April 7
Annunciation, Armenian Apostolic Church
Mother of God,
tabernacle of the Light,
place of the uncontainable Sun of life!
(from the Armenian Canon for the Annunciation)
On April 7, nine months before their Feast of the Nativity of Christ, some Orthodox churches celebrate the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would bear the Son of God. The Armenian Apostolic Church, recognized as a national church by the Armenian government, is one of these.
A landlocked nation east of Turkey, Armenia seceded from the Soviet Union in 1991. The new Republic designated April 7 a state holiday of Motherhood and Beauty, so the feast of the Annunciation is celebrated as Mother's Day, when people give presents to their mothers. Armenians observe the whole period between International Women's Day, March 8, and April 7 as Women's Month.
The illustration at right is from an Armenian manuscript of around 1500 (Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, www.asia.si.edu).
Also commemorated this date:
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