Epress.am News from Armenia
The red apple tradition suits Armenians very well, it proves an Armenian girl’s modesty, about a correct family upbringing, confidently declared ethnographer Rafayel Nahapetyan, while speaking to journalists today on the topic of traditional weddings.
“After a wedding couple’s first night, the mother-in-law [the husband’s mother] is in 7th heaven: taking the sheet in her hands, she comes out onto the street with a clear face, [and] shows the neighbors what a [good] moral family her daughter-in-law is from,” he said.
The ethnographer also spoke on traditional wedding “institutions.”
“Out of the protected institutions, the best man’s institution has been preserved. In the old days, when the bride was in labor, the best man [which is “godfather” in Armenian] would climb up onto the roof and fire shots [with his gun] into the air so that the evil [spirits] would leave,” he explained, listing a few other preserved traditions, such as, for example, dancing gata (Armenian sweet bread), breaking a plate and laying lavash on the couple’s shoulders.
“Armenian traditions [and] manners must be preserved: it’s as a result of their rapid change and elimination that we don’t have strong families today,” concluded Nahapetyan.