About Armenovo - Armenoro
taken from the book Lerin in Mourning by Atanas Tane Naumovski available courtesy of
Pollitecon Publications
Armenovo's name was forcibly changed by the Greek Government to Armenohorion. It is about 4 kilometres to the northeast of Lerin. It is on the Pelagonia plain at 21 degrees 28 minutes longitude and 40 degrees 48 minutes latitude and 618 metres above sea level. The village area is 8.5 kilometres squared.
The village borders to the west with Kabasnitsa, southwest with Lerin, southeast with Lazheni, to the east with Boreshnitsa and northeast with Petorak.
In 1945 there were about 1,500 residents of which 90 per cent were of Macedonian background and about 10 per cent Madzhiri - migrants. The residents were less involved in raising livestock and more with agriculture, some trades and other worthy occupations. This was enabled by the rich Lerin plain and proximity to the town.
During the Greek Civil War in 1946-49 the residents did not much participate in the organization of NOF nor in the armed forces of DAG with only 4 active fighters of whom 2 lost their lives. As active members of KPG 8 communists were imprisoned and sentenced to death.
The following were killed from Armenhoro:
- Bajkovshe, Petse
- Gelevski, Kitse
- Dukov, Mihail
- Karamitanov, Iljo
- Mariovche, Marika
- Mariovche, Iljo
- Mariovche, Dimitar Stojan
- Mariovcheto, Pavle
- Chakmanov, Kole
- Chacharov, Gjorgi
Of the fallen fighters 9 were men and 1 a woman-heroine.
After the Greek Civil War and the forced emigration from the village, the number of residents fell. In the last official census in Greece in 1991 it was recorded that there were 1,014 residents in the village.
Family Names of Armenoro Inhabitants
Here is a list of family names which at one point lived in Armenoro (although it is NEVER complete).
In the first column is the original Macedonian version of the name. In many cases individuals and families that have emigrated to other countries have had their
names 'localized' to the local language (in Australia/Canada/USA they have been shorted - Ivanov to Evans, Branov to Brown). In the European countries they have
adjusted to include "-ski" or "-sky" (examples are Popovski from Popov, Mangovsky from Mangos).
In the second column is how it would be written in Macedonian (NOTE: you will need to have the "MAC C Times" Truetype font installed on your system to properly read it. For
more information on how to get this done please visit Biser Balkanski - How To Install Macedonian fonts on your computer .
The third column is the Hellenized (ie. "Greek") version assigned by the Greek government in the years which followed the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913. In a majority of the cases
the changes did not appear until after 1920. In many cases as with the village names, an attempt was made to spell the last names in the Greek alphabet sound-for-sound but it
was later decided to make them sound more "Greek" (examples were "Dimov" to "Dimopoulos", "Iliev" to "Iliadis").
For those unaware, the Treaty of Bucharest "divided the spoils" of Macedonia amongst the three neighbouring countries - Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia.
Amongst the worst of what was to follow happened in Greece - family names were given "Greek" versions, village names were renamed, churches were re-Christened
under Greek saints, tombstones and epitaphs along with any visible signs of the Macedonian language were erased and re-written in Greek.
| Original Macedonian Name | Po Makedonski | Hellenized Version |
|---|
|
|
Samargis
|
|
|
Morihovitis
|
|
|
Tsanis
|
| Bajkovshe |
|
|
| Chacharov |
|
|
| Chakmanov |
|
|
| Dukov |
|
|
| Gelevski |
|
|
| Karamitanov |
|
|
| Mariovche |
|
|
| Mariovcheto |
|
|
Thank you to everybody who has contributed to the various lists. If you would like to add your family
please email me at tedn@macedonianvillages.com and specify the village and a list of family names.
James Karas Reviews and Views - A Child's Christmas in Macedonia
An excerpt taken from the link A Child's Christmas in Macedonia by James Karas
In the 1950’s Armenohori was an agrarian village where little had changed since the time Princess Eurydice left to marry King Amyntas III of Macedon. There was no electricity, no plumbing and nothing mechanical. Water was brought in from a well on the edge of the village in pitchers that resembled those used in the Bronze Age. Although horses were around, the most frequently used source of power was a team of oxen. It was an integrated society that still told stories about the Turks (the area was liberated in 1912) and had lived through world wars, famines and a civil war. The villagers were completely self-sufficient and remembered with pride that while people were dying in the streets of the big cities during World War II, no one went hungry in our village.
Life in the village was centered on work and religious holidays. Easter was the most important religious event but Christmas provided the most excitement for the children. One great tradition was the lighting of bonfires in every neighbourhood (mahala) during the night before Christmas Eve.
Gathering the wood for the bonfires was the job of youngsters and it took weeks of scavenging to find enough wood. Armenohori is in a valley with very few trees around and the houses were heated mostly with coal. Finding wood therefore was no easy task and we had to go out in the country looking for some dead tree or shrub that had not been carried away already.
There was an open space near the gate to my house and that was where the bonfire of our mahala was lit around midnight. We piled the wood in my yard near the front gate and got up as soon as our mothers would let us. We carried the wood across the road to the open space and lit the fire. I still remember my mother telling me that I had to get some sleep or she would not let me go.