armenian native faith rituals include the yearly ceremonies performed on armenian traditional holidays, and three rites of passage: the "knunk", a complex ritual of initiation; the "psak", that is wedding; and death rituals. the death rituals require the cremation of the body, and its return to the four elements. fire is symbolised by the cremation itself; then the ashes are divided into three parts, of which one is buried in the earth, one is scattered in the air of the garni gorge, and the third one is poured in the water of the garni river. afterwards, the deceased is memorialised by the collective lighting of a torch. the first arordiner to be cremated was kakosyan himself, at a time when cremation was illegal in armenia. later, arordiners obtained by the state the right to cremate their dead.