Surenavan

The storks in Surenavan are not at all afraid of people: they have built nests near the houses, on the poles along the road, and they fly back and forth almost right over your head. Neither passing cars nor the noise of village life bother them in the least. They stroll through the surrounding orchards and fields, line their nests with tufts of dry grass and cloth, and most of the time stand majestically above their straw homes, surveying the surroundings. The first storks appear here in late February to early March. By the beginning of April, the village lost in the mountains is already so filled with feathered residents that it seems all the storks on earth have flocked here, to Surenavan. They say that at least 50 storks live in this village at the same time. According to ancient Armenian myths, storks personified the Sun; they were revered as guardians of the fields and considered messengers of King Ara the Beautiful and companions of God. Moreover, in pre-Christian times Armenians believed the stork was the bird through which the gods communicated their will to them. According to another legend, storks are able to turn into people, and the gods themselves can turn into storks to draw closer to people, which is why these birds in Armenia were usually never touched. Armenians call this bird “aragil,” and to this day they consider it special and believe it brings happiness. Source: https://kulturologia.ru/blogs/180323/55756/