Now we are on the threshold of the New Year and there are only several days remained till the New Year, and you can already feel the festive mood in the streets. People always are active on the threshold of this holiday season: some people use the chance and buy technical facilities for lower prices (the discount is about 5-15 %) and others buy food to get ready for the celebration. The prices for food always go up before the holiday season.
For instance the price for egg was increased, but this is strange because the price for grain is the same. Currently you can buy egg from shops for about 65-70 dram. You can buy one kilo of pork in the market for about 1800-2000 dram, and one kilo of beef for about 1300 dram. The price for vegetables and fruit have been increased too. You can buy one kilo of apple for about 300-500 dram, one kilo of banana for 700-800 dram, one kilo of mandarin for 350-400 dram, etc.
So how are citizens of Karabakh going to celebrate their New Year party and how much money do they need to get ready for it? For the purpose to get the answers to these questions we questioned people in the streets of Stepanakert.
Arthur Sargsyan (35 years old, refugee): “It is already eight years that we live in Stepanakert and it is the 8th time that we celebrate New Year in Stepanakert. Salaries are increased every year, but still my salary is not enough even to buy food for celebrating the New Year holidays. I get 55.000 dram a month, a part of which I pay as communal expenses. After paying these expenses there will remain only about 40.000 dram, which I think will hardly be enough to buy food to get ready for the celebration. But we have to also buy presents for our children and family members. So what can we do? We have to be satisfied with what we have, because we are not able to do more”.
Svetlana Grigoryan (68 years old, retiree): “Of course I am happy that people can celebrate New Year holidays, but it is pity that there are still people that are not able to celebrate these holidays. I mean the families of pensioners. It is clear that they can’t get prepared for celebration, because they can hardly pay the communal expenses and can’t do anything more for the 8-10.000 dram they get. I think the authorized people have to think about this. As for my family, my husband and I get pension (about 24.000 dram). Besides that our children that live in Russia help us. They send us money to get prepared for the celebration (about 60-70.000 dram)”.
Armine Avanesyan (27 years old, teacher): “The New Year celebration is the only celebration when people do their best to get ready for it as good as they can. This is good, but I think to celebrate it doesn’t mean to make good tables and dishes only, but also to have a good mood. As it is said, it is the celebration of the soul. The most important thing is to forget the daily problems for at least several days. In this case they can celebrate the holidays in a good way. As for my mood, I always meet the New Year in a good mood. I always buy presents for my relatives and my friends, later I celebrate the New Year eve with my friends. I hope we will have a nice time.”
Dima Sahakyan (8 years old, pupil): “I remember the times when I used to attend kinder garden in Saint Petersburg city in Russia, the holidays and Christmas time were very interesting there. The parliament member that had been elected in our district gave us presents, and then he invited us to the “Ice Palace”, where we watched a show program. A lot of people in the masks of the cartoon heroes were walking in the streets and making people enjoy their presence. Everyone was happy: both children and old people. Last year we celebrated the New Year here. We hung toys on our Christmas tree and I got the presents that had asked from Santa, but anyway it was not so interesting for me here as in Saint Petersburg, because there was no party in our school, even when giving us the presents. I was disappointed about all this and wish I were in Saint Petersburg, at least for one day. As for this year, I don’t know how good it will be for me. Maybe everything depends on our elder generation and they have to do their best to make our lives better and make us happy”.