St. Sargis Day to be celebrated January 30 in Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net -
"On January 30 all the churches St. Sargis will worship, followed by celebrations. On this day in Armenian Union of Artists will host an exhibition, and a festive concert will be held in Yerevan Park of Sweethearts, " Esayi Artenyan told on 29 January a press conference priest of Holy Trinity Church in Yerevan.



In turn, the ethnographer Gohar Stepanyan spoke about the history of St. Sargis feast and customs that accompany the festival.



St. Sargis Day is celebrated 63 days before Easter, on a Saturday falling sometime between Jan. 18 and Feb. 23. Marking the feast day of St. Sargis, the patron saint of young love, unmarried Armenian women eat a piece of salty bread, ideally after fasting all day, in the hope of dreaming about their future husband. Tradition says the man who brings them water in the dream will be the man they marry. These types of marriage traditions are prevalent in other cultures in different forms. "It's a celebration of the continuity of Armenian life and Armenian traditions," said Richard Hovannisian, chairman of Armenian history at the University of California, Los Angeles.



"They were maintained pretty strongly down through the centuries, even though now they wane in the secular society and in the rapid pace of life here." Although St. Sargis is said to visit the dreams of both sexes, the tradition is more popular among girls and women. And most Armenian women either have a story to tell about their own St. Sargis dream or know someone with a story.