And so the name of the lake remains Sevan. About the rivers and lakes of Armenia: Euphrates, Sevan, Araks…
SUGAR
It starts from the mineral springs of Goris
and flows into the Vararak River
A shepherd has a daughter named Shushan, who was like no other in the world. When he laughed, lilies opened in the mountains; when he cried, his tears became springs. It is said that this stream was formed from Shushan’s tears. The stream was named Sugar Water because of the sweetness of the water.
SON OF THE PRIEST
Located in Zangezur
Tatev monastery is built by a famous master. A religious also decides to bring water for the monastery. They bet on who will finish first. While digging a stream, the priest comes across a huge stone that cannot be moved. He prays and the stone breaks into pieces. The boy wonders at his father’s evil eye, and the religious man goes blind in one eye. They continue their work, but this time they stop in front of a big hole. What to do: And the master is already reaching the end of the work. The religious decides to deceive him. A large white sheet hangs from the opposite side of Vihi, which ripples in the wind and creates the illusion of water falling in the distance. The priest lays the last stone of the dome. looking up suddenly notices the white waves in the distance and thinks the bet has lost. Throws himself off the dome and shatters into pieces. The priest is buried near the monastery. Even today they show his grave. The stream of the monastery is called Priest’s Stream after the impostor religious.
ARAX:
a
During the war with the Persians, the Armenian king Araks is warned by someone that he will win only when he sacrifices two of the best and most beautiful virgins to the gods. Sparing his daughters, King Araxes sacrifices the daughters of one of his subjects. Their father suppresses his feelings of bitterness and resentment from time to time, but as soon as a suitable opportunity presents itself, he kills the girls of Araks from hiding and leaves his homeland and goes abroad. Upon learning of this, King Araks threw himself into the river Halmos, which was later named Araks after him.
B:
A foreign kidnapper abducts the girl that an Armenian young man loves. The young man goes to free her. After a long search, he finds his beloved in the arms of the kidnapper. Killing her one place and another, the young man frees his beloved. The abuser’s servants arrive and kill both the boy and the girl. Seeing that her son is late, the boy’s mother goes to look for him and finds the dead bodies of the boy and the bride. Grieving, he falls on the corpses and himself deposits the soul.
It is said that the Araks River was formed from the blood and tears shed by the murdered young man, his lover and his mother, which became thousands of springs and flowed down from the Armenian mountains.
EUPHRATES RIVER
Euphrates is a spirit in the guise of a woman, covered with fur and having wild hair. Every year he swallows many people. When Vardavar comes, the spirit-mermaid looks at the opposite rock and says: Rose came, one didn’t come…
EUPHRATES AND ARATSANI
Several times a year, a light descends from the sky like a pillar of fire in the part of these rivers where the water pirs (spirits) live. A believer who sees the light can heal the most seriously ill person if he sprinkles water brought from the Euphrates or Aratsani in a clay pitcher on his face and chest.
METSAMOR LAKE
It is located in the south of Aragats mountain
a
Once the shepherd throws the staff after the goat, which falls into the lake on top of Aragats. Before he approaches the lake, he notices that the staff has disappeared. A week later, while taking the sheep to the field, the shepherd sees his staff in Metsamor lake. He whips a jval darman, climbs Aragats and empties the darman into the lake there. Two days later, the shepherd finds the trace of the medicine in Metsamor lake.
Sevan lake
a
In the place of Lake Sevan, there used to be land with forested hills, flowery fields and fertile arable land. There was an abundant spring under the hill near the village, from which the villagers used to remove the huge stopper of the spring and then carefully adjust it in its place.
One evening, one of the daughters-in-law of the village goes to the spring for water, removes the stopper, fills the jug and comes home, forgetting to close the spring. The water pours out, expands in four directions. when it reaches the huts, the inhabitants run away, saying, “Let him turn to stone who has missed the source.” And the forgetful bride turns into a stone, and the constantly flowing water forms Lake Sevan, the head of the petrified bride (Bride Stone) barely rises above its surface.
B:
The people of Van migrate and resettle on the banks of Sevan, deciding that it is also a Van. But then, they don’t like the cold and harsh climate of the place. They remember the mild and warm nature of their country, their prosperous life and bitterly call: The Black Van came upon us, the Black Van! And so the name of the lake remains Sevan.
Source of traditions: Armenian traditions,
Composition: N. Virabyan, Yerevan, Zangak, 2017.
