96th Anniversary Musa Dagh Commemoration September 3, 2011

Descendants of resistance fighters from the darkest days of the Ottoman Empire will gather in Fresno on Labor Day Weekend to commemorate a historic battle for freedom.
The 96th Anniversary Commemoration of the Forty Days of Musa Dagh will take place on September 3 and 4, 2011 at the Fresno County Peace Officers’ Training Grounds, 7633 North Weber Avenue, adjacent to Camp Pashayan in Northwest Fresno.
The gathering will celebrate the thousands of Armenians who were expelled from six villages at the base of the “Mountain of Moses” (Musa Dagh or Musa Ler) in 1915. Defying a deportation order of the Ottoman regime, the villagers retreated to the mountain itself, a peak on the Mediterranean Seas south of the coastal town of Alexandretta. For more than 50 days, they resisted an armed siege until French and other Allied ships evacuated them to the safety of Port Said, Egypt. Austrian author Franz Werfel immortalized the lengthy battle in his acclaimed 1933 novel, “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh.”
The Fresno commemoration begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 3, with preparation of the heritage dish known as Herisa, dancing, food, and music by Armenian folk singer Shahe Sekian. The entrance fee is $5 per person and the event is open to the public.
At 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 4, descendants and friends will celebrate the Divine Liturgy, with Reverend Father Ashod Kambourian, pastor of Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of Montebello, California, as guest celebrant. Reverend Hovhannes Sarmazian, Pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church of Cambridge, Ontario, will deliver the keynote address. The services will conclude with the serving of Herisa.
More information about the 96th Anniversary gathering is available by calling (559) 271-7082 or (559) 437-0228.