Protests against lavash as an Armenian Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

Did you that there actually were protests in 2014 in Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan when Lavash was described by the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as “an expression of Armenian culture”?

This is an example of desperation of cultures to unjustifiably inherit others’ cultures. There continues to be war over this bread type in the entire Caucus and the Middle East, each country trying to make it is own or make it a ‘neutral’ by product, not considering the fact that wheat and bread was not only the byproduct of the ancient Armenia culture where the others didn’t exist yet, but also the word – Lavash – is only expressed within the etymology of the Armenian language.

Lavash actually expressed how it is made, which is a combination of two words: Lav “good or approximately” լավ and kash “to extend or pull” քաշ. It reflects how it’s is made and it is to pull the dough to an extent of flatness.

The eventual omission of the letter k ք is simply a matter of economy. Same as another Armenian bread type – Matnakash – Մատնաքաշ, derived from “extending the fingers” through the dough to make it partitioned when baked.

Futile temper tantrums of bankrupt and desperate hoarders is not going to change the bread’s origin, when a simple etymological examination tells us the truth. But we must be careful not to have it pulled away from its origins as continuous neglect will spell defeat.

By Setyan Vahan