This was a presentation I put together for a Wiccan coven I have been hanging out with lately at the local Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. We like to do little presentations about different pantheons sometimes. Some of it was taken from this very blog, but it’s put together in a different way. It was also around the time of the Trndez holiday (February 13) so I decided to go over that holiday as well. It’s written so that hopefully non-Armenians will be able to understand it.
Armenian Paganism
The Anahit Statue
In September of this year, a statue of the Armenian Goddess Anahit will return to Armenia from the British Museum for the first time since its discovery in the late 1800s, albeit temporarily. It is the only such artifact of its kind, because so many pagan statues were destroyed when the country was converted to Christianity.The significance of this event might be lost on outsiders, or even some Armenian Christians, but it is a historic return more than 1,700 years in the making.
Anahit was the Mother Goddess of Armenia, a country which at one time was about the size of Texas, but today has been reduced to the size of Maryland, after millennia of being colonized by empire after empire, from Persia to Rome to the Arabs to Ottoman Turkey to the Soviet Union. She shares similarities with the Zoroastrian Goddess Anahita, introduced under Persian conquest, but took on a local flavor when she was combined with the indigenous Goddess Arubani. Roman historian Pliny the Elder tells the story of a Roman soldier being struck blind and going insane after the Romans pillaged Her temple and destroyed Her golden statue.
Many Armenians today will pridefully boast that Armenia became the first country to convert to Christianity, in 301 AD. Rather than everyone in the country just deciding to peacefully agree to convert, as Armenians are taught in Sunday school, there is ample evidence provided to us by actual early Christian historians such as Agathangelos that it was a bloody rampage of religious persecution and cultural genocide headed by King Tirdat III, who wanted to consolidate power to the throne and take it away from the preisthood and associated noble families which ruled regions within the kingdom. All but one pagan temple were completely destroyed. This would decades later be repeated in Rome, and everywhere else that Europeans colonized, around the planet. But it happened in Armenia first. It was sometime during the 300s AD that the Anahit statue was buried, perhaps to save it from overzealous Christians.
After converting, the power structure of the Kingdom of Armenian was forever shaken, and never resulted in the unity that the king had been hoping for. Armenia gradually lost its power, and for centuries would seldom be independent, subject to whoever was building an empire at the time. Today it sits in a perilous region, between Turkey and Azerbaijan, two countries who hungrily await the day they can erase it off the map. The place where Anahit was buried would eventually become part of the territory occupied by Turkey. A farmer discovered the head of the statue on their land, and took it to Istanbul to be sold to an Italian collector, who in turn sold it to the British Museum. Because of its Greek style it was often mislabeled as a statue of Artemis or Athena, but those Goddesses had never been widely venerated in Armenia. It was made during a time that Armenian art took a lot of influence from Greece.
After Armenia became independent from the Soviet Union, there was a call to have the Anahit statue returned to Armenia. But because it was not technically stolen, nor found on current Armenian territory, Armenia had even less of a claim to the statue than Greece and Egypt have on their various artifacts in the British Museum. The Goddess returns to her homeland in September because of a deal the Armenian Museum of History was able to make, loaning the British Museum some of their artifacts in exchange. She returns to a country in turmoil, but perhaps at a time when Armenia needs her most. The Armenian Gods represent an inner-strength that I think was lost when the country converted to Christianity.
Pictured: Armenia’s last pagan temple, Garni
The Armenian Gods
Anahit was part of a pantheon of nine main Gods and Goddesses (Astvadzner) worshiped in the Kingdom of Armenia from around 600 BC to 301 AD. Under the preceding Urartian pantheon there were 72, but these deities were all merged over time.
Anahit - (Ah-nah-heet) Goddess of Motherhood, Wisdom and Fertility
Aramazd - (Ar-ah-mahzd) Solar and Creator deity, head of the pantheon and Anahit’s consort
Astghik - (Ahst-reek) Goddess of Love , Rain and Water
Mihr - (Mee-hur) God of Light and Truth
Nané - (Nah-neh) War Goddess, “Grandmother of the Gods”
Spandaramet - (Spahn-dah-ra-met) Goddess of the Earth, the Underworld and of Wine
Tir - (Teer) God of Writing, Dreams and Death
Tsovinar - (Tsoh-vee-nar) Goddess of the Sea and Violent Storms
Vahagn - (Vah-ha-gun) God of Storms and Dragonslaying
Hymn to Anahit (my rough translation)
The world would be empty,
if there was no Mother.
Who else would give birth to the Gods?
Who else would sing with Ari (the Sun)?
Who would measure the pain of the World?
Who in the world would show sympathy,
Who would sow the love of Spring…?
But would there be a Spring if there was no Mother?
If there was no Mother, what would a Father do?
Would the Sun still be itself?
Mothers were created in Anahit,
It was through motherhood that the Gods were created,
And the Gods themselves call Anahit Mother.
Vahagn Vishapakagh (Vah -hah-gun, Armenian: Վահագն) is a god of fire, lightning, thunder and war worshiped anciently and by modern neopagans in Armenia. Some time in his existence, he formed a "triad" with Aramazd and Anahit. The Christian historian Moses Khorenatsi preserved a fragment of an ancient song dedicated to Vahagn, which provides a clue to his nature and origin:
In travail were heaven and earth,
In travail, too, the purple sea!
