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GYUMRI, JANUARY 7, ARMENPRESS:Over 400 young male sheep were butchered in Armenia’s second-largest town of Gyumri on January 6 for what is known as ‘matagh’ or offering sacrifice. The boiled meat was distributed to people in all city quarters and to children and old-people homes. The Armenian Church says ‘matagh’ is firstly a gift to God, secondly it is love towards the poor and giving alms to the poor, thirdly it is plea for the peace of the souls of the deceased, and fourthly, it’s an expression of gratitude to God for keeping away from disease and temptation. For offering a sacrifice or matagh an animal and salt are needed. The animal must be male. It can be a bull, sheep, cock or dove. As matagh is a gift to God, it should be earned with one’s own honest labor. It is forbidden to offer a sacrifice a crippled or defective animal as whatever is gifted to God, be it material or spiritual, should be pure and immaculate. The ritual of matagh was established by St. Gregory the Illuminator, the founder of the Armenian Apostolic Church. According to etymological analysis, matagh means to serve with salt. It isn’t casual that the clergyman blesses not the animal but the salt, which is an example of purity and purification, as Christ said to His disciples, “You are the salt of the earth.’ The traditional matagh was initiated by the Gyumri municipality and followed a liturgical service at the town’s main church celebrating the Feast of Nativity and Theophany.