Pageants and Plays

The feasts of the Armenian Church are best learned by being kept. The programs gathered here let a parish do that with its children: complete scripts for the year's great days, with cast lists, staging notes, songs, crafts, and follow-up activities. Each is written for Sunday school students
of mixed ages and made to stretch or contract with the size of your class, whether you are working with a single room
or the whole school together. We add new programs as the year turns.

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St. Vartan's Courage
(Sts. Vartanants Day)

In the year 451, on the plain of Avarayr, St. Vartan Mamigonian and his companions chose to lose a battle rather than surrender their faith. This play brings that account into the Sunday school in five short acts, written for children ages five to thirteen, with thirteen speaking parts and room for as many more as your classroom holds. It closes where the feast itself closes: not with a victory, but with the courage that outlasted defeat. Director's notes, staging suggestions, and instructions for making the shields are included.

Palm Sunday opens the week leading to the Resurrection, and in the Armenian Church it is also the day when the children themselves are blessed. This program follows the Divine Liturgy as a celebration for families: narrators tell of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, the children carry their willow branches, and the Armenian ladies bring hadig, the sweet boiled wheat that has long marked the feast. The teachings of Holy Week follow, day by day, in language a child can hold. We include two traditional games, a recipe for hadig, and links to every song.

Before the fast comes the feast. Poon Paregentan, the Real Good Living, recalls the gladness of Eden and carries the whole school into Great Lent with joy rather than gloom. This guidebook is built as a school-wide assembly in which the older students become teachers for a day: readers and costumed animators lead the younger children through the meaning of the feast, and the celebration opens out into masks, games, crafts, and a dance. Everything needed is here, including the Hayr Mer trifold, printable sorting cards, and a plan for the parish potluck that may follow.