Arpa Posted February 17, 2006 Report Share Posted February 17, 2006 Ասպանջ/Aspanj is the root word where we get such as aspanjakan, aspnjakanutiun etc., all meaning hospitable, hospitality. Some time ago we spoke about the subject and I remember promising to expand on it. The below quote by Gevo under the topic of Memories of Hayastan jolted my memory. gevo Today, 01:45 AM Post #319 Vika, my thoughts exactly, and coincedentaly, i was also 21 when i went last summer. The only thing i saw different is the general hospitality, I found a huge black hole kind of lack of it.. Great pictures I have been barraged by assumption s of the “legendary Armenian Hospitality”. I am not sure where that assumption comes from, except maybe from a passing remark by Xenophon and other travelers of his ilk. Then again, I am sure Xenophone said similar things about all the peoples he met during his travels. Look here; http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:NQ2_j...spitality&hl=en A quote from the above site; The crossing of the high plateaus of Armenia of the “Ten Thousand”, hasting to the rescue of Cyrus the Young, offers the opportunity for Xenophon to describe the mores of the loyal and hospitable people they met on their way, during their campaign. So, he describes both the geography of Armenia and notes his appreciation of the people he meets in this part of the Caucasus. He is a keen observer of the people who occupy this portion of the Caucasus. Reading Xenophon one is impressed with the hospitality of the Armenians toward those strangers roaming around in the cold of winter in their country, whereas the Kurds and the Lazes and other people behaved most inhospitably toward them. The hospitality of Arminians has not changed since the days of Xenophon. Anabasis is a book that will be read with great interest, a book which portrays the land of Armenia as it existed in 400 BC and the character of the people at that time. The chronicle is one of the most precious documents in our possession about Armenia as contemporary to the Achemenide (Persian) dynasty. Between the period of the Anabasis of the Ten Thousand and the downfall of the Achémenides, information about the country and the people of Armenia is rare, or perhaps inexistant. One of the sources available tells us the valiant Darius II had been, before his accession the throne… According to the Armatakan Bararan “aspnjakan/hospitable” is synonymous with “Vanatur”. We have spoken about this under another topic. See Mythology/Vanatur. Which in short means giver of ‘van’ as in ijevan/landing and /otevan/haven. The word seems to be of Pahlavi origin, “aspanj/hospice or “sipanj”. The latter has kind of a hilarious interpretation by modern Persians that ir composed of “se/three” and “panj/five”, I.e a guest that is welcome for three or five days. It reminds the Armenian saying; Fish and guests begin to smell after three days/Ձուկը եւ հիւրը կը հոտին երեք օր վերջ. Now, let us see where all that legend is coming from. Mind you, here we are not speaking about that legendary table spread that cost the average Yerevanite a whole year’s budget, but the hospitality goes beyond that 3 day welcome. We are not talking about hospitality extended to our own kind either , but let us see how hospitable we are to others. I cannot vouch for it except that I have witnessed first hand our lack of hospitality and the hospitality of others towards us. Two eyewitness stories. A great aunt of mine was lost in the Syrian desert during the 1915 deportations. She came from a very highly emancipated family, her father was a minister, murdered during the Genocide, her mother was a college educated teacher. A we can see she came from a highly educated and devout Christian family (read on). She was found and taken by the chief of a Syrian Arab tribe from the suburbs of Aleppo. She was reared and lovingly cared until she reached marriageable age whereby she was wedded to one of the sons of the said chief. She had two daughters, the first died of some childhood disease, the second survived to see how horrible and cruel the Armenian community can be. In the meantime, her Moslem Arab adopted family mindful of her devout Christian heritage saw to it that she have a Bible of her own. After the dust had settled, so o speak, Armenian and European began a campaign to “liberate” all the children in Arabic households. She was “liberated”, brought to Aleppo and given to an Armenian widower who was twice her age with children of his own who were as old, if not older than her. That is when all hell broke loose. She was not only insulted and persecuted daily by her so called husband but also by his children. Of course, she deserved all that insult since she had been polluted. Her one surviving daughter could not stand the harassment and ran away at the tender age of 16. She worked as a maid in Armenian houses in another city, and some accused her of prostitution. Fortunately she found an Armenian man who took her as is, polluted with Arabic blood or