Trndez Festival or Tyarndarach (in Armenian) and Candlemas Day meaning welcoming the gods, is one of the most important celebrations of the Armenian Apostolic Church and one of the festival of Indo-European tribes, which in Iran is called the festival of Sadeh and the Armenians call it Trndez. This celebration is held on the evening of the 24th Bahman (13th February) and has many similarities with the Sadeh festival and Chaharshnbe Sury.
Etymology
In Armenian, Trndez means the greeting of the gods, which is Zoroastrian in origin and is originally connected with sun/fire worship in ancient pre-Christian Armenia, similar to the Chaharshnbe Sury festival to celebrate the god of the fire. Welcoming the gods actually means standing up to the gods and going to greet them. The word Trndez is a slang word meaning shooter and shooter in Persian and was once one of the special celebrations of the god of Tir.
History of Trndez Festival
In the belief of the Iranians of the god of Mitra was invisible to the people, but in the sky, it is seen in the form of the sun and on the earth in the form of fire, and thus the seal of the same sun became. But Mehr, the god of light, sun, and fire, was in Armenian mythology, worshiped in the village of Bagayarij, west of ancient Armenia and near the Roman border.
In ancient Armenia, the fire had feminine attributes, and water had masculine attributes. According to an ancient legend in Armenia, Astghik and Aramazd (the same as Ahura Mazda) lived in the “Mountain of Yaqat”, and a little lower, there was a house of fire, an eternal and unquenchable fire. There was also a large spring at the foot of the mountain. Water and fire were brother and sister, so no one threw away the ashes. Instead, he wiped the ashes with his brother’s tears (water). So in addition to water and fire, ashes were also considered sacred.
This Trndez festival gradually took on a religious aspect and with some changes in the Christian culture in the life of the Armenians, it became the celebration of the Armenian National Church. The festival of welcoming the gods is a celebration of the forty-day endowment of Jesus to Jerusalem. Joseph and Mary took the baby Jesus to a place of worship according to the religion of Moses to dedicate to God. So on this day, Christians greet them by decorating and lighting candles and fire.
Trndez Festival Ceremonies
Trndez festival will be held on February 14, equal to the 25th of Bahman. On the evening of the 24th of Bahman, after the church ceremonies, a pre-celebration ceremony will be held in Dashtestan, in the Armenian language “Andestan”. They light candles and the clergyman lights the candles on the church table. There is no law in Christianity or church about lighting a fire.
In Old Julfa, young people who got married that year were responsible for providing a thorn bush in the churchyard and preparing for the Trndez celebration, and during the ceremony, the same young people stood in front of the line with candles in their hands. The clergyman lit the bushes with the fire he brought from the altar of the church, and after the ceremony with the people, they lit their candles with the flame of fire and took them home as a blessing. At the bridegroom’s house, they burned small thorn bushes that they had collected in their backyards.
On this day, the relatives of the young just married bring them various foods, to which they bring Khoncha (the Armenian word Khancheh means small table in Persian).
Trndez festival is actually going off the cold season and symbolizing the coming of spring and fertility. It was also believed that those who were not yet married would jump out of the fire and will get married that year. In addition, like celebrating Chaharshanbe Sury in Iran, children celebrate this day with firecrackers.
