ARMENIA Vardavar, the transfiguration of Armenia

One of the most important Christian holidays in Armenia recalls the ancient custom of bathing with rose water. That is why, during the hottest time of the year, everyone is allowed to bathe each other in a playful way, which children eagerly await. A gesture of purification by feeling part of the same family, a feeling longed for in this time of great conflict in the country.

Yerevan () – On Sunday, July 7, the people of Armenia celebrated one of their most popular holidays, the feast of Vardavar, the solemnity of the Transfiguration of the Lord according to the calendar of the Apostolic Church. The holiday marks the warmest period in these latitudes and continues throughout the following octave, also acquiring these days a meaning of social reunification and patriotic pride, especially since the national Church has assumed an explicit political role of opposition to the Government, under the leadership of Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan and the blessing of the katholikos Karekin II.

Two weeks after Easter, Vardavar is considered one of the main feasts of Monophysite Christians in the Armenian tradition, along with Christmas, Baptism, the Resurrection of Jesus, the Assumption (Dormition) of the Mother of God and the Exaltation of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord. The Armenian Church separated from the Byzantine and Roman Churches at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, and retains very ancient liturgical traditions for this reason too, having inspired the first Christian reign some ten years before the conversion of Constantine.

The name Vardavar goes back to the root Vard, meaning “rose” in Armenian, which brings back to Christian rituals the ancient custom of washing with rose water, which dates back to the cult of the goddess of love and beauty Astkhik, to whom the god of fire Vaagn directed his passion, and who sprinkled rose water all the Armenian lands to make love blossom. This practice is Christianly attributed to Christ’s ascension to Mount Tabor with the apostles Peter, James and John, being transfigured before them when “his face shone like the sun and his garments became white as light”, according to the account in the synoptic gospels.

At public celebrations, everyone is free to sprinkle themselves with water, a playful gesture that children eagerly await and that adults indulge in by becoming children themselves. In addition to water, Vardavar also includes the release of doves into the air, to signify the end of the Great Flood and the salvation of Noah’s family on the Armenian mountain of Ararat, now in Turkish territory. On this day, clothes and hair are adorned with flowers, to be transfigured in the light of faith and tradition.

Armenians walk around with buckets, jugs, bottles, glasses and water pistols, spraying all passers-by as a fraternal greeting, without offending anyone, because water on this day is considered purifying and healing, and allows one to feel part of a single family, a feeling much desired in these times of great conflicts and divisions between peoples. Also the meal of this week is the sacred Matakh, the “sacrifice of mercy” to whose banquet the poorest and the most suffering are invited, a charitable meal in the open air where everyone joins in roasting lamb and poultry. The dessert consists of apples cooked on the fire with various ingredients, the traditional Armenian dessert nazuk.

Even the weather of these days is in keeping with tradition, with the first real summer heat alternating with heavy rains of blessing, all in accordance with an authentic inspiration. The shared celebration underlines even more clearly the true content of the confrontation between the different souls of Armenia, as well as between the Church and the Government; Prime Minister Nikol Pašinyan often repeats that it is necessary to build a modern Armenia adapted to the challenges of the present, while Katholikos Karekin II calls for respect for history and traditions, so as not to hand over the sacred land to the enemies of the faith and the Armenian people.