26/07/2014 12:46
Armenian Church celebrates the Feast of Transfiguration tomorrow
The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ tomorrow. The Feast of Transfiguration (Vardavar) is one of the five Cardinal Feasts in the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ happened on a high mountain where Jesus had gone with Peter, James and John to pray. As He was praying, suddenly His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistening, and there talked with Him two men who were Moses and Elijah.
The Feast of Transfiguration is celebrated in the Armenian Church between June 28th and August 1st, on one of the Sundays adjusted from the date of Easter of each year.
Vardavar was one of the great pagan feasts of the Armenian people before Christianity. At this feast of Vardavar, the people of Armenia decorated the temple of the goddess Astghik with roses and flowers. For this reason, -the feast was called Vardavar, which means decoration with roses. On this occasion, people let pigeons fly in the air and threw water on each other. The practice of sprinkling water on each other has been handed down to us so that even today in many places this is still the custom.