April 24th is the memorial day of the Armenian genocide .Often the cultural loss is not remembered because of the overwhelming physical extinction and extensive effort required by the few survivors to establish, regroup what's left of their families.Learning different languages, adapting to the new environment and legalities of a foreign country prevented them from rescuing what was left from the oral history, tradition.
April 24th of each year, flowers in hand we walk toward the memorial to remember lost cities, villages and loved ones.
We all walk together to create a human wall around the monuments as to say silently
"NEVER AGAIN as a group we would allow this to happen to us or to others in this world".
Each flower is layed at the monument in memory of a victim of the genocide, a lost song, a forgotten dance, a lost city, a rare book that remained behind, cultural traits that we might never recover, masterworks of architectural monuments that are decaying to extinction in turkey, and we as a group are incapable of doing anything to stop the destruction in front of our eyes.
Are we strong enough now to shake ourselves out of the commatose trauma state that is a natural effect of the horrendous crime,
and start rebuilding our unique culture based on what was left behind?
Are we Strong enough to wear our national costumes at least once a year just as many other cultures do on many occasions throughout the year?
Are we strong enough to devote some resources and money and hire the few who could teach our children the traditional dances in junior high and high school besides all the other dances?
Has the time come yet to move on???
