Bucket Day, Water Day, or VARTIVAR

The proper name for today's holiday is Vartivar, but it is commonly and perhaps more appropriately called bucket day or water day by the English speakers of Yerevan. I am not sure what the root of this holiday is, but it is now celebrated passionately by children across the country by taking buckets of water large and small, and splashing people all day long. The weather is usually in the 90's, so it is not such a bad thing, and there is some etiquette to be followed with the elderly usually safe from attack. Public transport is also suseptible, with water being thrown into the windows... but in central Yerevan most passenger cars seem safe. Some kids throw water balloons, some have water guns, but in the end, it is hard to avoid getting watered if you venture out.

We had to leave the house for an errand and took a quiet back alley. The bigs streets were swarming, so although the alley would not afford us any place to run or hide, we were banking on the lure of the big streets and parks to keep them away. It worked on the way there, but on the way back we were walking right up to a group heading our way. They were all out of ammo except of course for a gurl with a big ol' bucket. She asked with a grin if we would like to "get watered", and I just grinned as she walked up and poured the water point blank onto me, then Zabel. At least our bags stayed dry. Back at home the entertainment continued from our balcony as other random balconies contained kids pouring buckets of water onto helpless pedestrians. With both sides of the street under attack, anyone on the sidewalks was just about helpless. If you got to either end of the building then you had to contend face to face with from half to a dozen kids with buckets. I wonder how the others will fair today.