ՄԽԻԹԱՐԵԱՆ ԱՆԱՀԻՏ / MKHITARIAN ANAHIT
(arm)
ՆՈՒԻՐԱԳՈՐԾՄԱՆ ԱՆՑՈՒՄԱՅԻՆ ԾԷՍԵՐ՝ ՄԿՐՏՈՒԹԻՒՆ - ՊՍԱԿ - ԹԱՂՈՒՄ
Transitional rites of dedication: Baptism – Wedding - Funeral
Bazmavep
2022 / 1-2,
pp.
211-226
Each person’s life involves a set of successive transitions from one age stage to another, which is accompanied by spiritual and secular rituals. Both Baptism, wedding, and funeral are transitional rites, between which similarities of ritual actions are manifested. For example, during Baptism, there is a transition from one world to another, namely, that is, by Baptism, a person is cleaned from Adam’s sin, born again from the baptismal pool (of water and the Holy Spirit), becomes a spiritually reborn new person.
During the wedding, with the rite of Initiation, becomes a new person, and the order of marriage is arranged, entering a new world. At the time of the funeral, one is born from parents as an old person and will be born again by resurrection as a new person, death is a ritual boundary between the two worlds, the living and the dead.
After certain ritual actions, a new status and a new name are given by entering a new world as in the Dedication Rite. Baptisms, weddings, and funerals are the important Christian sacraments of the Armenian Church, which are performed in specially prepared places with the obligatory presence of a clergyman and certain groups of people.
During the ceremonies, each person had to have his appropriate attribute; the one being baptized had to have new clothes, a belt, a cross, a candle,a green and red braid (narot), the person getting marriedhad a ring, a new and luxurious white wedding dress, a belt and a green and red braid. A green and red braid (narot) was also used in the funeral rite, and like the one being baptized and getting married, the dying person also wore new clothes and shoes.
There were certain objects and phenomena of worship that also had common edges in these rituals, such as the worship of water and stone and their many manifestations.
And despite the new ideology of Christianity, the old and traditional ones have been preserved on the basis of ritual ceremonies symbolizing the transitional periods of human life.