Armenian legends and festivals

by Louis A. Boettiger

For the festival of New Year’s Eve no religious coöperation whatever is necessary; it comes as near to being distinct from the church as any of the Armenian festivals. The preparation consists largely in making or purchasing gifts for the various members of the family, in cracking bowls of nuts and getting all kinds of dried fruits ready. Armenian and Greek New Year’s Eve fall on the same night, and in Constantinople there is much agitation and animation in the streets. Singing and music fill the air, and as soon as dusk falls, groups of boys, some carrying small lanterns, others provided with tom-toms or hand-organs, begin the circuit of the streets. Thus they go from house to house singing the New Year’s song and playing their hand-organs, receiving pennies as they go. After the boys have passed along, the porters, watchmen, and firemen make a noisy procession down the streets, they too playing hand-organs and stopping at one house after another where they receive a drink, some sweets and nuts, and most important of all, a tip. As midnight approaches, the excitement increases; the pounding of the tom-toms becomes unbearable, all the organs of the neighborhood are making music, and there is such a noise of singing, shouting, and laughing as can be compared only to a night of political election. Inside the homes of the better-to-do, the children are put to bed for a time while the enormous New Year’s table is set. Besides several specially prepared New Year’s dishes, every home must be provided with a dish of every kind of fruit, dried or fresh. Small candles are stuck around the plates, and the presents are heaped up on a side table. At midnight the candles are all lit, and the family ranges itself around the table while the eldest, usually the grandmother, blesses all and prays. After the prayer she wishes to all the best things for the coming year, for the young ladies good husbands, for the young men prosperity and good wives, happiness for the little children, and comfort and health for the older ones. These wishes having been given, all kiss the hands of the older members of the family, after which the children kiss each others’ hands. The presents are exchanged; fruits, candies, and nuts are partaken of, and the fun goes on until dawn.[3] In the interior of Armenia, two elders of the church go from door to door of the more fortunate ones on the day before New Year, carrying bags which they fill with the offerings received at every house. These are carefully parceled out and at dusk are left at the doors of poor families who would otherwise have no New Year’s cheer.

The church makes up amply in the Easter festival for any lack of participation at New Year. Forty-eight days of rigid lenten abstinence, during which time no meat is eaten, precede the festivities of Easter Day. The first two or three days of the Holy Week are given over to housecleaning, which however must be finished by Thursday in order that the people may attend the ceremonies at church which continue until Easter Day. On Thursday afternoon “the Washing of the Feet,” to be described later, commences, and the service continues until past midnight. On Saturday all go to the bath, which is made an essential part of the week’s celebrations, and on the afternoon of the same day the real Easter service, called the Lighting of the Lights, begins. The church is first illuminated on Easter Eve, for on the three preceding days of mourning and sorrow the altar shrine is kept closed and no candles are lit. Even the congregation holds lighted wax candles while the triumphal songs are chanted by the robed choir of little boys.

At the evening meal of the day before Easter the lenten fast is partly broken by eating fish and boiled eggs, but no meat.[4] The denial of the flesh recommences, however, at bedtime, for not a morsel is eaten until Easter midday. Early dawn sees the people putting on their new clothes, especially new shoes which are considered a necessity on this day, and all, newly attired, go to church where communion is celebrated. The church is usually filled with flowers and its most brilliant ornaments are displayed, the service ending at midday in time for the usual feast of stuffed roast lamb, the customary red eggs, and the egg bread made only at Easter time. In the afternoon the men visit from house to house and something dainty is always served, a cocktail or a cup of coffee with sweets like Turkish delight or bonbons. The formula repeated by the guest upon entering a house is always the same; “Christ is risen from the dead,” he exclaims, and is answered by the host with the usual formula, “Blessed is the resurrection of Christ.”

Perhaps the boys enjoy Easter most of all. Provided with red Easter eggs, they collect in groups, whereupon there follows a most vivacious competition to win each other’s eggs by clashing them together. The champion egg is used until it is broken, when a new champion is quickly brought forth. This process continues as long as there are two or more unbroken eggs, the game being won when all of the broken eggs are in the possession of the boy who holds the champion egg. Picnic day, or the “Day of the Dead,” follows Easter Day, as I have described it, and it is singularly strange that a “day of resurrection” should be followed by a “day of the dead,” when prayers are said and offerings given in sacrifice for the departed. But people are not mindful of such little incongruities; they are simple and carry out the festival celebrated by their fathers, much as their fathers celebrated it.