The travail held in the sea the small red reed.
Through the hollow of the stalk came forth smoke,
Through the hollow of the stalk came forth flame,
And out of the flame a youth ran!
Fiery hair had he,
Ay, too, he had flaming beard,
And his eyes, they were as suns!
Other parts of the song, now lost, said that Vahagn fought and conquered dragons, hence his title Vishapakagh, "dragon reaper", where dragons in Armenian lore are identified as "Vishaps". This gives him a similar root with other Indo-European myths known as the Chaoskampf, in which a storm God fights a dragon or serpent associated with destruction and chaos (Other examples of Chaoskampf include Hercules versus the hydra, Set versus the Chaos Serpent, Marduk versus Tiamat, etc.)
My artwork of Astghik
Astghik, (Ahst-reek, Armenian: Աստղիկ) was worshiped as the Armenian pagan deity of fertility and love from prehistoric times, later was the wife or lover of Vahagn. In the later heathen period she became the goddess of love, maidenly beauty, and water sources and springs.
The Vartavar festival is devoted to Astghik, celebrated in mid July and was transformed into the Christian holiday of the transfiguration of Jesus, and is still celebrated by the Armenians 90 days after Easter (Zatik). As in pre-Christian times, on the day of this fest the people release doves and sprinkle water on each other with wishes of health and good luck. This was meant as an act of sympathetic magic, hoping that pouring water on one another would prompt Astghik to bring rain and drench everyone. While deprived of its original meaning, it is impossible to walk outside in Armenia on that day without being drenched by young pranksters, or older people with a sense of humor. Today it is celebrated the traditional way by Armenian Neopaganism; neopagan priests give sermons at the Temple of Garni hoping for Astghik to bless Armenia with rain during the hot summer season, sprinkle the audience with rose water, and hand out wine and apricots as the audience dances and celebrates.
Tir’s statue at Mt. Nemrut
Tir is the god of literature, science, and art, and an interpreter of dreams, in Armenian paganism. Tir was a messenger of Aramazd. He was a fortune-teller and a guide of the dead person's soul. Another name for Tir was Grogh (meaning writer or scribe), though this might be a fusion of two originally distinct deities.
His biggest temple, known as the Erazamuyn (translated from Armenian "place where dreams are explained"), stood at what is today the ruined Zvartnots cathedral; uthe original design of the temple is still very evident in its construction as it is very different from the typical Armenian church, being circular, elevated by large steps and lined with columns. At Tir's temple, priests would interpret peoples dreams and tell their fortunes, and the temple also served as a library and academy.
Tir acted as a scribe to the Gods, and when someone was born he would write their name into the Book of Life; and on the forehead he imprinted the newborn’s fate, predetermining the given lifespan. He keenly observed everyone and entered all the sins and good deeds into his special folio, to read them during the final judgment.
Trndez
Who was born of the Divine heavens
And ignited by the fire of the sun?
You, Vahagn, like a torch,
The ritual of bonfire - Armenian Trndez.
The thirsty fire, the leap of faith
You, with fiery hair, are the herald of spring,
The fiery leap of our ancestral spirit,
Who, Vahagn - Armenian Trndez.
A dance of fiery anointed bonfires,
and a star-lit hymn
You, our holy baptism and fiery spirit,
Who, Vahagn - Armenian Trndez.
Trndez is Armenia’s native holiday for lovers, which, maybe not coincidentally, falls upon the day before Valentine’s day. It is interesting that it falls around the same time of the year; perhaps it’s the associations of late winter which bring to mind thoughts of love and fertility across different cultures of the northern hemisphere. It could also be a result of ancient Armenia’s contact with Rome or Greece or other civilizations, or who knows, maybe there’s something even more profound to it. During the holiday a large bonfire is lit, and there’s singing and line dancing around the fire, before newlyweds and young women take turns jumping over the bonfire. Traditionally it was the day where couples in arranged marriages first got to meet one another, but of course that’s no longer practiced. The bonfire is symbolic of the growing power of the sun as the days begin to lengthen, and has the added symbolic benefit of energetic purification. You can also make a wish while jumping, and maybe have it granted.
The main neopagan sect in Armenia, the Arordineri Ukht (Order of the Children of Ari), explain on their Facebook page:
“Trndez, in essence, symbolizes the waning of winter and the arrival of spring. The origin of this holiday in folklore is related to Vahagn, the God of Fire. Tired of the frigid winter, Armenians burn bonfires to encourage the sun and accelerate the coming of spring. Born of the divine fire of the sun, Vahagn kills the dragon that guards and blocks the water source, freeing the flow of the water and causing the soil to blossom. Hence fire defeats the winter.
The main symbol of Trndez is the bonfire over which newlyweds jump holding hands. It is also a holiday for blessing the family, especially families with a newborn. It is widely believed that if a couple can hold hands while jumping over the fire, their love will be eternal. In ancient times, the fire was built by burning wheat.”
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