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Navasard: The Ancient Armenian New Year

The pagan Armenian New Year feast — Amanor under the god Vanatur at the sanctuary of Bagavan — and the cult of the goddess Anahit, whose Hellenistic bronze head survives in the British Museum.

Compiled and edited by the jewelry.am editorial deskPublished 7 min read

Navasard was the ancient Armenian New Year, the great feast of the pre-Christian calendar. Its New-Year deity was Vanatur, “the Hospitable,” whose temple stood at the sanctuary of Bagavan in the district of Bagrevand — a pilgrimage feast where, the ethnographic record relates, a King Tigran built a guest-house for the gathered pilgrims.

The feast was also bound to the cult of Anahit, the most-venerated goddess of pre-Christian Armenia. What follows traces what the graded record actually supports — the cult geography, the gods of the feast, and one surviving artifact — and is careful to set aside the popular calendar-lore that the sources for this article do not carry.1Amanor / Navasard as a major feast of the pagan period; its deity Vanatur (“the Hospitable”), whose cult site was Bagavan in Bagrevand, where a King Tigran built a pilgrim guest-house. — S. Mkrtchyan, Festivals: Armenian Folk Rituals, Customs, Beliefs (NAS RA ethnography, 2010).

What was Navasard, the ancient Armenian New Year?

Navasard — also called Amanor, “the New Year” — was a major feast of the pre-Christian Armenian period: the turning of the year, kept as a public festival. Its presiding New-Year deity was Vanatur, a name read as “the Hospitable,” fitting for a feast remembered above all as a great gathering. The popular details often attached to the date and origin of the name are treated separately below; the secure core is the feast itself and its New-Year god.2Amanor — the New Year feast — was a major feast of the pagan Armenian period; its deity was Vanatur (“the Hospitable”). — S. Mkrtchyan, Festivals: Armenian Folk Rituals, Customs, Beliefs (NAS RA, 2010).

Where was Navasard celebrated — and what was the sanctuary of Bagavan?

Vanatur's temple stood at the sanctuary of Bagavan in the district of Bagrevand, and it was there that the Navasard pilgrimage converged. The feast drew pilgrims in numbers large enough that, the ethnographic record relates, a King Tigran (the regnal identification is unsettled in the sources) built a guest-house — a lodging for the people who gathered. It is the practical scale of a pilgrimage, not myth: a sanctuary, a feast, and a place for the crowds to stay.3Vanatur's temple stood at the sanctuary of Bagavan in the district of Bagrevand; an Armenian king named Tigran built a guest-house for the pilgrims (regnal number unsettled — written “a King Tigran,” no numeral). — S. Mkrtchyan, Festivals (NAS RA, 2010).

Who was Anahit, the goddess of the feast?

Anahit was the most-venerated mother goddess of pre-Christian Armenia, and in the received tradition the daughter of the creator god Aramazd. The Wikidata knowledge graph records the pair as distinct entities — Anahit as Q2463867, with her father given as Aramazd, Q2417584, the creator god of pre-Christian Armenian mythology — anchoring the relationship the texts describe.4Anahit — Wikidata Q2463867 (father = Aramazd); Aramazd — Q2417584 (creator god, pre-Christian Armenian mythology). — Wikidata.

The depth of that veneration is preserved in a fifth-century source. Agathangelos, in his History of the Armenians, has King Trdat extol Anahit as “the great lady Anahit… mother of all chastity, and issue of the great and valiant Aramazd” — a primary witness, in the king's own invocation, both to the goddess's standing and to her descent from the creator god.5Agathangelos, History of the Armenians (5th c.): Trdat extols “great lady Anahit… mother of all chastity, and issue of the great and valiant Aramazd” (English per Kurkjian / Encyclopaedia Iranica; cite Agathangelos directly, Thomson ed.).

What does the British Museum's bronze head tell us about Anahit's adornment?

The surviving, museum-verified thread of Anahit's adornment is a single object: a late-Hellenistic bronze head, dated about 200–100 BC, found at Satala in 1872 and now in the British Museum (no. 1873,0820.1). It is a head only — but a head made with care for the eyes and the face, and the catalogue records how.6Late-Hellenistic (c. 200–100 BC) bronze head of Anahita, found at Satala (1872); British Museum no. 1873,0820.1. — British Museum collection.

The British Museum catalogue records that the head's eyes were originally inlaid with precious stones or glass paste, and that its lips were perhaps coated with a copper veneer — the small material facts of a votive image, made to catch the light of a sanctuary. This is the article's only jewelry thread, and it is deliberately so: it rests on a physically surviving object, not on the gold-statue narrative the firewall set aside.7Catalogue (verbatim sense): the eyes were inlaid with precious stones or glass paste; the lips perhaps coated with a copper veneer. — British Museum, head of Anahita, no. 1873,0820.1.

How did Navasard end — and the cult of Anahit with it?

The feast and its cults belong to the pre-Christian world, and that world closed with the conversion. As church tradition records, after the pagan temples fell, King Trdat and his army were baptized in the Euphrates at Bagavan by Gregory the Illuminator — the same sanctuary district that had been a centre of the Navasard pilgrimage now becoming a site of the new faith. This passage rests on a single church source and is offered as church-tradition history, not as a firmly dated event.8Church tradition: after the pagan temples fell, Trdat and his army were baptized in the Euphrates at Bagavan by Gregory the Illuminator. — Christian Armenia, biweekly of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin (2001, no. 12 [104]); single Tier-B source, issue page unverified.

Frequently asked questions

What was Navasard?
Navasard — also called Amanor, “the New Year” — was the ancient Armenian New Year, a major feast of the pre-Christian calendar. Its New-Year deity was Vanatur, “the Hospitable,” and its great pilgrimage centre was the sanctuary of Bagavan in the district of Bagrevand.
When was Navasard — was it 11 August?
The sources graded for this article do not support a fixed Gregorian date, so the piece does not assert one. The popular dating of Navasard to 1 Navasard / 11 August, tied to the heliacal rising of the Orion (“Hayk”) constellation, comes from archaeoastronomical work that is not among these sources — it is left aside here rather than stated as fact.
Who was Vanatur?
Vanatur, a name read as “the Hospitable,” was the deity of the Amanor / Navasard feast — the New-Year god whose temple stood at the sanctuary of Bagavan in Bagrevand, the site of the Navasard pilgrimage.
Who was Anahit, and how is she connected to the feast?
Anahit was the most-venerated mother goddess of pre-Christian Armenia, in tradition the daughter of the creator god Aramazd. A fifth-century source, Agathangelos, preserves King Trdat extolling her as “mother of all chastity, and issue of the great and valiant Aramazd.”
What is the bronze head in the British Museum?
It is a late-Hellenistic bronze head of Anahita (c. 200–100 BC), found at Satala in 1872 and held by the British Museum (no. 1873,0820.1). The catalogue records that its eyes were inlaid with precious stones or glass paste and its lips perhaps coated with a copper veneer — the surviving, museum-verified record of the goddess's votive adornment.