not. I am telling this story with tears down my cheek as I have a photo of the said woman and I can see how beautiful she may have been even behind ll that obligatory Arabic beauty tattoo enhancements. She had had a child by her so-called Armenian husband, a boy which she eventually took with her when she walked away. Fortunately that boy, her pride and joy consequent to her deep Christian faith grew up to be a model Armenian man, successful both socially and financially. Another first hand eyewitness story. A prominent philanthropic and a die-hard Armenian in our neighborhood was married to a woman of America- Irish-Italian heritage. This woman , just like her husband was so taken by the Armenian fate that she had her house open as a haven to all the needy. She had many a child in need of medical attention, so much so that little four year Karen from Kotayk, an open heart surgery to correct a congenital condition in her house for months on end that the little boy had forgotten who his birth parents were. Tis “otar” woman has traveled to Armenia on a yearly basis, if not more often to spread her love and hospitality. I was somehow involved in the life of that little boy but nothing tells better than the following story. One day I volunteered to help the above mentioned “otar” woman to help reduce her burden. I was assigned to take out and entertain these two little girls. I wa expecting to find them at an Armenian home. Surprise!! They were housed at Mrs. McGillacuddy, (a fictional name) a widower of retirement age, living at the fringes of poverty, a member at the above mentioned Catholic church, who had taken those little girls, housed them, fed them and bathed them. As if there are no Armenian families in our neighborhood. I took them. Accompanied with that wonderful teddy bear of a son of our wonderful \ly HOSPITABLE “otar hars” I took them on a boat ride that they would remember forever, that is if they are still alive. Those two little girls, I repeat “little” were afflicted by the congenital disease of Osseogenesis imperfecta, an auto-immune disease that attacks the skeletal/bone structure. One of them was supposed to be 16 years old who had the physique and the stature of a six year old, the other had so many fractures that her constant companion was a pair of crutches that she had so mastered. Both were afflicted with the FATAL congenital. Disease. Do you want know why they were sent to America? The girls were natives of the town Ejmiatsin. They were of Musa Ler heritage. Hi MosJan J I forget their surnames… but. They were distant cousins of the then Catholicos Garegin I. Do you get the picture? Now. Let us hear about the “legendary Armenian hospitality/Ասպնջանք” When was the last time an Armenian family took a total stranger, be they Armenian or otar under their roof!! Note; Welcoming the Turk into our homes in hopes that they would help us rid of Byzantine yoke does not count. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iran01 Posted March 4, 2006 Report Share Posted March 4, 2006 (edited) Ասպանջ/Aspanj is the root word where we get such as aspanjakan, aspnjakanutiun etc., all meaning hospitable, hospitality. http://www.iranica.com/articles/v8f6/v8f615.html ESFAND (sepand, sepanj, espanj < Proto-Ir. *svanta; Ar. háarmal, Lat. Peganum harmala; wild rue), a common weed found in Persia, Central Asia, and the adjacent areas (for the the plant's name in other Iranian languages see Flattery and Schwartz, p. 40). Esfand was well known among the ancient Indo-Iranians. Dioscorides provides in the 1st century C.E. the earliest description of the plant, calling it pêganon agrion. Later Greek authors refer to it as persaia botane (Flattery and Schwartz, pp. 35-42, 144-48). Two varieties of the plant are mentioned in the early medical texts, the white rue and the more potent black rue. The plant is considered to be hot by nature, and can be used as a diuretic, a vomitive, and an agent to facilitate menstruation in cases of amenorrhea (Ebn Rabban, pp. 415, 469; Jama@l^ Yazd^, p. 173). Although the most important use of esfand in Persia involves magical practices, its various parts were used in cures for a variety of ailments (e.g., throat diseases; Ebn Rabban, p. 466; cf. Lazard, Premiers poeàtes II, p. 190). It was considered efficacious to cold swellings, and some classical physicians such as Kend^ also used it in treating epilepsy and insanity (Jama@l^ Yazd^, p. 75; Samarqand^, p. 206). Aphrodisiacal properties have been suggested for the plant. Crushed seeds of esfand may be used in the preparation of a fertility drug for women, while smoke from its burning roots can help determine whether or not the woman is barren (H®a@seb T®abar^, p. 108; for other medical benefits of the plant see Andalos^, pp. 311-16). Folk medicine practices reflect a classical belief in the medical properties of esfand, while attributing a number of magico-medical properties to it. It is considered to be a divinely favored plant which can cure seventy-two varieties of