AR MENIAN FOLK CUSTOMS DURING THE FEAST OF THE HOLY NATIVITY OF CHRIST AND THE RITE OF CONSECRATION OF WATER, ACCORDING TO ETHNOGRAPHIC SOURCES (LATE 19th – EARLY 20th CENTURY)

Archdeacon Gevorg Guschyan

Armenian Apostolic Holy and Orthodox Church, Moscow, Russia

Email: gevorghrachik@gmail.com

Issue: № 2 (30), 2025

Pages: 76

Annotation

The Nativity and Epiphany of Jesus Christ is one of the great holidays of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Orthodox Church. The article discusses folk traditions and customs associated with Christmas and Epiphany. Traces of local rites of pagan worship have remained only in the folk performance of Christian holidays. This also applies to some extent to the holiday of Christmas. The first trace or memory that catches the eye is water or the cult of water. The Armenian Church always holds the blessing of the water ceremony immediately after the festive liturgy on Christmas: January 6. Believers carry the blessed water home in vessels (cups, bottles, flasks) in order to give the sick a drink of the healing liquid and distribute it among family members. The family and everyday experience of the Armenian people include a whole system of festive and ritual culture regarding Christmas and Epiphany. Around the church service, a folk tradition of celebrating the holiday was formed, accompanied by special dishes, songs and games. A tradition of preparing “Tarekhats” (bread of the year) in different Armenian settlements is presented. With the establishment of the Soviet political regime, Holy Christmas, along with other holidays, disappeared from active national life and has partially been restored only in the last few decades. It should also be noted that we used ethnographic materials that were written before the Genocide and they presented the ethnography of the Armenian people, also living in Western Armenia.

Keywords

Nativity of Christ, Epiphany, Christmas Eve, Lectionary, bread of the year, ethnographic materials

For citation

Gushchyan G., deacon. Arm enian folk customs during the feast of the Holy Nativity of Christ and the rite of consecration of water, according to ethnographic sources (late 19th – early 20th century) // Ipatievsky vestnik. 2025. № . 2. Р. 76–95 (In Russian). https:// doi.org/10.24412/2309–5164–2025–2–76–95