The week before Christmas is likewise devoted to a thorough housecleaning by the Armenian housewife, and on the day before, special dishes are prepared for the next day’s feast. Again there is the customary bath which is observed by all the members of the household. On Christmas Eve the abstinence of the preceding days is partly broken, usually with fried fish, lettuce, and boiled spinach. Boiled spinach is the rule because it is believed that this dish made up the supper of the Virgin Mary on the eve of Christ’s birth. At church special vespers are sung and there is much emphasis laid upon special selections from the prophets which are also sung. An hour before dawn the sexton alone, or with a group of choir boys, goes from door to door singing what is called “the good tidings.” It is the signal for the faithful to awake, don their best clothes and go to church again without eating breakfast. The holy bread and wine are not to be profaned by the people having eaten a breakfast of ordinary food, with the consequence that not a few faint during the service, even as at Easter time. But the ceremony is finished by half past ten, after which the women go home to prepare the midday feast while the men visit the homes of their friends. The never-failing formula of the guest upon entering the house of a friend is, “Christ is born and manifested to-day,” which is responded to by the host with “Blessed is the manifestation of Christ.” Each visit lasts about fifteen minutes and sweets and coffee are served. At midday the Christmas feast is partaken of, all make merry around the table, and in the afternoon more calls are paid and received. The festivities are observed for three days, the third being ladies’ day, which is devoted by the ladies to giving and receiving visits. They offer their salutations and good wishes to each other, eating dainties even as the men. Shops and business places of Armenians are usually kept closed for three days.[5]

There is thus considerable similarity between Easter and the Christmas festivities, which is probably due to more or less sameness in the church ceremonies. These ceremonies, always well attended, are made attractive to the people by beautiful displays of flowers, vested choir boys, the charm of whose singing can only be understood by those who have heard them; also by special singing, not by the congregation, but by those who can sing, and with such enticing little additions as the Lighting of Lights. The services are thus as much and as real a part of the day’s rejoicings as the feasts and social visits, and if they are designed consciously or unconsciously to give active expression to the sentiment of loyalty to the church one must admit that the expression is a perfectly free and natural one. Abstinences do not make the festivities attractive, to be sure, and there are more unfortunate communities who can not afford so lavish a display as others; but flowers need only to be picked from the fields, and boys there are always, even in the poorest churches. The holiday rejoicing has somewhat more of the serious blend which is to be contrasted with the more perfect gaiety of New Year’s Day, and is probably due to the weightiness of its religious significance of which one is constantly reminded, not only by the services at the church but also by the salutations of visitors and the necessary replies, always the same. But even the gaiety of New Year is not to be compared with the perfect lightness and freedom of merriment that characterize some aspects of Vartavar, nor do any of the Christian folk festivals have the completeness of Vartavar.

Section 2. Special Church Ceremonies

Together with this second group of festivals including as they do Christmas, Easter, New Year, and the Blessing of the Grapes, I wish to include a short series of church ceremonies all of which have a very distinct festival value, beside their value in being singularly characteristic of the Armenian church. They are distinctly different from the festivals of the preceding section, in that the festivities are incidental to a ceremony peculiar to the Armenian church. The “Washing of Feet,” the “Blessing of the Water,” the consecration of the Katholikos, and the manufacture of the holy oil, are those I desire to describe.

The “Washing of Feet” occurs on Maundy Thursday, three days before Easter.[6] This day is the first of three successive days of mourning spoken of, during which the altar is closed, and no lights are lit. After the mass the bishop puts away his brocaded robes, and kneeling in imitation of Christ washing the feet of His disciples on the night of the betrayal, he washes the feet of the priests and choristers, of whom there are usually eleven. Christ washed the feet of twelve, but one of them was unworthy. The service then continues until midnight, and while the ceremony is in progress, the lights are put out one by one, to remain out until the “Lighting of the Lights” on Easter eve. If the church is a parish church in which a priest officiates, a number of little boys are ranged in order for the “Washing of Feet,” which in this case is performed by the priest, who anoints the soles of their feet with oil after he has washed them. Each boy is given a walnut shell and before he moves from his place he carefully scrapes some of the oil into his shell, and carries it home to place in the butter. If he does this it is believed that the supply of butter will not fail throughout the year.