…«From the reed pipe, smoke ascended,From the reed pipe, fire blazed,And out of the flames emerged a golden-haired young boy.»…
With the genius insight of Khorenatsi, the few lines of the hymn “The Birth of Vahagn” carry within them an extraordinary depth of ancient philosophical thought.
Flame and Smoke, Sacred Fire (Sun, Light), revered as life-sustaining forces and sources of vitality by our ancestors, were also personified in the chief deity of the pantheon—Thunderer, Lightning Bearer (known as Teshub or Tork, the God of Thunder and Lightning akin to Zeus and Jupiter, later evolving into Aramazd, Mihr, and Vahagn).
Through the currents of millennia, these beliefs, though slightly colored by time, have endured, reappearing during festivals and sacred rituals…
Even today, the blessing “May your hearth be prosperous,” often heard in traditional households, resonates with us. It conveys the timeless message to “keep the hearth’s flame alive,” passed as a sacred duty to future generations.
The Land of Nairi (Mitanni, later evolving into Urartu or Biainili, with territorial changes), referred to in cuneiform as the “Land of Fire,” still reflects the glow of its fiery temples. This can be seen today in rituals of candle-lighting, Chragaluyts (lamp-lighting ceremonies), and torches ignited on special occasions.
Although slightly altered, the essence remains…
What was once the Celestial Fire of ancient reverence is now symbolized by the “Lantern,” which inspired this reflection.
The ceremonial torch lit from the “Lantern” during the Pan-Armenian Games reaches back to antiquity, to Mount Olympus, the site of the legendary Olympic Games.
Prometheus, the son of Iapetus and forefather of Armenians, as well as a descendant of the Giants, stole Fire from Olympus and brought it to mankind—a source of divine wisdom and enlightenment.
For this, he was condemned, bound to a rock.
Thus, the quest for knowledge is a path born of toil and suffering.
By bestowing the Sun’s fire upon mortals, Prometheus enabled the development of many disciplines—metallurgy, architecture, astronomy… (In Sumerian mythology, it was Enki who spread Light, Wisdom, and Magic through Oannes, a mythical amphibian figure).
The sacred Eternal Fire of ancient temples was symbolically “harnessed” from the Sun using a parabolic mirror (skaphia).
Athletes would then carry torches lit from this celestial fire from Hestia’s sacred hearth to the games, paying homage to the Old Gods.
In homage to these ancient traditions, torch-lighting ceremonies are sometimes performed by white-robed “priestesses.”
As the great Varuzhan once sang, “…Through the reed pipe, Light arose…”
Below: A refined seven-branched lamp from Metsamor, bearing the weight of 4-5 millennia of history.
(Photo credit: Gevorg Nazaryan.)
