This is the life of Mamigen 

            Being the loving husband, father, grandfather, Mamigen Hayrapatian at the age of seventy-one remembers his childhood in Khogan, Iran. He was born in the year of 1934. The life in the village was all agriculture. When he was small he went to school until the fourth grade. During the summer he would work in the fields. He also took care of some animals. That was their life. He learned Armenian and Persian in school. The schools encouraged them to go to church every Sunday. There they would sing religious songs. He liked living there because he hadn’t seen the city and loved the village life. It was where his ancestors had been and where he was born. Until this day, Mamigen lives in Iran and visits his family in the United States. He goes to the village but not as much as he used to.

My name is Mamigen Hayrapatian. I was born in the year of 1934, in Iran in the village of Khogan. The life in the village was all agriculture just like a farmer. When I was small I went to school. I went to school until the fourth grade. In the summer, we would work in the fields. I started going to school when I was eight and went for about only six years.

Since I lived in an Armenian village, and lived in Iran, we learned both Armenian and Persian. The first thing we learned, though, was Armenian. Then we learned Persian. Our teachers were all Armenian. There were no Persians in our village. The teachers were chosen and some were from the city. They were very professional and they were from Esfahan. The teachers knew both Armenian and Persian and had the ability to teach both to us students. Besides learning those languages, we had other things that were related to religion. We would read Armenian stories. We had religion, grammar, essays, and the Persian alphabet.

We would go to church every Sunday of the week. We would go every Sunday because we were told to at school. Every student was encouraged to go. We would wear our church clothes and just sing songs. We would sing religious songs that were related to our age.

We had religious people in our villages. We had a priest helper because we had church in school. We had three churches. Our priest helper had a student. They taught us religious things. We went to church every Sunday and it wasn’t a mandatory thing. Those who wanted to go would go.

 I loved where I grew up. I was born there. Just like how someone likes where they were born. I liked where I was born because we hadn’t seen the city and we liked the village life. It was where we grew up and where our fathers had grown up. The best part about living there, as a student, was all the activities we did. Exercise, sports, reading, homework, and playing were all the different things. We had plays during snack. Our teachers would organize it but we only had it during school. We didn’t have any plays in the summer. While there was school, we would have plays once a month. There was dancing and singing involved. We would all dance together.

As for any important news, we had newspapers. Newspapers were sent from the city. We didn’t have any printing places for newspapers so we had them sent from Esfahan. They would come for students from the first grade until the fifth grade. They had newspapers until the fifth grade only because our village taught until that grade level. Every week those newspapers were sent from Esfahan and given to our teachers. Our teachers would give it to us students to read. I loved reading it because it was in Armenian and I understood it. We were informed about the life in the city.

There were people that were important and everyone knew about. All the villages had someone in charge. All the villages had a leader for themselves. There were old and young leaders. There were also people that helped others if they needed something or if they were going through a rough time, they would apply to them and ask for help. There were also crazy people. When you’re surrounded by three hundred people, from all families there was at least one crazy. There were very little in our village, though. I knew someone like that but I can’t explain how they were. Just how would a crazy person be?

I lived in the village of Khogan until I was fourteen years old. I went to Abadan then Khoozastan. I was at Khoozastan for six to seven months. From Khoozastan I went to Iran. I would like to go back there now. I come and go but there are not a lot of Armenians in the village. The amount has decreased and with that reason we do not go a lot. Our favorite part about being in the village was our school. We were kids and did not understand anything. We had nothing to do and no worries or difficulties. That was our favorite part. Of course we liked our jobs but not for long because I was not old enough. As a little kid, or even a student, was introduced to the city life.

Living in the village meant that there were animals. From the age we were in the village we had sheep. Everyone did. In the village there were no supermarkets like there are here. Everyone had their animals for their food. They had milk and cheese. They had cows and milked them for yogurt and everything. Our parents did this though. We would just take the cows to the mountains for feeding.

I liked the life there especially when the crops were ready for harvesting and the birds would come and try to eat the grains. We students would get sent to make the birds leave. We would throw rocks so the birds would go away and not eat our grains. That was fun for us kids.

As of right now I am just sitting at home. I am unemployed. I still live in Iran and the village. I am happy because my kids are happy and respectful. They love me and I love them.

Interviewed by Joanna Mehrabi