NORTHBRIDGE — For a while Sunday, this town reached a population of 15,000.

That was because more than 1,200 Armenian-Americans and their families converged on the Whitinsville Armenian Apostolic Church for the annual Blessing of the Grapes, the traditional accompanying picnic and to celebrate the church’s half century in this town.

Northbridge has a usual population of somewhere between 13,800 and 14,000.

The Armenians have not only been expert in weaving textiles for centuries, but they have created a seamless unity that embraces a celebration of the senses, the harvest, and the presence of God, all in the space of an afternoon.

In the West, only perhaps Italian culture is as outwardly expressive as Armenian ways. Yet the gospel is preached in a straightforward manner, and gold-headed staffs, black hoods, gold thread woven in purple, or green, or white vestments, shaken incense, and priestly chanting all seem of one tapestry with an assertion of familial warmth, a survival of genocidal attacks, and a hope for some eternal compensation.

Across Church Street, huge slabs of mountainous ledge ascend into woods as if providing a defendable fortress, and in the vast, arched dome of the afternoon sky, fleecy clouds with frayed bars of gray “iron” were illuminated as if a mother-of-pearl museum display had somehow been magnified into an endless skyscape of a swirling, jeweled texture.

The music, the food, the sense of an extended family — all are a part of what it means to take hold of Armenian religious culture.

Or, as John Daghlian of North Andover said, “There is no separation between church and state. There is Sunday School, the Blessing of the Grapes, the First Fruit of the Harvest. It’s like a Thanksgiving service.”

Daghlian said the Armenian experience of genocide is now taught both at North Andover High School and at Watertown High School. He is the son of Archpriest Arshag Daghlian of North Andover, who took part in the Blessing of the Grapes ceremony Sunday. The archpriest is 86. He was ordained in 1967 at the local Armenian Apostolic (Soorp Asdvadzadzin) Church.

As a group, the younger Daghlian said, “Armenians are more spiritual. They remember tragedies like the genocide of 1915, and everywhere we are, we try to establish our roots. We are still one of the few churches that celebrates Mass in the original language (Armenian).”

Rev. Vartan Kassabian of North Andover read from Isaiah and Hebrews about the blessings of God and about Christ as a priest after the order of Melchizedek, a priest-king of Jerusalem who prepared a ritual meal for Abraham and received tithes from him.

Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan of New York, prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the Eastern United States, gave the sermon. He spoke of the necessity of faithfulness, as shown in the 50 years of the local church. He said God had blessed the church and he prayed that the blessing might continue. He also touched on the Blessing of the Grapes tradition as rooted in the early church’s offering of the first fruits of the harvest, a tradition that goes back to the early stages of Hebrew religious tradition.

Manning the shish kebab grills were Mark DerMugrditchian, Ken Kheboian, David DePasquale, Robert Torosian and Daniel Palulian, all of Northbridge, and Paul Mandrafino of Framingham. They also cooked losh kebab, kheya and pilaf. On a multiple-choice question of the odd item out, the hot dogs available would easily be the correct answer.
Priests taking part in the Blessing of the Grapes, besides Archbishop Choloyan, the Rev. Kassabian and the Rev. Daghlian, included the Rev. Sarkis Aktovoukian of Washington State, the Rev. Vazken Bekyarian, Bishop Anoushavian Tanielian of New York, the Eastern U.S. Church’s vicar general, the Rev. Katchadour Boghossian of Worcester, and the Rev. Aram Stepanian, host pastor.

John Berberian’s group provided the music.

The dynamism of the event was perhaps best summed up in a comment one man made to another during the snake-dancing: “Do something… don’t just lean on the tree.”