Vardavar

Culture of origin: Armenian · Cultural

Holiday sources: Armenian · Iran

Vardavar is an Armenian festival on which people of all ages drench each other with water, often pouring buckets from balconies onto passers-by. Its roots go back to pagan times and the goddess Astghik, to whom roses were offered; after Armenia became Christian it was kept with the Feast of the Transfiguration. The historian Albert de Jong compares its water rite to that of the Zoroastrians of Yazd at the festival of Tir-o-Tishtar.