Because of the Anna Temkina and you will Lilit Zakaryan, Company of Sociology off Public Health and Gender, European University at St.Petersburg, Russia and you can National Academy regarding Sciences, Armenia
Karmir khndzor (Armenia)
Analysis your ex love – as a result of assessment the lady virginity – in order to affirm honor and you may status out-of this lady family relations is present into the a range of ‘sheet ceremonies’ inside patriarchal societies in the Mediterranean societies so you can Latin Western peasantry and you can Indian castes, while the Dark ages (Kandiyoti 1988, Carpenter 2005, Ortner 1978: 19). Parallels can be found into habit of blaga rakija in the Macedonia. Ladies virginity is of the societal stature because a beneficial female’s reputation about public build is set by the exactly how ‘pure’ otherwise ‘polluting’ she actually is (Ortner 1978: 24-26). Which religion has been ‘enforced from the medical and regularly a bit really serious command over ladies’ personal and especially sexual behaviour’ (Ortner 1978: 19). Predicated on Simone de- Beauvoir, virginity was an effective patriarchal create hence objectifies females as livelinks Fiyat the Other (1949 ).
Karmir khndzor is actually scarcely mentioned from the Armenian ethnography on the late nineteenth and you can early twentieth ages due to the fact Armenian culture is actually generally quiet toward things of sexuality. Mostly male ethnographers don’t read the the marriage nights ceremonies for the enough detail with regards to people informants. If your fiance are extremely young, the latest ritual was not performed with the relationship evening at all and you can are defer for many years (Shagoyan 2011: 497). Red apples always enjoy yet another part about regional traditions associated the increased loss of the newest bride’s virginity (Shagoyan 2011). Due to the fact symbolic of virility in accordance with a sexual connotation, fruit was applied as a gift field having gold precious jewelry, gifted to the bride. The round model of the fresh fresh fruit represented integrity and you may perfection and you can this new virginity of your own bride was likewise interpreted as their ‘integrity’ (tselostnost, compare with tselka, ‘virgin’).
The current types of karmir khndzor that’s active throughout Armenia along with several diasporic communities took off during Soviet several months into the increase out-of metropolitan migration about seventies. New routine has the following guidelines: To your day adopting the matrimony, a tiny set of ladies (the brand new couple’s godmother or groom’s mother, maternal sis otherwise married brother), constantly 2 or 3, render the caretaker out of bride to be a rack off apples, sweets and you can cognac. New groom’s mother invites the girl neighbors otherwise intimate members of the family, once more 2 or 3 ladies, more to possess java, tea, chocolate and you can fresh fruit. The brand new godmother cuts the oranges to the five bits and you may shares him or her into the tourist. Desserts as an apple also are an appropriate current. The newest practice is sold with around three steps: test, sanctioning and you will validation. Following groom’s mother and other ladies look for traces regarding blood to your bedsheet of your own wedding couple (examination), the latest bride-to-be receives a gift in case there are their affirmed virginity otherwise a belief and censure in case there are failure (sanctioning). In the third step, a red-colored apple otherwise a dish that have oranges is sent due to the fact recognition on bride’s mother, exactly who awaits this indication followed by relatives or neighbors at their household (Shagoyan 2011, Pogosyan 2010).
Occupation research conducted throughout the middle-2000s indicated that karmir khndzor is actually performed extremely carefully and you may diligently into the rural places that gender norms was in fact more traditional and hierarchical. On metropolises, the new behavior got a very moderate mode – new ritual are did nevertheless virginity comparison is so much more easy (Temkina 2008, 2010). Several transform features helped redefine new habit because the 2000s (Temkina 2008, 2010, Pogosyan 2011). First, brand new ritual might have been articulated on personal commentary by the mass media, NGOs therefore the women’s path, plus academic commentary, academic programmes and you may school courses with the intercourse, sociology, psychology and you may comparable specialities. Virginity has-been politicised after multiple NGOs (Wo-men’s room Money Center regarding Armenia, UTOPIANA, WOW) organized performances intended for deconstructing brand new ritual that have headings including ‘Red Fruit is only to have eating’ and you may ‘I invite one this new funeral service of the Red Apple with the 8 away from .’ This has influenced the fresh new impact regarding karmir khndzor because of the more youthful years who turned into more likely to see it since the a keen old-designed practice of intimacy control. 2nd, they turned into you can to fabricate virginity. Ladies who got premarital matchmaking you are going to imitate the virginity due to their husbands and you can/otherwise moms and dads-in-law by the in the process of a medical hymenoplastic procedure to help you reconstruct the new hymen and you can have shown its cultural purity and honourable femininity. By the medicalising the new karmir khndzor habit, gynecologists may help lady to build a consistent biography and also to boost their life potential getting an everyday age far more preferred getting lovers to decline to take part in new ritual otherwise in order to ‘save’ the fresh new ladies’ virginity. As the sexual relationships turned into much more liberal and regarded as owned by an independent areas out-of individual existence, karmir khndzor try relegated so you can a great ceremonial and you may cultural symbol in the brand new federal marriage and contains missing the connection to help you virginity, as for example is the situation out of a married relationship veil in Russia.
Karmir khndzor are trapped from the tensions ranging from national title and you can modernity. While the ritual stands for Armenian society and antique gender jobs, people that refuse the fresh new routine exposure being considered to be less than correct Armenian people and you will people. Yet , people that rigidly proceed with the routine would-be seen as backwards and you can old-fashioned by their rivals. However, pro- and you can con- attitudes so you can karmir khndzor are more effective looked at as being located for the a range. Each other teenage boys and you may female may target on virginity take to acting as a system away from command over its intimacy and personal life. Other times, women may want to keep the virginity prior to relationship and also to think about it an essential cultural customs you to definitely fosters kinship solidarity. Certain could possibly get agree to maintain the virginity, however, dislike its social verification after the relationships. Of a lot young people evaluate low-relationship sex just like the appropriate for both males and females and you will consider karmir khndzor completely archaic. Just like the patriarchal intercourse program forgotten the rigidness, the variety of ranks concerning the behavior mean deficiencies in people social consensus regarding the behavior (look for detail by detail situations for starting new routine inside Pogosyan 2010).
Recommendations
Poghosyan, An excellent. 2010. A few of the options that come with new transformation of customs “Yellow fruit”: Culture and Modernity inside the Armenian People, Yerevan: Gitutyuan, 359-367
Shagoyan, Grams. 2011. ‘” 7 days, 7 night”: Panorama of the Armenian marriage, Institute out-of Archaeology and you may Ethnography of National Academy off Sciences, RA, 496-509
