Earlier this year, I gave birth to my fourth child. My baby and I entered “karasunk,” the traditional Armenian 40-day postpartum period during which mother and newborn remain close to home, sheltered from the outside world.
During that time, a close childhood friend died of cancer. Because we were still in our karasunk, I could not participate in the gatherings and rituals surrounding his death. He, too, now had a karasunk.
