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Shakeh's Story
In 1896, when Shakeh Y. Hodelian was born in Aleppo, Syria–then
part of the Ottoman Empire-- a
man by the name of Melkon Kazandjian made a copper water jug which
he gave to Shakeh’s parents
as a gift for the child’s baptism which had taken place on
February 1, 1897. Years passed
and Shakeh moved to Egypt with her family.
Later, somehow, the 4-inch
high water jug disappeared from
the household belongings. Shakeh
grew up, got married and had a child whom she named Yervant. Yervant
grew up, got married and had
two children of his own.
Sometime
around 1962--sixty-six years after Shakeh’s birth--an old
Armenian woman, named Karzouhi Markarian, knocked on Yervant’s
door in great excitement: ‘’I
think this belongs to your mother,’’ she said, holding
up the missing copper water jug;
she had found it, she said, at a metal refinery and had noticed
Shakeh’s name on it. By this
time, Shakeh had already passed
away.
In 1967, Yervant’s family
moved to Canada, bringing with
them--among a myriad of personal possessions—Shakeh’s
water jug. Yervant passed on the jug to his older son, Vrej-Armen
who, in his turn, got married and
had two girls. I am one of those
girls, and if I don’t get
married soon, I will have to hand
over the jug to my sister who already has two daughters.
Hopefully,
this typically Diasporan story
will open the doors to other stories
of other objects that will resurface from oblivion and, together,
will fill this new virtual
museum.
Araz Artinian
Creator of 20 Voices |
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