The fragrance of Armenia in blossom

Hanami is a centuries old tradition in Japan during which only the elite in the past and nowadays anyone who wishes gather and enjoy the magnificence of sakura (Prunus serrulata) and cherry blossom in general.

At the time when the trees blossom in the land of the rising sun, in Armenia the blossom begins from Ararat valley and spreads to the northern regions at the end of March and beginning of April.

The whole Ararat valley seems to be a bride, wearing flowers, and the loving bees fly from flower to flower, kiss the gentle sheets of roses and flew to another tree unsurfeit.

Yelena Kojemiakina is the head of marketing department in MBG Hospitality group. Yelena  seems to be a blossoming flower herself, a mother-to be for the second time, the bride from the North. Yelena, born in Latvia, has been enjoying the Armenian spring for already nine years. Having met the man of her fate, she came to the country that used to be foreign but then became native to her. Now she already speaks, thinks and smiles Armenian, also preserving her identity.  

“At first I fell in love with the sun”, - says Yelena,- “We (she already thinks of herself as an Armenian) have the sun for 300 and more days, so warm and friendly. The astonishing Armenian nature where one may find both Switzerland and the Alps as well as Sevan, and people that are so “loving their families,””- she says with a chuckle.

When one sees the apricot and peach trees blossom, your mood seems to blossom itself, raising to the earth like the fragrance of apricots, expecting for the best things to happen every moment.

Yelena loved the pomegranates and peaches in Armenia. Before coming to Armenia, she didn’t use to like these fruits, the artificial taste would eject her and she couldn’t even imagine that she might taste the delicious fruits.

“To put it shortly, I am happy”, -she says.

Yelena says that like in every country, Armenia also has many very beautiful words that reflect the temper and mentality of the nation. Yelena likes the «ցավդ տանեմ» (tsavd tanem- I’ll take away your pain) and «ջան» (jan- a word that is used instead of “dear”). The words that have become so ordinary in our language but are so special in their warm meaning for a bride from a Baltic country.

And the most important saying that she has learnt from the Armenians is «լավություն արա՝ գցիր ջուրը», that is translated like “do someone goodness and throw it into the water”, meaning that one shouldn’t expect any goodness in answer to his own.

Her second daughter is impatient to be born. And her mother is enjoying the motherhood, keeping the warm spring sun and the fragrance of Armenia in blossom inside her.

Auther: Shushan Karapetyan

Photographer: Aram Nersesyan