The daughter of Noah, the lover of Vahagn, Asdghig was the Armenian Pagan goddess of love and water. Her worshipers gave her roses and pigeons.
Asdghig was represented in paintings as a beautiful lady. She was usually depicted nude and while swimming. Legend has that the goddess used to swim every night in the Euphrates. Boys who were taken by her beauty used to go to the slopes of Mount Daron and make bonfires so they can see the goddess in the light. However, Asdghig used to cloak the fields of Daron with fog at night so no eyes would be able to see her.
The Vartavar festival, celebrated in mid July, was once devoted to goddess Asdghig. Today, Armenians still celebrate the festival the same way they did before, by throwing water on each other; however nowadays, Vartavar has become a Christian holiday dedicated to the Transfiguration of Christ.
The Asdghig Chapter was established in 1935 in the Karantina region.
The founding board included: Nvart Karadsayr (Chair), Arousyag Keropian (Secretary), Araxi Balian (Treasurer), Loucia Izmirian, Dikranouhi Maksoudian, Yeranouhi Chalian, and Alice Deovletian.
After the Karantina fire, some of the population moved to the Mar Michael region and there they established the Asdghig chapter in 1968.
The chapter operates at the ARF “Dikran Dsamhour” Center.
