will ‘We receive that brand new funeral service of the Red-colored Apple with the 8 out of .’ It’s got influenced the fresh new impression out of karmir khndzor by younger generations who turned likely to notice it as an old-designed practice of intimacy handle. 2nd, it turned you can easily to fabricate virginity. Ladies who had premarital relationship you will definitely imitate their virginity due to their husbands and you may/or parents-in law from the undergoing a health hymenoplastic processes so you can reconstruct the hymen and you can demonstrate the cultural love and you may honourable femininity. By the medicalising the brand new karmir khndzor routine, gynecologists may help people to build a consistent biography and to boost their life odds to own a frequent elizabeth a lot more prominent having people to help you won’t participate in the fresh ritual otherwise in order to ‘save’ the fresh new ladies virginity. Since the intimate dating became alot more liberal and considered belonging to an autonomous industries away from private lifestyle, karmir khndzor was relegated to help you a beneficial ceremonial and you will cultural icon in the new national relationship features forgotten the partnership so you’re able to virginity, in terms of analogy is the case from a wedding veil within the Russia.
Karmir khndzor is actually swept up throughout the stress ranging from national label and you can modernity. Because the ritual is short for Armenian society and you may antique intercourse roles, those who refuse this new ritual exposure being considered to be less than correct Armenian people and you can females. Yet people that rigidly proceed with the ritual will be thought to be backwards and conventional by the their rivals. However, pro- and you may swindle- perceptions to karmir khndzor operate better looked at as being located to your a range. Each other teenage boys and you may females will get target into virginity test becoming a system of control of their intimacy and personal life. Some days, people may want to remain its virginity prior to relationships and also to contemplate it an important cultural tradition you to fosters kinship solidarity. Some may commit to preserve the virginity, however, hate the societal confirmation after the matrimony. Of several young people check low-marital gender because the acceptable for both men and women and you may imagine karmir khndzor entirely archaic. Just like the patriarchal intercourse program forgotten their rigidness, the variety of positions regarding the habit mean deficiencies in any social opinion concerning behavior (pick detailed problems to have carrying out the routine into the Pogosyan 2010).
Sources
Poghosyan, A great. 2010. A few of the attributes of the brand new conversion of the tradition “Red-colored fruit”: Community and Modernity inside Armenian Culture, Yerevan: Gitutyuan, 359-367
Shagoyan, G. 2011. ‘” One week, seven nights”: Views of the Armenian relationship, Institute from Archaeology and you will Ethnography out of National Academy regarding Sciences, RA, 496-509
