California festival celebrates Armenian culture

PanARMENIAN.Net - California’s Rancho Mirage hosted the eighth annual Armenian cultural festival that drew a big crowd on its second of two days, the Desert Sun reports.

The Armenian festival is designed to spread the country’s culture across the Coachella Valley. Krikor Zakaryan, the priest of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Rancho Mirage estimated as many as 2,000 Armenians live in the valley, and his church is the newest of its kind in California.

Zakaryan explained how an architect melded two different Armenian church designs into the structure on Monterey Avenue. The cozy building opened in 2012.

“The church may look modern, but there is no modern element,” Zakaryan said.

Outside, dozens of people shopped in a miniature bazaar and listened to traditional Armenian music.

Zakaryan gently closed the church doors to keep out the noise. He explained to a small group of listeners the 12 windows in the church’s dome – one for each of Jesus' apostles.

“There is symbolism in everything,” he said. Still, “our belief is very simple.”

Gabriel and Ildiko Mittelmann planned to spend just a few minutes at the festival. But an impressive dance number and a talented singer kept them much longer.