Holidays in Armenia. Vardavar
Imagine you are walking along one of the streets in a modern capital and a group of children or teen-agers come up to you and throw buckets of water over you. You become so confused and embarrassed without knowing what to do. Whether to call the police or protest or begin to cry? It’s quite difficult to answer this question when you are in France or Germany or Russia or in some other country. But when you are in Armenia the answer is simple: you have nothing to do but smile and laugh a lot as it’s a national holiday called Vardavar which is celebrated on 14th Sunday followed after the Easter. Vardavar is one of the beloved, joyful and memorable holidays of Armenia. According to an ancient legend in pagan era it was devoted to Atghik, a pagan goddess of love and water. Some experts assert that the holiday is connected with the Flood and Noah who orders his sons to spray water to each other in commemoration of the flood. Today Vardavar is devoted to the great event of Christ’s transformation. It’s a well-spread tradition to spray water to each other in Vardavar which is still maintained. Since morning both the old and the young water each other with buckets. Noone gets offended with one another. People are very kind and happy that day whereas for the young and the children it’s the most expected and favourite holiday of the year.