Näht die ganze Liebe hinein.” (Abeghian p. 64.)
[26] Abeghian pp. 63–66.
Chapter III
Christian Folk Festivals
The second group of festivals comprises those newly created by the church, such as the Blessing of the Grapes, New Year, Easter, and Christmas. I wish also to include in this group a few of the peculiarly characteristic church ceremonies which also have a distinct festival value for the people, i.e., the ceremony of the “Washing of Feet” on Maundy Thursday, “Khatchanguist” or the “Blessing of Water,” the consecration of the Katholikos, and the manufacture of the “holy oil.”
Section 1. Christmas, Easter, and New Year
The service of the church on any one of the festival days is exclusively connected with the divine mystery, so called. These include the Assumption, or Immaculate Conception, celebrated by the people in the festival “the Blessing of the Grapes”; the miraculous birth, which corresponds to the Christmas festival; the Transfiguration, or the folk-festival Vartavar; the Redemption, to which the Easter festival corresponds; and the Resurrection, including Ascension or Fortune-Telling Day. There are other festivals celebrated by the church, such as the festival of the Holy Cross, and of the Holy Church, which I omit because there is not a corresponding social expression. Grand mass is said at the church, and the particular passages of scripture that have a direct bearing on the occasion are read. The Armenian calendar is curious in that many of the festivals occupy a succession of days; there are, for example, 39 days for the Resurrection, 3 days for the Transfiguration, 10 days for the Ascension, etc., which make up a grand total of 136 days in the year to which festivals are assigned. As there are 160 days devoted to abstinence, 117 of which are liturgical abstinence, that is, days of penitence mentioned in the liturgy, there are left only 112 days for the commemoration of saints, which have necessarily to be grouped together, since there are more than 112 saints.[1] Because, therefore, of the continuity of festival days, one could not expect any one of the festivals to have any social value from the standpoint of the church service. But there is never any conflict between the services of the church and the festivities without, which are thus sanctioned by the church and in many cases directed and carried out by church officials. It has been noticed that the blessing of the priest was secured for the magic bowl, before it was placed underneath the stars on the eve of Ascension Day.
The festival of the Virgin Mary, or the “Blessing of the Grapes,” is more actively participated in by the church. It may be designed to keep the people from eating green grapes, but more probably was intended to give a social expression to an otherwise dull and very monotonous church ceremony. The people are all expected to maintain a strict abstinence from eating grapes until the middle of August, the day set apart for the festival. The grapes are then gathered in great quantities, some of which are carried to the church and placed on a large tray, which is set at the foot of the altar. After the ceremony of the church, the priest turns to the tray of grapes before him, which he blesses with his cross. The tray is then taken to the door of the church, where each member of the congregation is given a bunch as he passes out. The fast is thus broken with the taste of “blessed grapes,” and there is no end of grape eating on that day. During the remainder of the day every woman named Mary, or named with a possible attribute of the Virgin Mary, as “Kudsa,” meaning “saintly,” or “Dirouhi,” meaning “Mother of the Lord,” keeps open house for the friends who drop in to eat grapes and to congratulate her. In rural places or villages where vineyards are abundant, social groups may be seen eating grapes from the vines while talking or playing as they are inclined. Grapes ripen earlier in some parts of Armenia than in others, and where this is true the festival is merged with the festival of Vartavar.[2]