Armenians in Kolkata to celebrate independence day

KOLKATA - The 150-odd Armenians left in the city are gearing up to celebrate - with cultural programmes and a feast - their country’s independence day, which falls Monday.

“We are celebrating the independence day tonight (Sunday night), as tomorrow is a holiday (Eid-ul-Fitr) here,” the community’s spiritual head in the country, Father Khoren Hovhannisyan, told IANS.

“We have a party at night, where students will perform cultural programmes and we have four teachers who have come from Armenia, they will cook authentic Armenian food for us,” he said.

Armenians have a history of more than 300 years in the city that has three Armenian churches and five cemeteries. The city has a 187-year-old Armenian College, though it now has only 78 students.

“We teach subjects like the Armemian language, literature and history in the college,” said Father Khoren, who was appointed five months back as the community’s spiritual head in the country.

The republic declared independence from the erstwhile Soviet Union Aug 23, 1990, but it was recognised Sep 21, 1991.