Charge
As SALT marks its first anniversary, we wrap up 2025 by reflecting on tradition while looking ahead. With 2026 shaping up to be a charged election year, SALT will be there to offer a refreshing space for pause, perspective and inspiration beyond the political noise. In this issue, “Charge,” we revisit Armenia’s New Year’s tables and traditions, then charge ahead—gathering energy, intention and momentum for the year to come.
Cover photo by Roubina Margossian.
In this personal reflection on Armenian New Year’s traditions, memory and loss, Sona Gevorgyan traces how family rituals, shifting celebrations, and life in a changing country reframe the meaning of renewal.
From unlocked doors to unspoken rules, Armenians mark the New Year with seven days of relentless hospitality. Tamara Khachatryan explores the rituals, pressures and quiet negotiations behind a tradition where guests are sacred, and routine is everything.
The holidays in Yerevan are a layered season shaped by Armenian Christmas, Soviet New Year, and Western traditions. Maria Gunko explores how these parallel celebrations coexist through food, ritual, nostalgia, and excess revealing a city comfortable with multiplicity and contradiction.
A childhood New Year’s Eve in Armenia’s “dark and cold years” becomes a tender, humorous meditation on belief and survival. Through the eyes of a six-year-old waiting for Santa, the story captures warmth and unexpected magic amid hardship.
A portrait of Ada, a Gyumri-born baker who turned hardship into resilience during Armenia’s 1990s. Through memories, recipes and one enduring gata, the story traces survival, motherhood and how small acts, like baking, kept life moving forward.
EVN Report’s mission is to empower Armenia, inspire the diaspora and inform the world through sound, credible and fact-based reporting and commentary. Our goal is to increase public trust in the media. EVN Report is the media arm of EVN News Foundation registered in the Republic of Armenia in 2017.
