Feast of the Holy Translators (Targmanchats) · Targmanchats

Culture of origin: Armenian · Cultural

Holiday sources: Armenian

On the second Saturday of October the Armenian Church remembers Mesrop Mashtots, who created the Armenian alphabet around 405, the Catholicos Sahak, who helped him, and the translators and writers who followed them and put the Bible and the learning of their age into Armenian. Mashtots did this work in eastern Armenia, about four-fifths of the country, which had been Persia's since 387, with the help of its king Vramshapuh, a Persian vassal. The day became a national holiday in Armenia in 2001.