From overwhelmed to egg-cited: Introducing my children to Armenian Easter traditions

“Make sure he knows about his Armenian heritage.” I have lost count of the number of times I have heard this uttered as a soft demand as soon as people find out that my little boy is French-Armenian-American. Whenever I hear this, I remain calm, but deep down, something in me awakens and takes me back to my own childhood.

Etched in my mind were other types of encouraging remarks meant to motivate us to keep our culture alive that I constantly heard growing up: “Listen to Armenian music,”  “Watch Armenian shows,” and “Speak Armenian.” However, in my youth, this was just another annoying demand, a burden I was too young to carry and too young to understand. Tied to these requests, which felt like the weight of my entire culture on my shoulders, were also consistent reminders of my history, of genocide.