By Anna Temkina and you can Lilit Zakaryan, Service of one’s Sociology regarding Societal Health and Sex, Western european College or university on St.Petersburg, Russia and Federal Academy off Sciences, Armenia
Karmir khndzor (Armenia)
Evaluation the girl love – because of comparison the lady virginity – so you can affirm honour and you may standing from her relatives is present inside the a range of ‘piece ceremonies’ for the patriarchal societies on Mediterranean societies to Latin Western peasantry and you will Indian castes, given that Old (Kandiyoti 1988, Carpenter 2005, Ortner 1978: 19). Parallels occur to your habit of blaga rakija during the Macedonia. Lady virginity try in the public reputation while the a woman’s standing regarding societal design is defined of the exactly how ‘pure’ otherwise ‘polluting’ she is (Ortner 1978: 24-26). This faith has been ‘enforced of the logical and often a bit serious control over ladies personal and especially sexual behaviour’ (Ortner 1978: 19). Based on Simone de- Beauvoir, virginity is actually a patriarchal build and this objectifies females just like the Almost every other (1949 ).
Karmir khndzor was hardly stated in the Armenian ethnography regarding later nineteenth and you will very early twentieth many years just like the Armenian culture is actually mainly hushed on items of sexuality. Mainly men ethnographers did not take a look at the wedding night ceremonies inside the adequate detail with the girls informants. If for example the bride to be is most younger, the fresh new routine wasn’t did into the matrimony evening at all and you will try postponed for quite some time (Shagoyan 2011: 497). Reddish oranges always play a separate character from the regional traditions associated the loss of the fresh bride’s virginity (Shagoyan 2011). Because a symbol of virility along with a sensual meaning, fruit was used because something special container to possess gold jewelry, skilled into the bride. The fresh circular form of the latest fresh fruit represented ethics and you may perfection and you can the latest virginity of bride-to-be try on top of that interpreted given that the lady ‘integrity’ (tselostnost, compare to tselka, ‘virgin’).
The present day sorts of karmir khndzor which is used throughout Armenia along with several diasporic organizations took off throughout the Soviet months with the increase out-of metropolitan migration from the 1970s. The latest routine has the following the laws: To the morning adopting the matrimony, a tiny band of females (new couple’s godmother otherwise groom’s mother, maternal sis otherwise married sibling), constantly two or three, bring the mother regarding bride-to-be a dish away from apples, chocolate and you can cognac. Brand new groom’s mom invites the girl neighbors otherwise romantic family, again 2 or three girls, more than to possess coffee, tea, candy and you will fresh fruit. New godmother slices the latest oranges into the four bits and you may offers him or her on the traffic. Desserts in the form of an apple also are an appropriate gift. The brand new behavior is sold with around three procedures: examination, sanctioning and you may recognition. Following the groom’s mother or any other female try to find contours from bloodstream into the bedsheet of wedding couple (examination), new fiance receives a gift in the event of the woman affirmed virginity otherwise a conviction and you may censure in case of inability (sanctioning). About third step, a yellow apple or a holder that have oranges is sent given that recognition toward bride’s mother, who awaits so it signal accompanied by household members otherwise neighbours at their house (Shagoyan 2011, Pogosyan 2010).
Industry search conducted in the middle-2000s revealed that karmir khndzor was did extremely rigorously and you can vigilantly within the outlying areas where gender norms was indeed more conventional and you may hierarchical. About metropolises, the new behavior grabbed a more moderate setting – the latest ritual was performed nevertheless the virginity investigations was more easy (Temkina 2008, 2010). Several change features aided redefine the fresh practice while the 2000s (Temkina 2008, 2010, Pogosyan 2011). Very first, the newest ritual might have been articulated in the social discourse from the media, NGOs plus the ladies’ path, and also in instructional commentary, academic programs and you will college courses towards the gender, sociology, psychology and you will equivalent disciplines. Virginity has-been politicised shortly after numerous NGOs (Wo-men’s room Capital Cardiovascular system from Armenia, UTOPIANA, WOW) organized shows intended for deconstructing this new ritual which have headings LGBT single seznamka for example ‘Red Fruit is to have eating’ and ‘I ask you to definitely the latest funeral service of Reddish Apple to your 8 regarding .’ It’s got swayed new impression away from karmir khndzor of the more youthful generations which became prone to find it since a keen old-fashioned habit of closeness handle. 2nd, they turned into you’ll to manufacture virginity. Women that got premarital dating you can expect to simulate its virginity due to their husbands and you will/otherwise mothers-in-law by in the process of a health hymenoplastic process so you’re able to rebuild the newest hymen and you can have indicated the cultural love and you can honourable femininity. Because of the medicalising the fresh karmir khndzor habit, gynecologists could help female to construct a frequent biography in order to boost their lifetime chance to possess a typical e so much more prominent to possess people in order to won’t take part in the routine otherwise so you can ‘save’ this new ladies’ virginity. Once the sexual relationships became much more liberal and you will considered to be owned by an independent fields from individual lives, karmir khndzor is directed in order to a good ceremonial and social symbol from inside the new federal relationships and also missing the partnership in order to virginity, for analogy is the case of a wedding veil when you look at the Russia.
Karmir khndzor are swept up from the stress anywhere between national title and you may modernity. Since the routine is short for Armenian culture and old-fashioned sex spots, individuals who deny the fresh ritual exposure being considered less than correct Armenian people and you may women. But really those who rigidly stick to the routine is seen as backwards and you can traditional by the the competitors. However, pro- and you can fraud- attitudes in order to karmir khndzor are better looked at as being located into a spectrum. Both teenagers and you can lady can get object on the virginity decide to try acting as a procedure from command over their intimacy and personal lifestyle. Some days, people may want to remain the virginity just before matrimony also to think it over an essential social culture that fosters kinship solidarity. Some will get commit to manage their virginity, however, dislike the personal verification pursuing the relationship. Of a lot young people examine low-relationship gender as the acceptable for both males and females and you may thought karmir khndzor completely archaic. Since the patriarchal sex program shed its rigidness, the variety of positions concerning the practice suggest too little one public consensus in regards to the practice (come across detailed situations to own performing the newest routine in the Pogosyan 2010).
Records
Poghosyan, An effective. 2010. A number of the features of brand new sales of the tradition “Reddish fruit”: Customs and you will Modernity inside the Armenian Community, Yerevan: Gitutyuan, 359-367
Shagoyan, Grams. 2011. ‘” Seven days, seven evening”: Horizon of one’s Armenian relationship, Institute off Archaeology and you can Ethnography of Federal Academy out of Sciences, RA, 496-509
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