ailments the least severe of which is leprosy (Majles^, pp. 220-21; Qom^, I, p. 245). Furthermore, the smoke from its burning seeds is believed to ward off harm from persons or places that are exposed to its smoke. Thus esfand is burned at potentially harmful moments such as during circumcision ceremonies or for the protection of the woman in childbed (ˆaku@rza@da, pp. 152, 160, 610-11). The burning of the seeds is accompanied by the recitation of a magical formula. Purely curative uses of esfand are occasionally encountered in folk medicine. For example, the smoke from burning a combination of rue seeds, a bit of Bulgarian leather, and a piece of crab shell is used as a remedy for nosebleed. Another non-magical practice involves applying a concoction of roasted esfand seeds and other materials to the head and hair of a new mother to improve both her health and the condition of her hair (ˆaku@rza@de, pp. 147, 245). The practice of burning esfand seeds to avert the evil eye is widely attested in early classical Persian literature (e.g., Lazard, Premiers poetes II, p. 12; ˆa@h-na@ma, ed. Khaleghi, I, p.337; Farrokò^, p. 106). This practice may have been influenced by the association of esfand with haoma (q.v.), the sacred beverage of Zoroastrian lore (for argument in favor of such identification see Flattery and Schwartz). The continuity of Persian tradition has brought the ancient sacred plant into Islamic sources. A Shi¿ite tradition states that there is an angel in each of the plant's leaves and seeds. Its root drives away sorrow and magic, and the devil stays a distance of seventy houses away from homes in which it is kept (ˆaku@rza@da, pp. 611, 629). Shi¿ite sources tell of the benefits of ingesting esfand or its juice. For instance, drinking a bit of esfand juice every day for forty mornings brings about wisdom in addition to fortifying the imbiber against seventy varieties of diseases (Qom^, I, p. 245). The apotropaic value of esfand is reflected in its burning against evil presence. In a curious ceremony to counteract effects of evil upon a child, which is manifested in the condition called ba±a-ye ¿awazµ^ (changeling), burning of esfand is required (ˆaku@rza@da, p. 235). In some villages of Khorasan, a new mother will be given a concoction to clear her bowels on the third day after she has given birth. Then, forty pebbles, forty balls of sheep dung, forty raw chickpeas, and forty esfand seeds are placed in a large bowl of water (ja@m-e ±ehel kel^d), dipped in the bowl forty times, and the water is ritually poured over a cloth, held above the woman's head. This ritual purges the woman from the effects of evil spirits and harmful entities (ˆaku@rza@da, p. 141). During the ceremony presenting a new child, esfand seeds are burned to avert the evil eye during the ceremony of presentation. Each of those present give a piece of thread from their clothing to be burned with the esfand seeds and other items, while a certain formula is recited (Heda@yat, pp. 43-44; for examples of the formula see also Horn, translator's note, p. 107; Flattery and Schwartz, pp. 49-50). Evidently esfand seeds were also used to produce an invisible ink. The process involved pounding the seeds before soaking them in water for two days. The juice thereafter functioned as an invisible ink when written on paper. In order to read it, the paper is brought close to a flame and the heat make the writing visible (H®a@seb Tabar^, p. 55). Bibliography: ¿Abd-al-Malek b. H®ab^b Andalos^, al-T®ebb al-nabaw^, ed. M.-¿A. Ba@r, Damascus and Beirut, 1413/1993. Abu@ Rayháa@n B^ru@n^, Sáaydana, ed. M. Sa¿^d and R. Ehása@n Ela@h^, Karachi, 1973, pp. 155-56. ¿Al^ b. Sahl Ebn Rabban T®abar^, Ferdaws al-háekma, ed. M. Z. Siddiqi, Berlin, 1928. Farrokò^ S^sta@n^, D^va@n, ed. M. Dab^rs^a@q^, 3rd ed., Tehran, 1363 ˆ./1984. D. Flattery and M. Schwartz, Hoama and Harmaline, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1989. Moháammad b. Ayyu@b H®a@seb T®abar^, Toháfat al-@g@ara@÷eb, ed. J. Mat^n^, Tehran, 1371 ˆ./1992. S®. Heda@yat, Neyrangesta@n, Tehran, 1342 ˆ./1963. Horn, Etymologie, tr. J. K¨a@leq^-MotÂlaq as Asa@s-e eæteqa@q-e fa@rs^, Tehran, 2536 (=1356) ˆ./1977. Abu@ Bakr MotÂahhar Jama@l^ Yazd^, Farrokò-na@ma, ed. È. Afæa@r, Tehran, 1346 ˆ./1967. Moháammad-Ba@qer Majles^, H®elyat al-mottaq^n, Tehran, 1371/1951. ¿Abba@s b. Moháammad-Rezµa@ Qom^, Saf^nat al-beháa@r wa mad^nat al-háekam wa'l-a@t¯a@r, 2 vols., Beirut, 1985? E. ˆaku@rza@da, ¿Aqa@yed o rosu@m-e mardom-e K¨ora@sa@n, 2nd ed., Tehran, 1362 ˆ./1983. Naj^b-al-D^n Moháammad Samarqand^, The Medical Formulary of al-Samarqand^ and the Relations of Early Arabic Simples to Those Found in the Indegenous Medicine of the Near East and India, ed. N. K¨a@led^ and M. Levey, Philadelphia, 1976. H®obayæ b. Ebra@h^m Tefl^s^, Baya@n al-sáena@¿a@t, ed. È. Afæa@r, in FIZ 5, 1336 ˆ./1957, pp. 298-447. (MAHMOUD OMIDSALAR) Edited March 4, 2006 by Iran01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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