The “Hye Aspet” (Armenian Knight) native studies game/contest is very popular among the students of the St. Mashtots Armenian Sunday School of Odessa and their parents and has turned into a desired tradition. This time, the school hosted an event dedicated to the 30^th anniversary of the Karabakh Movement and was devoted to one of the ancient cradles of Armenian civilization, that is, the enigmatic and divine Artsakh with its heroic and freedom-loving people. The organizer and Master of Ceremonies was a club director and the school’s Armenian history teacher Karine Hovhannisyan. The event began with the Lord’s Prayer and the blessing of a clergyman.

“Hye Aspet” (Armenian Knight) is not only an intellectual game/contest, but also a way of testing the students’ knowledge. Thus, the participants had prepared with a high sense of responsibility and were aspiring to show their knowledge. The topics were devoted to the geographical position and toponyms of Artsakh, the Artsakh war and the glorious liberation of Shushi, as well as the culture of Artsakh. There were sentences heard in the sweet dialect of Artsakh and humorous stories.

It was a big competition for the red, blue and orange teams. As you guessed, the names of the teams represented the colors of the national flags of the two Armenian republics, each with its symbol and history. The participants would select the questions with the letters of the Armenian alphabet and give reasonable answers in beautiful Armenian and complement each other. There were also picture questions that were devoted to Artsakh’s spiritual and cultural treasures, including Amaras, Gandzasar, under the arches of which the touching psalms have been performed since ancient times, as well as to the “We and Our Mountains” monument, which symbolizes the image of an Armenian of Arstakh worshipping the native land.

The event featured a screening of episodes from the heroic battle of Shushi, the song “Artsakh” and the showing of a very interesting and see-worthy game that showed the beauty and grandeur of the “eastern side” of the Armenian land, with lines describing the rebellious spirit of the people and the open-heartedness of the people.

The ingredients of the widely popular and well-known Jengyalov hats dish were presented in the form of a verse.

The members of the jury, including Principal Elen Poghosyan, servant of the Armenian Apostolic Church Edmon Hovsepyan and Odessa-based member of the Union of Volunteer Land Defenders of the Republic of Armenia Karen Avetisyan properly rated the “struggle” of “the little knights” and gave them equal points.

Mrs. Poghosyan highly appreciated the efforts of the teacher and students, emphasizing that this event served as a recap of the topic of Arstakh since the school’s literature/ethnography studio had staged Ruzan Asatryan’s play “Shushi” and released a newsletter entitled “My Free and Independent Artsakh”. Poghosyan also added that all the initiatives of the school are the continuity of the learning process and are aimed at adding to and enriching the students’ knowledge, and the results are satisfying.

Addressing the “knights”, Mr. Avetisyan said the following: “You are like the heroes of the Artsakh war since you attend an Armenian school far away from the homeland, learn Armenian and Armenian history, get to know about Armenian culture and aspire to preserve the national identity…I thank you, your teacher and the school for this beautiful event devoted to patriotism.”

The Armenian school in Odessa often carries out activities that deserve to be referred to as heroism.

The teams received nice commemorative gifts as incentives, and everyone was smiling and feeling satisfied.

Narine Muradyan

Odessa