Vardavar - The Festival of Water

Trip Start May 15, 2007
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Trip End Aug 29, 2007


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Flag of Armenia  ,
Sunday, July 15, 2007

This morning Mt. Ararat was shrouded in cloud.  First up today is a visit to Zvartknots monastery which is in ruins.  Armenian churhes have a circular shell with the crucifix design/shape inside the circle.  Then it was onto Hripsime monastery to see the church and to visit the crypt which contained the grave of St. Hripsime who was buried in the 300s AD.  Finally it was on to ultimate destination of the day, Echmiadzin.  Echmiadzin usually holds the relic of the spear that pierced Christ's side but notthis year as it is on display at the Louvre in Paris.  Arriving in time to experience the Armenian Orthodox mass, there was a procession of priests, monks, bishops, archbishops, a visiting Catholic cardinal, and the Catholicos.  The Catholicos is the head of the Armenian Orthodox church and he walked within armslength of me while Tom went right up to him and received a blessing!  Imagine getting this close to the Pope!

After the ceremony, we went to the Armenian Genecide museum and its monument which contains an eternal flame.  Needless to say, it was a very moving experience. 

It was back to Yerevan for the afternoon where I visited the Vernissage market.  I find that markets are an interesting place to observe culture; everything was for sale: car parts, home plumbing, surgery equipement (in case you want to sell your organs I suppose), musical inctruments, and everything in between. 

Afterwards, the children and teenagers were out in full force to celebrate Vardavar, the festivalof water.  This festival entails people "sprinkling" others with water.  Well, the term sprinkling was used quite loosely and Yerevan definately did not have a water shortage!  Groups of kids would swarm you from all sides and dunp buckets of water on you; store owners would spray you with their hose as they cleaned the sidewalk infront of their stores; teenagers would drive around in SUVs standing through the sunroof with super-soakersin hand and do drive-by sprayings!  I was soaked completely!

The MFA of Iran finally got back to me.  I submitted my paperwork four months ago to acquire a visa to enter Iran.  The MFA approved my visa but, as it took them so long to get back to me, I had just bought my plane ticket from Baku to Athens five days ago!!  I guess Iran is not in the cards this time.
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