Holidays

(official holiday)
Observed on January 1

    New Year is celebrated a whole week starting with December 31, by baking New Year cookies and laying tables with food and different kinds of sweets. During this week, people exchange gifts and congratulatory wishes, and their homes are open to welcome everyone. Visiting begins on January 1 and lasts through Christmas - January 6. 

    Armenian children believe that Dzmer Pap (Santa Claus) brings gifts on New Year’s Eve. Several days or weeks before the holiday, children write letters to Dzmer Pap telling him what they wish. 

(official, religious holiday)
Observed on January 6

     Christmas – the Birthday of Christ is celebrated by people all over the world. The Armenians celebrate this day as a major Christian religious holiday, together with the Epiphany (baptism) and attend churches. Part of the ritual is the “Blessing of Water, when water is blessed with the holy chrism symbolic of Christ’s baptism.

    The most beautiful and meaningful parts of the holiday occur at home and in church. Many families go to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Then they sit down to enjoy a traditional Christmas dinner. According to tradition, the main dish is fish and rice prepared with butter. Wine is also served during dinner.

(official holiday)
Observed on January 28

In Armenian’s calendar January 28 is marked as Army day. This day has a great importance for the Armenian people, as the Armenian army is the sole protector of the state and the nation and our future depends on the strength of our Army.

On 28 January 1992, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenia adopted a resolution about Armenia's Defense Ministry, which became the beginning of the creation of a national army.

(religious holiday)
Observed in January or February (movable)

   St. Sargis is a beloved religious observance and is very popular among young people. It is celebrated 63 days before Easter, on a Saturday falling sometimes between January 18 and February 23. On the night of the holiday young people eat salty pies and don’t drink water to encourage dreaming at night. They believe that St. Sargis decides their fate, that the person who gives them water to drink in their dreams will become their future spouse. People also put a plate with flour outside their homes to have a record of St. Sargis’s horse riding through the flour. They believe St. Sargis appears with lightening speed on his radiant horse, and that the traces left on the flour serve as a good omen to bring them luck.

(religious holiday)
Observed on February 14

     According to religious custom this holiday is connected with the idea of coming forward to the Lord with fire, after 40 days of his birth. The Armenian Church celebrates it on February 14th - 40 days after January 6th, from which derives its religious name: coming forward to the Lord. The main ceremony of it is a bonfire, symbolizing the coming of spring.

(official holiday)
Observed on March 8

  Women’s Day is popular among Armenians. Men give presents to women, and the streets are full of flowers. People usually celebrate it with friends and have a good time in cafes, restaurants or at home.

(religious holiday)
Observed in March or April (movable)

    Easter (Zatik) is the favourite and the most anticipated holiday in the Christian world. Everybody greets each other on this day: "Christ is Risen from the dead" - "Blessed is the resurrection of Christ". During the Lenten fasting season of 40 days before Easter, Armenian families put lentils or other sprouting grains on a tray covered with a thin layer of cotton, and keep it in a light place of the house until Easter when sprouts appear. These green sprouts symbolize spring and awakening of nature. People place colored eggs on that “grass" to decorate the Easter table.

(official holiday)
Observed on May 1

    On May 1 in Armenia and in a number of countries around the world is celebrated the International Workers' Day. International Workers' Day was first celebrated in 1890 in Austria-Hungary, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Belgium, USA and several other countries.
    In USSR May 1 for many years was considered to be a public holiday. The festival was canceled in the first years of independence. At present it is again a holiday and is called the Worker's Day.

(official holiday)

Observed on May 28

     On this day in 1918, the Armenian people restored what was left of historic Armenia to statehood after half a millennium of lost sovereignty. The celebration of this day marks the beginning of the modern Armenian quest for independence. Short lived, the 1918 Republic was swallowed by the USSR for seventy more years, but inspired a spirit of hope and self determination for future generations. This is an official national holiday.

(official holiday)

Observed on July 5
   The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia was adopted through a national referendum on July 5, 1995. Constitution Day is an official holiday in Armenia.

(religious holiday)
Observed in July (moveable)
   In the traditional Armenian range of holidays, the Transfiguration is the major summer holiday and is celebrated 14 weeks after Easter. In pre-Christian Armenia this holiday was associated with the pagan goddess Anahit, to whose heathen temple the young and the old went on pilgrimage. The word Vardavar has two meanings: "the flaming of the rose" and "to sprinkle with water". According to the legend, the goddess Astghik spread love through the Armenian land by sprinkling rosy water and presenting roses. The god Vahagn kept and protected that love, constantly fighting against the evil. This feast was transformed after the adoption of Christianity. On Vardavar, nowadays everybody pours water on one another and no one feels offended or displeased by mischief on that day.

(official holiday)
Observed on April 7
    Motherhood and beauty day is the second official holiday dedicated to women. March 8 is dedicated to all women,  April 7 is Mother's Day. Everyone gives presents to their mothers. It is noteworthy that Armenians have a whole month of celebration dedicated to women starting from March 8 to April 7.

(official holiday)
Observed on May 9
     Victory Day (World War II) was a holiday throughout the USSR and is still an official holiday in Armenia. The victory of the World War II and the memorial for its dead is celebrated on different days in different countries. Armenia celebrates it on May 9. This day has a double importance for the Armenian people. Symbolic coincidence, on the same day in  May 1992 was liberated the ancient Armenian fortress town Shushi. Every year on this day people remember with gratitude and deep respect the veterans of the Great Patriotic War and Artsakh War and all those who gave their lives for the free future.

(religious holiday)

Observed in August (movable)
     Each year on the Sunday closest to the date of August 15, the Armenian Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption of St. Mary, the Holy Mother of God. In the Calendar of the Armenian Church, this feast is the fourth of five major feasts that are commemorated, and is the oldest one dedicated to St. Mary.
     On the Feast of the Assumption of St. Mary, the Ceremony of the Blessing of the Grapes is conducted, and the harvest for the entire year is blessed on that day.

(religious holiday)
Observed in September (movable)
     Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is the last one of the five major feasts of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is the most important feast among the feasts dedicated to the Holy Cross, as it is dedicated to the history of the return of the Holy Cross from imprisonment, its elevation and glorification. In the Armenian Apostolic Church the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is celebrated on Sunday during the period between September 11-17. And the Monday following the Feast is a Memorial Day.

(official holiday)
Observed on September 21
     Independence Day is an official holiday in Armenia. The restoration of the Republic of Armenia in 1991, after 70 years of sovietization, followed a national referendum on secession from Soviet Union.