Winter Folklore Festival 2026

The purpose of the Winter Folklore Festival is:

• To reassess and promote Armenian national culture.
• To develop national consciousness among learners.
• To vividly present the Armenian people’s cuisine, songs, dances, folklore, and athletic traditions.
• To foster community cohesion and public joy.

Participants include: learners, teachers, cultural groups, families, communities, and individuals.

Festival content:

Educational-productive cuisine: getting to know and introducing traditional Armenian dishes, their preparation history, and practical skills.

• Presentation of traditional Armenian dishes (harissa, zhentaolov bread, dolma, ghapama, etc.)
• Educational-productive culinary workshops (group cooking)
• Stories and traditions about the origin of dishes
• Bread-baking ceremonies
• Hot dishes
• Festive dishes
• Sweets and tea culture
• Cuisines from around the world, Eastern Armenia, and Western Armenia
• Public tasting demonstrations
• Ritual Ghapama – January 23

National song, dance, and dance-song: to present the diversity and spiritual value of Armenian song and dance. The festival concludes with the annual Ghapama ceremony.

• Teaching national dance-songs
• Open platforms for teaching national dances
• Workshops with invited specialists and guest groups

Public presentation platforms:

• Classroom choirs
• Classroom ensembles
• Concert-meetings
• Learner-teacher projects
• Interviews
• Wedding ceremonies
• Friday concerts
• Educational prayers
• Morning group sessions
• Field trips, visits, exchanges, and more

Folklore: introducing folklore genres and popular wisdom.

• Reading Armenian fairy tales, fables, and proverbs
• Presentation of national games
• Stage enactment of folkloric characters
• Meetings with elders for sharing living memories
• Dialects
• Well-wishes
• Blessings
• Curses
• Riddles
• Anecdotes
• Proverbs
• Tales
• Traditions
• Heroic epics
• Translations into foreign languages
• Lineage, family tree, household

Outcome:
The value of oral speech and national thinking is restored.

Aratess School Center:
Within the framework of the folklore festival, a special focus is given to the Aratess School Center as a living folklore laboratory combining nature, historical environment, traditional lifestyle, and contemporary educational experience.

Learning at Aratess includes: experiencing traditional rural life, lineage, family tree, household, environmental thinking, and practical application of national values.

• Cultural layers of the Aratess environment
• Study and analysis of sculptures
• Daily life of the school community as folklore material
• The connection between education and national identity in contemporary life

Festival coordinators: Suzy Margaryan
High School: Lusine Khachoyan, Nune Movsisyan
Middle School: Tatev Abrahamyan
Eastern School: Armine Goginyan
Southern School: Julie Ghazaryan
Northern School: Hasmik Matevosyan
Western School: Seda Tevanyan, Anna Yeritsyan
College: Karine Gharakhanian