On the second Sunday of October, a harvest festival takes place in Armenian villages.
This holiday was first held in 2006 in the city of Masis, where President Robert Kocharyan was on a working visit.
Almost a hundred set tables were bursting with abundance: baskets of vegetables and fruits, all kinds of meat and even fish delicacies (Armenian caviar, Ishkhanovaya), drinks, dairy and bakery products, sweets — you can’t list everything.
Residents of 93 villages and 4 communities in the region not only boasted about their achievements, but also jealously looked around the neighboring tables « for those who are more beautiful and richer.
They tried to outdo each other in serving, decorating — with funny figurines made from vegetables, fruit « still lifes» and other «designer delights». The Armenian peasants treated the president to bounties of land, and Robert Kocharyan, in turn, without offending anyone (although it seemed incredible to those present that the head of state would go around all 97 set tables), paid attention to each «mini-exhibition» of domestic production.
The fertile Ararat Valley, having once again confirmed its title of «zhitnitsa of Armenia», thanked the farmers for their hard work with a generous harvest. Residents of the region are pleased with the results: the processing industry is developing at a serious pace, there is someone to sell the products to.
In subsequent years, the harvest festival took place in different cities. This tradition continues today.