Every Day Is Special: January 28 - Army Day in Armenia

January 28 - Army Day in Armenia

Posted on January 28, 2019

This public holiday in Armenia celebrates the anniversary of the establishment of its national army in 1992.

Location of Armenia, above and below in red.
Note that it's so small that, on the world map above,
it is also encircled.

Like so many other nations that had been swallowed up by the USSR (Soviet Russia), Armenia became independent again in 1991. I say "again" because Armenia had had centuries of cycling between independence and absorption into an empire or larger nation. And some of this "absorption" was terribly violent; during and after World War I, the Ottoman Empire carried out a genocide on Armenians, and many Armenian people fled to other nations to escape the killing. The surprising result is that there are supposed to be a lot more Armenians living all over the world than there are Armenians living in Armenia!

Even though it is located in West Asia, not Europe, Armenia is part of the Council of Europe; it's also a member of the United Nations and of several Eurasian economic and security organizations. Hopefully these international structures will keep it secure and independent!

Here are some surprising things about Armenia:

There is a monument to the Armenian alphabet, located near the grave of Mesrop Mashtots, who invented it around 405 C.E.

I love Armenian bread - yum! - but I never knew that the traditional Armenian bread oven was a cylinder, and that bread dough was squashed onto one of the sides (and then, after it's baked, retrieved in some mysterious way??? I mean, how???)!

There are a lot of public water fountains in Armenia. These spots are popular for the normal reason - to get a drink or to refill a water bottle - but also as a meeting place or even dating location! The water often comes from a mountain spring and is said to be really delicious.