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Vardavar festival in Armenia

July 8, 2018 By administrator

If you are a foreigner and you are planning to visit Armenia in summer then be ready for the situation when you walk along the street and a group of children or teenagers run to you and pour pails of water over you. This is the festival of Vardavar.

Yes, it may sound weird if you don’t know the meaning of this tradition.

So, where does it come from? Why do Armenians call it Vardavar and how they celebrate? All the answers are below.

Goddess Astghik

Vardavar’s history dates back to the pagan times. Armenians believed in many gods before adopting Christianity. Astghik was the goddess of water, beauty, love, and fertility. The celebrations of the religious observance of Astghik people named “Vartavar”. In Armenian vart (vard) means “rose” and var means “rise”. Astghik was pouring roses over the people spreading the love.

Though Armenians adopted Christianity they kept the tradition associating it with Jesus Christ. They celebrate it now as a holiday devoted to the event of Jesus Christ’s transfiguration when he appeared to his disciples on the Mount Tabor.

Noah

Some specialists relate the Vardavar to the Flood and Noah’s descent from the Ark. According to the tradition, when Noah finds his refuge on Mount Ararat during the Flood, he orders his sons to pour water over each other for the memory of the Flood.

In ancient times people were gathering the wheat-ears in the fields and took them to the church for a blessing to keep the fields away from damages.

The most important traditions of Vardavar was the ceremony of making doves fly. They were flying in the sky and admiring people.

Filed Under: Articles, Events Tagged With: Armenia, festival, Vardavar

July 8 Vardavar water festival, Yerevan facing Water Shortage.

July 6, 2018 By administrator

Vardavar water festival

YEREVAN — Armenia’s water provider has pledged to restore full supply in the nation’s capital, where residents have complained about water shortages amid a record heat wave that has hit the entire Caucasus region.

Veolia Djur, the Armenian unit of France-based Veolia, on July 6 said it would have water services restored by July 7 — which coincidentally is the eve of Vardavar, a religious festival in Armenia during which people traditionally pour water on each other in the streets.

The company, which provides maintenance of water and sewage services nationwide, reported major breakdowns in the system that forced it to disconnect entire Yerevan neighborhoods from the water supply for several hours.

The difficulties came as temperatures in Yerevan and the rest of Armenia in recent days hovered around 40 degrees Celsius, adding to residents’ discomfort.

The heat wave is shattering temperature records and causing power outages in the other Caucasus nations of Azerbaijan and Georgia and in Iran. Temperatures reached 53 degrees in Iran.

Gor Grigorian, operations director at Veolia Djur, said the water supply to the whole of Yerevan will be restored by July 7.

“Sometimes breakdowns require much time to repair. In this incidence, it coincided with hot weather, a breakdown of pumps, and a breakdown of the water main,” said Grigorian.

The French company in 2016 won a 15-year contract worth about 800 million euros to provide all drinking and wastewater services in Armenia.

Before winning the nationwide contract, the company provided similar services to Yerevan for more than 10 years, employing some 1,200 people in the capital.

Filed Under: Articles, Events Tagged With: festival, Vardavar, water

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