On the 40th day of the Easter Day of the Lord Jesus Christ, one of the biggest feasts of the Armenian Catholic Community, The Hampartoum, the Ascension of Jesus Christ, was celebrated with spiritual enthusiasm with online rites due to Covid-19.
Armenian people celebrate this feast day with the traditional “Sutlach” (rice pudding) dessert they make. Rice puddings cooked on the morning of the festival are distributed to neighboring houses and neighbors. Many Armenian families do not cook and eat “Sutlach – Rice Pudding” in any time from Easter to Hampartsoum.
In Hampartsoum Festival, which coincides with the spring season every year, back in the old times; mountains, plateaus, valleys and everywhere would be filled with enthusiastic youth, young girls would pick wildflowers and decorate each other with them. There would be songs, games and folk dances to celebrate this special day.
Jesus Christ’s ascension to heaven is not only important in the mundane sense, but it is also of great importance in a spiritual sense. Before Jesus Christ’s ascension to heaven He gave a universal task and a promise to his followers, saying: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
