Tbilisi Marks Vardaton, Celebrating Poet of Many Tongues
ita engOn Sunday, 18 May, an annual festival dedicated to the 18th century ethnic Armenian troubadour and poet, Sayat Nova, real name Harutyun Sayatyan, was again held in Tbilisi’s Maiden in the city’s historic Old Town.
Co-inhabited by ethnic Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and Yezidis among others, it was a fitting location to remember and pay homage to the multicultural icon.
Though most revered in Armenia, Sayat Nova was born in Tbilisi and wrote and performed poetry and songs in the region-wide Ashiq tradition in the Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, and Persian languages. Though he was killed in present-day Armenia, he is buried at the St. Gevorg Armenian Church on Meidan in Tbilisi.
The Feast of Roses, or Vardaton as it is known, was established in 1914 and though attracting only a small number of people each year, mainly ethnic Armenians, highlights the multicultural nature of Old Tbilisi. In March, the ethnic Azerbaijani community again held its annual Novruz celebration jut a few minutes away close to the district’s sulphur baths.
* Text 2025, Photographs 2016 © Onnik James Krikorian
