Vartivour (Vartavar)
A joyful celebration in three Mousadaghian villages like Yoghoun Olouk, Kheder beg, and Vakef. The feast was held collectively under the Big "Sossi" Tree (a giant ancestral plane tree more than 2000 years old) in Kheder beg in the presence of the traditional "Davoul Zourna"(the musical instruments of the village a big double sided drum and two quarter-tone oboes). Tables were set and the cheerful songs echoed on the nearby mountains and valleys.
Young people would gather on the river bank and splash water on the passers-by. They themselves would be soaked in water. The young had another entertainment on that day, target shooting. They would place a watermelon at a 50 or 60 meters range and would try to hit it by stones. Whoever hit the target would claim the watermelon. The game would resume after replacing the watermelon by a new one.
The women on the other hand, would gather in the nearby valley apart from the men to celebrate this occasion in their own special way. They would tie ropes on laurel trees and use them as swings. They would sing cheerful songs until dusk when they would return to their villages and their homes.
