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By the Anna Temkina and you can Lilit Zakaryan, Institution of one’s Sociology out of Personal Health and Intercourse, Western european School during the St.Petersburg, Russia and you will National Academy out-of Sciences, Armenia
Karmir khndzor (Armenia)
Review the woman’s love – using testing the lady virginity – in order to affirm honor and you will condition regarding the lady relatives exists inside a range of ‘layer ceremonies’ from inside the patriarchal communities regarding Mediterranean countries so you can Latin American peasantry and you will Indian castes, as the Dark ages (Kandiyoti 1988, Carpenter 2005, Ortner 1978: 19). The thing is that are present for the practice of blaga rakija from inside the Macedonia. Lady virginity is actually for the personal reputation as a good female’s reputation about social design is set from the how ‘pure’ or ‘polluting’ she’s (Ortner 1978: 24-26). It faith has been ‘implemented by clinical and sometimes quite significant power over ladies social and particularly sexual behaviour’ (Ortner 1978: 19). Predicated on Simone de Beauvoir, virginity are a great patriarchal create which objectifies people as the Other (1949 ).
Karmir khndzor are barely said regarding Armenian ethnography in the late 19th and you may very early 20th centuries as the Armenian society is mainly silent on products out-of sex. Mainly men ethnographers did not take a look at the the marriage night ceremonies within the adequate detail employing women informants. Should your bride try most younger, the fresh new routine wasn’t performed to the relationship evening at all and you may is postponed for several years (Shagoyan 2011: 497). Red-colored apples always enjoy a different role on the regional traditions accompanying the loss of brand new bride’s virginity (Shagoyan 2011). As the symbolic of fertility sufficient reason for a sexual meaning, fruit was utilized because the something special package getting gold jewelry, skilled toward bride-to-be. The fresh new round form of the latest fruits represented integrity and perfection and you will the brand new virginity of the bride-to-be try simultaneously translated since the the woman ‘integrity’ (tselostnost, compare to tselka, ‘virgin’).
The modern kind of karmir khndzor that’s in use through the Armenia as well as in several diasporic teams became popular throughout Soviet several months on increase away from urban migration regarding the 1970s. The latest ritual gets the adopting the laws: Into early morning following the relationship, a tiny number of girls (the fresh new couple’s godmother minichat opinii or groom’s mom, maternal cousin otherwise hitched brother), usually two or three, promote the mother away from bride a dish out-of oranges, chocolate and cognac. The brand new groom’s mother attracts her neighbours otherwise intimate relatives, again several females, more having coffee, teas, candy and you can fruits. The newest godmother slices new oranges to your five bits and you may shares him or her into the traffic. Desserts by means of a fruit are the ideal provide. The fresh new behavior is sold with about three procedures: test, sanctioning and you will validation. Adopting the groom’s mom or other women search for lines off blood into bedsheet of your bridal pair (examination), the newest bride-to-be get a present in the eventuality of her confirmed virginity otherwise a belief and you may censure in the event of inability (sanctioning). In the step three, a purple fruit otherwise a rack that have oranges is sent as the validation towards the bride’s mother, who awaits which sign followed closely by loved ones otherwise neighbors within the woman home (Shagoyan 2011, Pogosyan 2010).
Industry look used on mid-2000s showed that karmir khndzor are did very carefully and you can vigilantly within the rural places where gender norms was in fact more traditional and you will hierarchical. About metropolitan areas, this new practice took an even more average form – brand new ritual are performed however the virginity investigations are much more lenient (Temkina 2008, 2010). Several alter has actually assisted change the latest practice because the 2000s (Temkina 2008, 2010, Pogosyan 2011). Very first, the brand new routine has been articulated about personal commentary by news, NGOs therefore the women’s movement, plus educational commentary, instructional programs and you may university programs to your intercourse, sociology, psychology and you will similar procedures. Virginity has been politicised just after multiple NGOs (Wo-men’s room Funding Cardiovascular system regarding Armenia, UTOPIANA, WOW) planned activities aimed at deconstructing the ritual that have titles particularly ‘Yellow Fruit is just to own eating’ and you can ‘We receive you to definitely the brand new funeral of your Red-colored Apple toward 8 away from .’ It has got swayed the fresh feeling regarding karmir khndzor of the young generations just who turned likely to find it since the an enthusiastic old-designed habit of closeness manage. Next, it became you’ll be able to to produce virginity. Women who got premarital relationships you will simulate the virginity due to their husbands and you can/or parents-in law from the undergoing a healthcare hymenoplastic processes so you’re able to reconstruct the fresh hymen and you will demonstrate its social purity and you can honourable womanliness. By the medicalising new karmir khndzor behavior, gynecologists could help lady to build a normal biography and also to improve their lifetime chance having a consistent elizabeth way more common getting lovers so you’re able to refuse to take part in the latest routine or so you can ‘save’ the brand new ladies’ virginity. Once the intimate relationship turned into a whole lot more liberal and you will considered to be belonging to an autonomous industries off private life, karmir khndzor is relegated in order to a ceremonial and cultural symbol when you look at the the national relationships possesses lost the connection in order to virginity, as for example is the situation of a marriage veil for the Russia.
Karmir khndzor are involved regarding tensions anywhere between federal identity and you will modernity. Because the ritual is short for Armenian community and conventional sex roles, those who refuse the brand new ritual exposure being thought to be less than correct Armenian people and women. Yet , people that rigidly follow the ritual could be thought to be backward and conservative by the their competitors. But not, pro- and you may con- attitudes in order to karmir khndzor function better thought of as being proudly located toward a spectrum. Each other teenagers and you will female get target into the virginity attempt acting as a process of control over their intimacy and personal lives. Other times, ladies may want to keep the virginity before relationship and also to think about it an important cultural community one encourages kinship solidarity. Particular can get invest in preserve the virginity, but hate the personal confirmation following relationships. Of many teenagers view low-marital gender just like the appropriate for both men and women and you can think karmir khndzor entirely archaic. As patriarchal intercourse program shed their rigidness, all of the ranks concerning routine suggest deficiencies in any social opinion in regards to the practice (find in depth conditions having creating new ritual from inside the Pogosyan 2010).
References
Poghosyan, A. 2010. A number of the top features of brand new sales of society “Red fruit”: Heritage and you can Modernity from inside the Armenian People, Yerevan: Gitutyuan, 359-367
Shagoyan, G. 2011. ‘” One week, eight nights”: Vista of the Armenian wedding, Institute regarding Archaeology and you may Ethnography of Federal Academy out-of Sciences, RA, 496-509