*Ø* Blogmanac July 28-29 | Throw water today!
Monday and Tuesday seven weeks after Pentecost:
Vardavar – Rose Day, Armenia
The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ – known as Vardavar in Armenian – is one of the Armenian Orthodox Church’s most important feasts. Celebrated on the Monday and Tuesday seven weeks after Pentecost, the feast is marked by a popular custom: On that day people pour cold water on each other. Indeed, throwing water at people – or throwing people into rivers and streams – is quite an integral part of the holiday. Throwing water on complete strangers is just as likely as on relatives and friends. Some families offer the traditional matagh (sacrifice) of lamb, feasting beside or near water.
The Oxford Companion to the Year (Blackburn, Bonnie & Leofranc Holford-Strevens, Oxford University Press 1999) says that this was once an Armenian pagan midsummer festival of Anahid, the most prominent goddess in the pre-Christian pantheon of ancient Armenia, who was offered roses and doves. Anahid's feast days occurred in spring and autumn, the most important ceremony dedicated to her being held on the fifteenth day of Navasard, the first month of the ancient Armenian calendar.
Vardavar coincides with the time of harvest, and there was formerly a tradition that the first apples of the year were eaten on the day of Vardavar. In Shatakh, Armenia, on the evening prior to Vardavar, young men would stack piles of hay before setting fire to them to usher in the sunrise. Apples were baked within these haystacks, while young girls danced around the pyres. In mountainous regions of Armenia, tightrope walkers performed at fairs and feasts where horse riding and water games were common.
Monday and Tuesday seven weeks after Pentecost:
Vardavar – Rose Day, Armenia
The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ – known as Vardavar in Armenian – is one of the Armenian Orthodox Church’s most important feasts. Celebrated on the Monday and Tuesday seven weeks after Pentecost, the feast is marked by a popular custom: On that day people pour cold water on each other. Indeed, throwing water at people – or throwing people into rivers and streams – is quite an integral part of the holiday. Throwing water on complete strangers is just as likely as on relatives and friends. Some families offer the traditional matagh (sacrifice) of lamb, feasting beside or near water.
The Oxford Companion to the Year (Blackburn, Bonnie & Leofranc Holford-Strevens, Oxford University Press 1999) says that this was once an Armenian pagan midsummer festival of Anahid, the most prominent goddess in the pre-Christian pantheon of ancient Armenia, who was offered roses and doves. Anahid's feast days occurred in spring and autumn, the most important ceremony dedicated to her being held on the fifteenth day of Navasard, the first month of the ancient Armenian calendar.
Vardavar coincides with the time of harvest, and there was formerly a tradition that the first apples of the year were eaten on the day of Vardavar. In Shatakh, Armenia, on the evening prior to Vardavar, young men would stack piles of hay before setting fire to them to usher in the sunrise. Apples were baked within these haystacks, while young girls danced around the pyres. In mountainous regions of Armenia, tightrope walkers performed at fairs and feasts where horse riding and water games were common.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 5:56 PM | Permalink
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