{"id":490,"date":"2011-09-19T01:15:55","date_gmt":"2011-09-18T21:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barevarmenia.com\/travelblog\/?p=490"},"modified":"2012-04-10T15:57:10","modified_gmt":"2012-04-10T11:57:10","slug":"musaler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barevarmenia.com\/travelblog\/musaler\/","title":{"rendered":"95 Anniversary of Musaler Battles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The monument \u201cMusaler\u201d, symbolizing selfdefense battles in Musaler village, is located on the way to Echmiatsin. On September 19 of the current year, we\u2019re going to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the self-defense battles in Musaler. On this occasion we had a talk to the monument gallery manager Anush Malkhasyan and Vardges Martiryan the secretary of \u201cMusaler\u201d Patriotic Union. First, however, we\u2019d like to refer to the history of the battle. Musa Ler was the site of the famed resistance. Of the hundreds of villages, towns, and cities across the Ottoman Empire whose Armenian population was ordered to\u00a0remove to the Syrian desert, Musa Ler, located on the Mediterranean Sea south of the coastal town of
\nAlexandretta and west of ancient Antioch, was one of only four sites where Armenians organized a\u00a0defense of their community against the deportation edicts issued by the Young Turk regime beginning\u00a0in April 1915. By the time the Armenians of the six villages – Bitias, Yoghun-Olok, Haji-Habibli, Khedr-Bek, Vagef and Kabusi – were instructed to evict their homes and chose instead to retreat up the\u00a0mountain and to defy the evacuation order.\u00a0Outnumbered and outgunned, the Armenians had little expectations of surviving the siege of the\u00a0mountain when food stocks were depleted after a month. Their only hope was a chance rescue by an\u00a0Allied vessel that might be patrolling the Mediterranean coast. Eventually French warships\u00a0moved in and transported the entire population to the Port Said in Egypt.<\/p>\n

When, how and where does \u201cHarisa\u201d ceremony takes place?<\/strong>
\nVardges Martiryan:<\/strong> – Harisa is the symbol of the fight and memory, and the musalertsies from all\u00a0over the world celebrate this event, but the real activists are from Vagef, Turkey, and Aynchar,\u00a0Lebanon. By the way, Vagef is the only village where you can see only Armenians living there, no\u00a0Turks can be found. The event of Harisa (matagh) marks the unanimity of musalertsies, who were together both in the period of war and peace. Musa Ler had somehow become the salvation of their fort, as they had only water, wheat and sheep there, and they made harisa (a dish that combines the lamb with rice and<\/em>
\n grains) and divided people.<\/em><\/p>\n

Who cooks harisa or is there a special man who takes this responsibility and passes this tradition\u00a0from generation to generation?<\/strong>
\nAnush Malkhasyan:<\/strong> – It seems we hear Uncle Poghos\u2019s words, but there is no such a tradition.\u00a0Everyone can take part in cooking harisa from young to elder. But we respect our elders and they\u00a0have an important part in cooking harisa.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

VardgesMartiryan:<\/strong> – You know, this is not a feast where you must do nothing but eat, it\u2019s a\u00a0great ideology, the meaning of which is a unanimous struggle and a unanimous victory.<\/em><\/p>\n

What is the role of the young men in it?<\/strong>
\nVardgesMartiryan:<\/strong> – \u201cMusaler\u201d Patriotic Union consists of two parts \u2013 administrative part and the\u00a0youth wing, over 130 people take part in the ceremony, they know both the history and the dialect.<\/p>\n

What songs and dances characterize the event?<\/strong>
\nVardgesMartiryan:<\/strong> – There are a number of them, but the famous ones are \u201cDapkina\u201d, \u201cDzundrhava\u201d from dances, and \u201cGyarne \u201d from songs.<\/p>\n

Did you ever have a tourist at the ceremony?<\/strong>
\nAnush Malkhasyan:<\/strong> – Yes, we did, although compared with previous years the number of tourists has reduced. Mostly, we have tourists from the Armenian Diaspora, Germany as connected with the German writer Franz Werfel \u201cForty Days of Musaler\u201d, from France connected with Tartizh de Furne who provided great assistance to the Armenians.\u00a0On September 19 we\u2019ll celebrate the 95th anniversary of the battles in Musaler.<\/p>\n

How are you\u00a0doing with the preparation works for the ceremony?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vardges Martiryan:<\/strong> – Everything is ready for the ceremony. Beside the dances, songs and\u00a0harisa cooking, we\u2019ll also celebrate the 10th anniversary of Vagef Patriot Union, and 30 out of\u00a0the union members will go to the pilgrimage to Turkey, we\u2019ll visit the cemetery of the famous warrior\u00a0Yesayo Yaghubyan, we\u2019ll have a football match at school after Franz Werfel and a photography\u00a0exhibition.<\/p>\n

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