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.