I had unexpectedly arrived among bizarre festivities, in which early Christianity was mixed with ancient pagan rites. Below the church, on the slopes of the hill, pagans in times long past had set up a round altar made from crudely worked stone. Here they slaughtered rams and chickens, and the blood ran thickly down a stone drain into a granite well hollowed out of the rocks. After the pagans had made their sacrifices, they dipped their fingers in the blood and wiped it on their faces: on their foreheads, cheeks, and chins for good luck, as an elderly Armenian explained to the pilot and me.
This tradition from pagan Armenia had survived into the modern era: all along the shore and on the slopes, sacrificial bonfires burned, and the wind brought a smell of smoke and grilled meat. According
