Madagh - Food and Festivities

Food and Festivities

Such events are popular in New York as well as in the sizable Armenian descent population concentrated in Southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. The events are often an opportunity to showcase traditional Armenian cuisine. At such feasts, particularly in the Midwestern USA, the madagh is typically celebrated with Lamb Stew and Bulgur Pilaf (Wheat pilaf) (click links for recipes). Older men from the community dig large pits in the earth the night before the feast, in which the communal pots of pilaf and lamb stew are roasted. On the day of the festival, which is free and open to the public, the presiding priest blesses the food and asks for God to remember the departed who are being commemorated as part of the Requiem Service. After the blessing, families line up with pots and bowls into which volunteers pass out the communal lamb stew and pilaf.

Occasionally, one of the few remaining living survivors of the Armenian Genocide will be brought in to join the event. When such an honored guest is present, feast attendees typically gather around to hear a first-person account of the history as lived in 1915 through the eyes of a child. As of 2004, it was believed that there were only four remaining living survivors of the genocide in the USA.

Annual madagh festivals are important cultural and community events apart from their historic connection to commemorating Armenian genocide. You may see young men playing soccer or throwing a football while the old men play backgammon in the shade. After the eating is finished, an Armenian band may play Armenian folk music for traditional dancing. Dancers line up next to each other, link pinkie fingers, and move their feet in pattern to the music as the line snakes around the pavilion. At most festival celebrations, guests attending the festival but unfamiliar with the history would be unlikely to note a connection to the genocide.