Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Fresno to celebrate grapes blessing

Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church will celebrate one of its oldest traditions -- the blessing of the grapes -- for the 100th time Sunday, Aug 18, The Fresno Bee reports.

The downtown Fresno parish, which was established in 1900, held its first grape blessing in the summer of 1913.

Special events for the 100th anniversary of the Traditional Blessing of the Grapes and Festival are scheduled at California Armenian Home.

His Eminence Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, prelate of the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America in La Crescenta, will celebrate Badarak divine liturgy at 10 am and the grape blessing at 11:30. The festival is noon-5 pm, featuring traditional Armenian food, music and dancing.

Menu items include shish kebab, chicken kebab and peda burgers. There also will be a farmer's market with fresh Valley fruits as well as baked goods.

The blessing of the grapes is a tradition dating to ancient Armenia at the beginning of harvest in mid-August, marking a time of rebirth and regeneration.

Priests went into the vineyards to conduct solemn ceremonies. They carried a pair of clippers in their right hand and a cross in their left hand. They asked God to bless the grapes and save the vineyards from natural disaster. After the ceremony, parishioners exchanged best wishes.

Levon Baladjanian, chairman of the Holy Trinity picnic committee, says the grape blessing in Fresno captures an important part of Armenian faith and culture.

"It's quite a tradition -- the blessing of the soil, the harvest, the hope in praying for the success of the harvest," Baladjanian says. "The grape was symbolic of the homeland. When Armenians came here in the 1890s, a lot of them brought their agrarian life here and they farmed grapes."