For the first time in nine years I had a dream. In the past nine years I just have not been able to attain that deep sleep level which allows one to dream. So dream I did, and in my dream I was walking into a building, it could have been a school, a community center, or a cultural center, with a cup of hot Armenian coffee in my left hand, held by the saucer. As I gingerly walk through the glass doors, two young men, at least younger than I, and who must already be well into middle age, approach me. One of the two, bearing a wide grin on his face, leans over and exclaims to his partner “this is the advantage of coming to this place. I get to run into him at least once a year”. He then stops right in front of me and snaps into a smart Boy Scout salute. Lowering his arm, he proceeds into an embrace, still wearing that wide sheepish grin of his. I, for my part, with shaking hands, and with some difficulty manage the Fleur-de-Lys and return the salute. I immediately woke up and was not able to return to sleep. I lay awake wondering what the dream meant, if anything, and realized that my right hand lay by my side having formed the Boy Scout’s Salute.
If I had mentioned this dream to my mother, God bless her soul, she would have immediately picked up her Dictionary of Dreams and looked for some type of meaning, either good or ill.
Armenians are great believers in divination and fate. “Djagadakir”, “Writ on the forehead” is their explanation for almost any and all happening. This is a remnant from ancient times when the god Tiur reigned supreme over the world of dreams. His temple was called “Yerezamuynk”, meaning “House of Dreams”, or “Abode, place of Dreams”. Each temple of his was a sprawling university where not only the interpretation of Dreams were taught, but also the Arts, Music and the Sciences. Tiur, being also the messenger god, was charged with carrying out the decrees of Armenia’s chief pagan deity, Aramazd, and indeed all the other gods, as he was the writer, and the decrees were written on the foreheads of each human. The fate of each human was decreed at birth and written on the foreheads, hence the epitaph, “writ on the forehead” or “Djagadakir”. Of course only the gods could see and decipher the writing. Nevertheless, this implies the existence of an alphabet and the knowledge of writing. If people had no knowledge of writing, then they would not ascribe them to their gods in their myths. It is conceivable, that the court scribes received their training and education at Tiur’s temples. Even during Christianity, Armenians credit the discovery of their modern alphabet by Saint Mesrop Mashtots to Devine intervention. The Saintly priest, after some tribulation and despair, had a vision of the alphabet in his dream. No doubt dream he did of the various ancient symbols of cave art, which dotted the Armenian Highlands, to which many of the letters resemble. So why did he have that particular dream at that particular time?
As a note of interest, the ancient Armenians also believed that each person was assigned a star at birth. That star could be lucky or unlucky, and so good fortune or ill would follow that individual throughout his or her lifetime. Perhaps that is where we get the phrase “thank your lucky stars” from.
A pleasant variant of fortune-telling and perhaps with traces of an ancient women’s cult is passed down to us from mother to daughter in the celebration of “Hadig” today. Hadig is a pasty gruel prepared out of barley and corn and garnished with cinnamon, almonds, and pomegranate. It is prepared and distributed as an offering when a baby has its first tooth. A gathering is held, usually at the home of the child and is open to women only by invitation. At the gathering, the baby is placed in front of all attending, with several items in front of the child. The child is expected to crawl and pick up the item of interest, thus signifying the propensity of a future trade or discipline. Needless to say, this is probably just another excuse of getting the women together and showering the infant with well wishes and gifts.
An interesting note here, when the first tooth is observed, a piece of the baby’s clothing is torn in a form of request that the rest of the teeth pierce the gums or “tear” through the gums without complications and undue suffering by the child. The person first noticing this phenomenon is charged with the chore.
As the years go by, many of these ancient traditions are being forgotten. In the case of the Armenians coming to the western world, it is not simply a matter of modern ideas supplanting the old, but the case of the Armenian Genocide causing such a great upheaval and cutting family ties.
Before we scoff at all these ancient rites, I am told I picked up a pen and paper at my Hadig – go figure or perhaps it is just Djagadakir!