ARMENIA-WATER DAY Armenians douse each other with water while celebrating summer water festival

Record ID: 147449

  • Title: ARMENIA-WATER DAY Armenians douse each other with water while celebrating summer water festival
  • Date: 13th July 2015
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST FROM ESTONIA, ALEX, SAYING: "This is my already second time being here in Armenia, I am pretty interested about this festival. Never ever you can see in Europe such a festival, where everybody is just pouring water on each other, and they are still friendly, they are still smiling, instead of being angry and trying to maybe beat someone for sp
  • Embargoed: 28th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Armenia
  • Country: Armenia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABVXQ37SIRZVHDEIBMFP8DOJFJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Residents of the Armenian capital Yerevan run to the streets with buckets and bottles of water as they celebrated Armenia's most joyful holiday - Vardavar water festival - on Sunday (July 12).
    With summer temperatures at around 30 degrees Celsius, locals did not miss their chance to "target" and "attack" each other with buckets full of water or water hoses to achieve their goal - to get everyone around drenched.
    This festival traces back to the pagan times in Armenia's history. It is associated with water and fertility goddess Astghik.
    Armenians used to offer roses (called "vard" in Armenian) to win her favour, and hence they called the day - Vardavar.
    Visitors are often caught off-guard but quickly join the ranks of festive locals in Yerevan and nearby towns. It is impossible to avoid being splashed with water on Vardavar but no one seem to mind or take offense.
    "This is my already second time being here in Armenia, I am pretty interested about this festival. Never ever you can see in Europe such a festival, where everybody is just pouring water on each other, and they are still friendly, they are still smiling, instead of being angry and trying to maybe beat someone for spoiling their technologies (gadgets) and so on," said Alex, a tourist visiting from Estonia.
    Though Armenia adopted Christianity as a state religion as early as 301 A.D., it maintained this festival throughout centuries and celebrates it in churches, 98 days after Orthodox Easter.
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