Armenia celebrates St. Sargis Day
The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates today the holiday of St. Sargis, the patron of the young and those in love. Being initiated by Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, St. Sargis Day has been marked as a youth holiday for already several years. Historically St. Sargis was a Christian commander in the 4-th century, who was killed along with his son Martiros by a Persian king for refusal to change his faith.
St. Sargis Day is celebrated 63 days before Easter, on a Saturday falling sometime between Jan. 18 and Feb. 23. Marking the feast day of St. Sargis, unmarried Armenian women eat a piece of salty bread, ideally after fasting all day, in the hope of dreaming about their future husband. Tradition says the man who brings them water in the dream will be the man they marry.
These types of marriage traditions are prevalent in other cultures in different forms. Assyrians, for example, celebrate a variation of St. Sargis, where the dreams of unmarried women are believed to be prophetic.
Popular and widely anticipated in Armenia and Middle Eastern countries, where life was austere and people looked for reasons to celebrate, the tradition is being kept alive in communities throughout Southern California and the United States.
"It's a celebration of the continuity of Armenian life and Armenian traditions," said Richard Hovannisian, chairman of Armenian history at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"They were maintained pretty strongly down through the centuries, even though now they wane in the secular society and in the rapid pace of life here."
Although St. Sargis is said to visit the dreams of both sexes, the tradition is more popular among girls and women. And most Armenian women either have a story to tell about their own St. Sargis dream or know someone with a story.
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