Remarks on a Holiday in Armenia (Plus T-Shirts and Gifts!)
My husband and I recently returned home from a trip to Armenia, a caucasus country which was formerly a a republic of the Soviet Union. Although no one seems to know much about Armenia, or even know where to point on a map to find it, this country is one of the oldest nations in the world and it has a history beyond what most of us could imagine. An American thinks 200 years is old, an Englishman thinks 1000 years is old, but in Armenia we saw books dated to around 300-400 A.D. (FYI: Armenia was the first country to declare Christianity as its national religion). And that's new compared to the rest. The oldest known mark of civilization in the capital, Yerevan, dates to 90,000 B.C. Oh, and some found skeletal remains which are dated sometime between one to two million years B.C. Armenia can truly be called the cradle of civilization.
Armenia also has a lot of interesting things to offer in terms of culture and people (the freshness of the food certainly receives top marks in my books). Recent years have been turbulent for the country; in 1988 terrible earthquakes razed parts of the country to the ground, leaving over 25,000 dead within a 100 kilometer area. My husband and I saw parts of the country that still were not rebuilt, and towns of people with too little money to even think about such possibilities.
And before the quake was of course the genocide brought on by Turkey, which is understandably a very sensitive subject for Armenians; Turkey still today refuses to admit that it ever occurred (sometimes even to the point of revising "history"). It is estimated that 1.5 to 2 million Armenians were killed in these years, yet since much of the world fails to recognize it as the genocide it was people don't realize that the holocaust wasn't the first genocide of the 20th century. Now more Armenians live outside of the country than in, with an estimated 1.75 in the country and the other 7.25 million outside.
The thing that really struck me about the country was the pride of the people. They really love Armenia, and so many consider it to be the best place on earth. I have never seen a people take so much pride in their own land. I don't mean in silly political games, but in the little things like fruits/vegetables and family.
...so this got me thinking that there must be some really great gear out there supporting this amazing country, and that since Armenians seem so Patriotic, a few people might be interested in Armenia supporting t-shirts and products. Here are a few that really got my attention:
So many Armenians we met talked about their family near Hollywood in California, so I thought this CA lingo Armenian tee design was pretty well suited!
...and some Armenia Euro Oval bumper stickers, fantastic when combined with this Made in Armenia license plate cover:
Here's a couple of classic shirts for anyone with Armenian pride:
And if shirts aren't your thing:
And finally, here's some great Armenian tees for kids (available in t-shirts for toddlers, and also in infant creepers):
My husband tried some of this stuff while we were there, but I don't think he was too keen (we could have lived off of the fresh cherries, though!)
Please keep in mind that most of these designs are available on a wide variety of products, so if you like the design but not the shirt, it's worth checking out the shops anyway to see if they've got something that's more up your street.
If you'd rather just got straight to some shops and browse yourself, here are our favorite Armenian t-shirt and gift stores (most of the designs posted here came from these):
One World Gear: Armenia T-Shirts and Gifts
The Hayastan.com Armenian Shop
posted by Kippygo @ 17:17
2 Comments:
Wow, such an interesting story. Now, your husband is Armenian?
:)
p.s. any photos from the trip?
My husband is British, but we have a friend who's doing volunteer work in Armenia for a couple of years... so a visit :)
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