This paper examines rituals of the hearth from a comparative viewpoint in two almost neighbouring areas, the Balkans and the Caucasus, in order to identify similarities and differences in ideology, in symbolic actions associated with marriage (bride incorporation), the division of the multinuclear family, the customs of the annual cycle, etc. My paper is based on fieldwork in Greece and Armenia, and on unpublished ethnographic and folklore material, as well as on published works by Greek and foreign scholars.