ARMENIA CELEBRATES THE HOLY RESURRECTION
Anahit Minasyan

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.04.2009 GMT+04:00

The symbols of Easter in the old days were straw dolls Grandma Utis,
mistress of the Armenian cuisine, and Grandpa Paz, who held in hands
exactly 40 threads, a stone being tied at the end of each one.

On April 11, the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) begins to celebrate
the Easter, one of the six patronal festivals. From sunset till
late night all the churches of the Armenian Apostolic Church serve
Liturgy that marks the end of Lent and the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ. The celebration of the dead and resurrected god dates back to
the ancient Egyptian religion, when the Egyptians celebrated the death
and resurrection of God Osiris. Present Christian Easter takes its
origin from the Old Testament. The old Jews celebrated the Passover
(Pesach) as the holiday of exodus of Jews from Egypt.

The symbols of Easter in the old days were straw dolls Grandma Utis,
mistress of the Armenian cuisine, and Grandpa Paz, who held in the
hands exactly 40 threads, a stone being tied at the end of each
one. With each approaching day of Easter a stone was untied, thus
performing calculation of the days.

With about two weeks left till Easter, people used to grow wheat on
plates. This custom has been preserved till now. An integral part of
Easter home decorations also used to be the puppets Aklatis as well
as the Easter tree, which on Friday evening, a day before Easter,
was decorated with eggs embroidered with colorful threads.

According to painter Lusik Aguletsi, the puppets Aklatis as a
symbol of good luck were put in the house since the first day of
Lent. According to belief, it symbolized the male origin. And after
Easter, women had to burn or throw Aklatis into water. In the old
days on Easter Armenian women cooked "Nvik" from "white greens", and
"kutap" – a pie with onion and bean filling. Because Easter was also
believed to be time for fortune-telling, Armenian women baked "gata",
in which they put a coin. The already baked gata was cut among the
family members and unprecedented success awaited the one who would
find the coin. According to another belief, luck was dealt out on
Easter, and the one who would fall asleep that night would lose his
opportunity of getting a stroke of luck.

On Saturday evening there were to be fish, greens and sweet rice on
the table, which marked the end of Lent, during which meat dishes were
undesirable. In Armenia and Diaspora greens are served in a variety of
ways: in Iran, for example, Armenians fry different herbs with eggs,
while in Armenia people prepare only one variety of fresh herbs:
spinach, asparagus or "sibekh", which grows only on the Armenian
Plateau.

In old times, folk festivals continued till late night. On Monday it
is customary to visit the graves of the dead. It should be noted that
in the Armenian Church Calendar the Monday after a patronal festival
is a Remembrance Day.