Project Space: Fieldwork!

      The place that I have chosen to observe is my church, St. Mary’s Assyrian Church of the East. My original church that I was raised it burned down on October 16, 2009 due to arson. Three years later on November 04, 2012 we had our grand opening for our current church now. My church has been rebuilt beautifully. It honestly is just so breathtaking.  When you walk in you first walk into a room before the actual church and in this room there is a candle lighting area that is created to look like the rock tomb Jesus was laid in. In this room on the right side there is a wall that has tree branches made out of metal and on the leaf of this tree has the names of the families that donated a great amount of money to purchase a big part of the church for example the domes we have or the chandeliers, etc. Also in this room there are stairs that lead you up to the second floor of the church where they can seat about 200 people, where the monitors are controlled and where the choir sings. After this room you enter the actual church through these big cherry colored wooden doors. When you enter there are two sections of pews one on the left and one on the right and they consist of about 15 rows of pews each side. They are also cheery colored wooden pews and have red as the sitting cover. The floors are a cream colored marble but under the pews it has a shade of red carpet. The walls are a light yellowish paint that is not regular paint it is Venusians paint.  On the walls there are windows made out of stain glass and each stain glass has a message from the bible that has so much meaning to it. For example one of the stain glasses has the arch of Noah on it and all these different images that represent something. When you look up to the ceiling, it is painted as a sky with a light baby blue color with white fluffy clouds on it. From the ceiling we have about 12 big beautiful gold chandeliers. My most favorite part of the church is the Alter. The Alter is huge and has about 5 stairs leading to it. In the Alter we have a red rug with cream designs on it on the floor and we have a big stand that consists of where the priest puts his bibles and papers and the holy bread and wine. The wall that is the back of the alter that is behind this stand has a breath taking hand painted painting of these gold rich colored stair case that is in the sky that leads to a faded yet still showing cross. This represents the stair cases that lead us individuals to heaven. It looks so real that you just get lost in it when you see it. The Alter is closed with these huge long red velvet curtains that separate the church from the Alter. On the sides of the Alter there are also narrow red velvet curtains that lead us to the back of the church where the priest and deacons change into their clothes and have their individual rooms. The left side leads us to the back, the right side leads us to the back as well but the ride side also has a small chapel where the priest does the baptisms and its image is also the same as the church, but like a mini version of it. As much as I describe it is nothing like seeing it in person. From the outside our church has bright green grass that leads you to this unique designed black gate that opens up to the outside of the church. The outside we have two domes a small one and a bigger one and a big beautiful cross on top. The sound of my church is very quiet and the only thing you hear are the prayers preached by my priest Father George and the choir singing. All you hear are songs and prayers throughout the church and during mass the speech that is given by Father George. The only thing I smell in church is the holy incense that is placed in front of the church and then passed around to every individual to cleanse their hands and face. People outside this community and subculture would view this place the same way as me because it is a church and they will have respect for it but it won’t mean that much to them as it does to me. I have so many memories in my church that it means so much to me.

      The people that attend this church are mainly Assyrians. Some whites attend as well if they have married an Assyrian. Our church is open to anyone that wants to come and that have the same beliefs as us. The environment in my church is very respectful and friendly we know one another and all share one interest. Our interest that we all have in common is cleansing ourselves and preparing ourselves for God. We learn the word of God through the bible and praise him throughout mass with our prayers every Sunday. We all own this church. Rebuilding this church wasn't easy and cheap, we all had to fund raise and donate to have this church rebuilt for us. Personally I can tell who is regularly attends and who comes once in a while. I can tell because I am at church every single Sunday and because I say hi to so many people and I am really good with remembering a familiar face. It is actually very easy to feel comfortable at my church. I know this because when a new young person comes the youth which I am involved with is there to introduce one another and talk and make friends with the new comer so they don’t feel awkward and stop attending for that reason. Recently about a couple of months ago a Muslim came to our church to convert himself to become a Christian he is not Assyrian and he attends church every Sunday because he made friends and is getting involved with us even though he can only speak English and Farsi. I don’t think it is possible to feel awkward in our subculture we are so open to others and show so much love that a stranger won’t feel awkward when attending our church.