YEREVAN, MAY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. An annual Vardaton (holiday of roses) dedicated to memory of Sayat Nova took place on May 27 at the Surb Gevorg Armenian church of Tbilisi. Officials of Georgia and Armenia, Armenian and Georgian art figures participated in the holiday. RA People's Artist Zhenia Avetisian, Dudukner (Armenian national pipe) quartet, Sayat Nova bard and Nazani folk ensembles of goosans' (Armenian national poet-singer) song left Armenia for Georgia. 1 mln 600 thousand drams (about 4.6 thousand U.S. dollars) were allocated for organization of the celebration from the RA state budget. As Karine Khodikian, the RA Deputy Minister of Culture and Youth Issues stated at the May 30 press conference, Vardaton is held in Yerevan as well, starting from 2006. In her words, the RA Government envisages to every year allocate money from the state budget for organization of Vardaton. The holiday has arisen since 1913 when the 200th birthday anniversary of Sayat-Nova was celebrated in Tbilisi on the initiative of Hovhannes Tumanian. A celebration, Vardaton, is organized in the yard of the Surb Gevorg church of Tbilisi every year, on the last Sunday of May, starting from that day. During the celebration lovers of Sayat Nova's songs lay red roses to the goosan's grave.

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