Thunder, Lightning, Flashes and Dew

During a storm, vishaps ascend to the heavens from the depths of the sea or from desolate mountains. Together with evil spirits, they seek to swallow the sun or shroud its luminous countenance so that humanity cannot see its light. Then, the Archangel Gabriel, along with other angels, fights against them, striking them with fiery swords and driving them out of the black clouds. The rumble of thunder is the sound of that celestial battle, sheet lightning is Archangel Gabriel’s sword, lightning is his fiery arrow, and the rainbow is his bow.

Vishaps possess hair and wings, and like all serpents, they are immortal unless slain. They grow continuously, and once a vishap reaches a thousand years of age, it becomes capable of swallowing the entire world. For this reason, angels descend from heaven, bind the vishap, and lift it into the sky amidst the raging tempest. Yet the vishap fights the angels, writhing, spewing fire, and often blowing torrents of water upon the earth. The angels drag it to the sun, whose scorching rays burn the creature to ashes, which then rain down upon the earth. Often, the writhing tail of the vishap snaps off and falls to the ground, or the angels lose their grip, causing the dragon to fall from the celestial heights onto a mountain and shatter into pieces. When an aging vishap is drawn into the sky from the mountains or seas, the heavenly vishaps descend to the earth. The fiery streaks visible in the storm clouds are the vishap’s blazing body; the lightning is the angels’ rod or whip striking the dragon; the thunder is the roaring of the beaten monster.

At the bottom of Lake Van lies a vishap’s lair, home to a monstrous dragon whose body occupies the entire lakebed. Angels constantly wage war against it, striking it and wounding its tail to prevent it from growing and devouring both land and sea.

Thunder is sometimes envisioned as a cow with colossal horns, drinking water from the celestial milk-spring and lowing or bellowing from within the blood-red sea. In another tradition, the bringer of rain is the Prophet Elijah (Eghia), who races across the clouds in his four-horse chariot to capture his fleeing debtor and reclaim his loaned money. The clouds rumble from the rattling of his chariot, and lightning flashes from its wheels or from the whip striking the horses.

A blind man, furious at God for depriving him of sight, took a piece of sour lavash bread and threw it at a dark storm cloud. The cloud grew terribly angered and began to roar at the blind man. From this raging roar, thunder was born.

Lightning or sheet lightning is also called Hrachk (“Fiery Eyes”); she is a woman with fire-darting eyes named Tsovyan or Tsovinar, who dwells in the highest heaven. She rides upon a fiery steed, dancing and playing among the clouds. Fire sparks from her eyes and from those of her horse, and no one can bear to gaze upon her blazing, luminous face. Tsovyan sometimes appears disguised in the likeness of a man. On dark, stormy nights, she suddenly peeks out from beneath the clouds and looks down; at that exact moment, lightning flashes, and people say, “Tsovyan is playing.” When Tsovyan or Tsovinar appears in the heavens, flashing amidst light and fire, rain instantly begins to fall, and mountains and valleys are blanketed in life-giving, fertile moisture.

Within the earth's ocean dwells a massive fish with a radiant belly. When the fish flips onto its back, the reflection of its shining underbelly causes sheet lightning to flash across the sky.

When the first rose withered in Paradise, the nightingale was filled with profound sorrow and began to warble a faint, melancholic lament. The Moon, witnessing the nightingale's heartbreaking grief, wept silently. From the tears of the Moon, dew was born.