Zeytun Armenians

https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1fk8e6x

Posted by TheJaymort

6 Comments

  1. Part 3 in pictures of people from Armenian regions.

    This excerpt describes Zeytunians very well:

    “The Armenians of Taurus, more generally known as Zeytun, number about ten thousand; but this number is higher if we also include those of Elbestan, Marash and the neighboring villages. They recognize no other authority than that of the patriarch of Sis, and have, to administer them, a council (medjilis) composed of four agas chosen from among the elders of their villages. This council is charged with the defense of the territory, the internal police, and relations with the government of Adana and the bey of Kussan-Oglou. The people of Zeytun engage in agriculture and make a living driving caravans; they all carry arms, even when they go to their church of Saint-John which is for them a holy place, since a miraculous Gospel is preserved there. During the whole time of my stay in Sis, it was a barber from Zeytun who came every morning to shave the heads of the monks of the convent; he fulfilled this mission armed from head to toe. Two pistols were attached to his belt and a dagger with a silver handle gleamed between the two butts. His shaving dish which he held in his hand gave him a false air of Don Quixote with whom he had some resemblance. The morals of the people of Zeytun are pure but savage. The following incident is related, which accurately describes the character of these mountaineers: a man from Zeytun having, contrary to the canons of the Gregorian Church, married his cousin of a close degree, was excommunicated by the priest of the village. **Furious at being excluded from his Church, he went one morning to the office and, at the moment when the priest was going up to the altar to celebrate mass, he cocked his rifle, aimed at him and shouted: “Lift the excommunication that you have fulminated against me or you are dead!”** The excommunication was lifted in the presence of the people gathered in the church, and the Armenian was not even troubled afterwards. His conduct was approved by the Zeytun, who recognized in him a true Christian and a brave warrior.”

    -M. Victor Langlois, Le Tour du monde, Volume 3, 1861 (p. 402-416).