Yar is the Lezgin goddess of nature who dies and rises again with the turning year. Her death belongs to winter and her resurrection to the vernal equinox, when heralds announce her renewal from village to village. That renewal is celebrated as Yaran Suvar, the Lezgin new year, still observed on 21 March as a triumph of life over death, light over darkness and spring warmth over winter cold. In the pantheon Yar is joined to the fire-god Alpan; from the love of Alpan and the fair Yar the rainbow-goddess Yaran rush is born, their union commemorated as a sacred marriage whose emblem is the spring rainbow.