The Armenian Worship of the Sun

Taoisme og swastikaen er to av det samme. Taoismen ble spredd til Kina med tokarerne, et av de aller første indoeuropeiske språkgruppene – mellom anatolisk og armensk. Armensk ligner både på gresk og sanskrit. Taoism er monotheistisk heller enn polytheistisk eller pantheistisk. Zwastikaen gjenspeiler de 4 naturelementene, samt et sentralprinsipp.

“There may have been later “Taoists”, or interpreters of Taoism, that thought differently, but they do not conform to the teachings of Lao Tzu, and K’ung-fu-tzu and the other authors of the I Ching. The Tao is the same as God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus although the ancient Chinese sages did not know of these individuals. The brilliance of Taoism is the way that they conceived of God, which is not contrary to the Bible, but complementary to it. And yes, God is everything. There is only one Substance out of which everything is made, including thought, and it is called the Tao, or God.”

Pharaoh Thutmose III of Egypt in the 33rd year of his reign (1446 BC) mention the people of Ermenen, and says in their land “heaven rests upon its four pillars”.

The earliest swastika known has been found from Mezine, Ukraine. It is carved on late paleolithic figurine of mammoth ivory, being dated as early as about 10,000 BC. It has been suggested this swastika is a stylized picture of a stork in flight.

 Aragil or Stork – considered as the messenger of Ara the Beautiful, as well as the defender of fields. According to ancient mythological conceptions, two stork symbolize the sun. Ara ‘Ara the Beautiful’is the god of spring, flora, agriculture, sowing and water. He is associated with Osiris, Vishnu and Dionysus, as the symbol of new life.

–

THE SONG OF THE STORK

    STORK, I welcome thy return. Thou stork, I welcome thy return. Thy coming is the sign of spring, And thou dost joy and gladness bring.

    Stork, upon our roof descend. Thou stork, upon our roof descend. Upon our ash-tree build thy nest, Our dear one, and our honoured guest.

    Stork, I would complain to thee:– Yes, stork, I would complain to thee. A thousand sorrows I would tell, The griefs that in my bosom dwell.

    Stork, when thou our house didst leave, When last our ash-tree thou didst leave, Cold, blasting winds the heavens filled, And all our smiling flowers were killed.

    Clouds obscured the brilliant sky; Dark clouds obscured the brilliant sky. Up there in flakes they broke the snow, And Winter killed the flowers below.

     From the mountain of Varag, From that great hill they call Varag, The snow did all the earth enfold:– In our green meadow it was cold.

    In our garden all was white. Our little garden all was white. Our tender rose-trees, fresh and green, All died of Winter’s frost-bite keen.

The Children of the Sun

The pantheon of Armenian gods (ditsov) formed during the nucleation of the Proto-Armenian tribes that, at the initial stage of their existence, inherited the essential elements of paganism from the Proto-Indo-European tribes that inhabited the Armenian Plateau.

Since ancient times the cult of sun worship occupied a special place in Armenian mythology. Original cult worship is a kind of unfathomable higher power or intelligence called Ara, called the physical embodiment of the sun (Arev) worshiped by the ancient Armenians, who called themselves “the children of the sun”.

Among the most ancient types of worship are the cults of eagles and lions, and the worship of heaven. Over time, the Armenian pantheon was updated, and new deities were created.

Furthermore, the supreme god of the Armenian pantheon, Vanatur, was later replaced by Aramazd. The latter, though, has appeared under the influence of Zoroastrianism (see Ahura Mazda), but with partially preserved traditional Armenian features.

Aramazd displaced Vanatur at the top of the pantheon after interaction with the Persians led to the Armenians’ identifying the Zoroastrians’ Ahura Mazda as their prime deity. Aramazd was a syncretic deity, a combination of the autochthonous Armenian legendary figure Ara and the Iranic Ahura Mazda.

Aramazd is the principal deity in Armenia’s pre-Christian pantheon. He is the father of all the gods and goddesses, the creator of heaven and earth. The first two letters in his name, “AR”, are the Armenian root for sun, light, and life.

Worshiped as a sun-god, Aramazd was considered to be the source of earth’s fertility. His feast Am’nor, or New Year, was celebrated on March 21 in the old Armenian calendar (also the Spring equinox). Aramazd’s main sanctuary was one of the principal cult centers of Ancient Armenia.

Amanor or Vanatur (same god with different names) was the deity of Armenian new year. His feast, Navasard (New year), was held at the end of July. His temple was located in Bhagavan.

In the Hellinistic period Aramazd in Armenia was compared with Greek Zeus. The principal temple of Aramazd was in Ani (Kamakh in modern Turkey), a cultural and administrative center of ancient Armenia. The temple had been ruined at the end of the 3rd c. AD, after the adoption of Christianity in Armenia as the state religion.

The worship of fire was possessed by Armenians as a venerable heirloom long before they were influenced by Zoroastrianism. It was so deeply rooted that the Christian authors do not hesitate to call the pagan Armenians ash-worshippers. Fire was, for them, the substance of the sun and of the lightning. Fire gave heat and also light. Even today to put out a candle or a fire is not a simple matter, but requires some care and respect.