Navasard

Navasard is the first month of the Armenian calendar. Navasard has 30 days, starting on 11 August and ending on 9 September. In ancient Armenia, the first day of Navasard was a holiday. In Armenian mythology, the Navasardian god was considered protector of the crops and the feeder of the hungry. His statue is currently standing in Bagavan, which today is considered a Pagan sanctuary. Etymology The term Navasard goes back to Old Armenian նաւասարդ /nawasard/, a loan from NW-(Middle)-Iranian *nawāgsarδ 'new year' (cf. Khwarezmian: نوسارڅ‎ [nwsʾrc] /nawsārc/, Sogdian: *nawēsarδ) consisting of the Iranian words nawa 'new' (going back to Proto-Iranian *náwah, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *néwos; cf. Classical Persian نوی /naw/, Kurmanji nû, Pashto نوی‎ /nëway/, Ossetian ног /nog/) and sard 'year' (from Proto-Iranian *carHdáh; cf. Old Persian 𐎰𐎼𐎭 [θ-r-d] /θarda/, Parthian /sard/, Middle and New Persian سال /sāl/). The term is attested in Biruni's works (written in Classical Persian) as نوسرذ‎ /nawsarδ/ 'the new year celebration' as well as in Aramaic nwsrdʾ /nawsardā/ 'new year'. History Navasard was also considered at one point the last month of Summer, and was referred to as the "introduction of the golden autumn". Armenian scholar Mardiros Ananikian emphasizes the identical nature of Solar Hijri calendar month Nowruz and Navasard, noting that it was only in the 11th century that Navasard came to be celebrated in late summer rather than in early spring. He states that Navasard “was an agricultural celebration connected with commemoration of the dead […] and aiming at the increase of the rain and the harvests.” The great center of Navasard, Ananikian points out, was Bagavan, the center of fire worship.