On one hot Sunday every summer Armenia turns into a nationwide water fight — Vardavar, a feast of the goddess Astghik that became the church’s Feast of the Transfiguration, when nobody, local or visitor, is supposed to stay dry.
Photo: Pandukht, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Armenia’s entry in this atlas is Vardavar, one of the most anticipated days of the Armenian year and part of the calendar of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Armenia adopted Christianity as its state religion in 301, and many older festivals were then reinterpreted as Christian feasts. Vardavar kept its most joyful custom — drenching everyone with water — and moves with Easter, so it falls between late June and the start of August.
Վարդավառ
Fourteen weeks after Easter, Armenians of every age take to the streets with buckets, bottles and water guns and soak anyone they meet — a festival rooted in the worship of Astghik, goddess of water and love, and kept by the church as the Feast of the Transfiguration.
July 4, 2027Calculated