Russian national holidays list. Spring holidays. Autumn Slavic holidays and rituals

New Year

In Russia, from the time of the introduction of Christianity, the chronology began either from March or from the day of Holy Easter. In 1492, Grand Duke John III approved the decision of the Moscow Cathedral to consider September 1 as the beginning of the year. In addition, it is important to say that until 1700, Russia kept count of the years "from the creation of the world." But this did not last long. Russia began to establish ties with Europe, and such a "time difference" was very disturbing. In 7207 (from the creation of the world, of course), Peter I resolved all calendar inconveniences in one fell swoop. Referring to the European peoples, he issued a decree to celebrate the New Year from the day of the Nativity of the God-man and January 1 instead of September 1. Celebrating the New Year on September 1 was simply forbidden.

On December 15, 1699, to the beat of a drum, the tsar’s clerk announced to the people the will of the tsar: that, as a sign of a good undertaking and the beginning of a new century, after thanksgiving to God and prayer singing in the church, it was ordered “through the large passing streets, and noble people in front of the gates to make some decoration from trees and branches of pine, spruce and juniper. And for poor people (i.e., the poor), at least put a tree or branch over the gate. And so that it ripens by the 1st number of 1700 of this year; and to stand for that decoration of Invar (i.e. January) until the 7th day of the same year. On the 1st day, as a sign of fun, congratulate each other on the New Year, and do this when fiery fun begins on Red Square and there will be shooting. The decree recommended, if possible, to everyone in their yards using small cannons or small guns "to shoot three times and fire several rockets." From January 1st to January 7th "at night, light fires from firewood, or from brushwood, or from straw." On December 31 at 12 am, Peter 0 entered Red Square with a torch in his hands and launched the first rocket into the sky.

In the Christian tradition, Easter occupies a special place as the “Feast of Holidays”. In 2008, it is celebrated on April 27th. Preparation for it involves the consistent observance of a number of religious prescriptions. Ordering social reality, religious rites regulate the life of a believer. In addition, through the performance of certain rituals, a person relates himself to a particular religious tradition and thereby carries out the process of identification with a particular religion. But there is another, "folk" tradition of attitudes towards Easter, within which many signs, superstitions and customs coexist, and sometimes intertwine, with elements of church tradition, and at the same time create their own network of meanings.

First of all, it should be noted that Easter is one of the most important holidays for Russians. In terms of the number of those who celebrate it, this holiday invariably ranks third - only the share of those celebrating the New Year and their own birthday is higher.

It is known that the recognition of oneself as a believer does not in itself testify to the depth of faith, but rather to formal religiosity. To what extent Easter is a religious holiday for Russians can be judged on the basis of such indicators of religiosity as observance of Great Lent and attendance at Easter services. It can be said that now in Russia Easter is not so much a religious holiday as a tradition, that this holiday actualizes not so much confessional as national identity.

With Easter, as well as with the Holy Thursday preceding it, a complex of cleansing rites was associated. In the morning it was customary to wash with water, into which silver crosses were dipped - "the face will be smoother." Ideas about the holiness of water on this day were associated with Easter. One of the features of the preparation for Easter was the decoration of the goddess and the house for the holiday. At the same time, the house was decorated not as usual, hanging towels in the walls, but also made special attributes and decorations. One of the most common and characteristic decorations was a lantern (lantern, chandelier, straw, bell, mizgir, broomstick) - made of straws strung on threads in a special order. In places of their connection, small multi-colored pieces of fabric were usually placed. The flashlight was hung from the ceiling in the front corner in front of the shrine. In some cases, an Easter egg was placed in one of the cells. Straw birds were another common decoration. They decorated the goddess and the house with sprigs of fir, less often with club moss.

An important place in the celebration of Easter was given to visiting the temple and church services. The procession around the church and the “meeting of Christ”, the time of the first utterance of the Easter greeting “Christ is risen!”, had the greatest significance. Easter night, the only one during the year, which was subject to a ban on sleeping on this night. Violation of the usual order of time had a special symbolic character. Easter night, the Easter service were a certain boundary in the assessment of time before and after the holiday. The whole time of the Easter week was usually considered festive - from Sunday to Sunday. On Easter, no work was allowed.

The Easter table was different from the usual, the main dish on it was eggs. It was customary to break the fast with an Easter egg from Lent. Eggs tried to put on the table in one cup, heap, so that "everyone lived together." In the Kama region, as well as in other Russian provinces, the custom was widespread to celebrate Christ, congratulate each other on the holiday and exchange Easter eggs. Eggs were most often dyed red with onion peel, but in some villages it was customary to dye them in different colors: brown (oak bark), green (birch leaf), even lilac (garlic peel). The preparation of variegated, “piebald” eggs was also known. In this case, before painting, oil strokes, crosses, spots were applied to the egg, the letters “XB” were written. In some areas, special dishes were prepared for Easter - cottage cheese Easter and Easter cake. Often the main Easter dish was shangi.

One of the indispensable attributes of the holidays during the Easter week was games with eggs. The most common custom should be considered the custom of rolling eggs from the mountain: whoever rides the farthest wins. In other versions, others tried to knock down an egg or a ball. What you touch is yours.

Characteristic of Easter was the ritual walk around the houses for the holiday. Easter detours were known in different versions. One of the most common was going around the houses by children, which was called “collecting eggs”, and if the children performed the Easter troparion, the names “praise”, “sing Easter” could be used. Easter rounds were also held with the participation of the clergy.

Swinging and playing at the swings were the main element of youth leisure during the Easter week. In addition to the usual ones, in many areas of the Kama region they also built a “circular swing” (lace swing, circled, turntable): a pillar with a wheel at the top and ropes tied to the wheel

On Tuesday of the second week after Pascha (in 2008 it is May 6), the day after St. Thomas Week (Antipascha), the Orthodox Church established the commemoration of the dead, the first after the Easter holiday. On this day, Christians, as it were, share the Paschal joy of the resurrection of the Savior with members of the Church who have already left this world. According to St. John Chrysostom (4th century), this holiday was already celebrated in Christian cemeteries in antiquity.

Etymologically, the word “radon and tsa” goes back to the words “genus” and “joy”, and the special place of Radonitsa in the annual cycle of church holidays - immediately after the Bright Easter week - obliges Christians not to grieve and not complain about the death of loved ones, but, on the contrary, rejoice at their birth into another life - eternal life. The victory over death, won by the death and resurrection of Christ, displaces the sadness of temporary separation from relatives.

It is on Radonitsa that there is a custom of celebrating Easter at the graves of the dead, where colored eggs and other Easter dishes are brought, where a memorial meal is served and part of what has been prepared is given to the poor brethren for the memory of the soul. Such communication with the dead, expressed through simple everyday actions, reflects the belief that even after death they do not cease to be members of the Church of that God who “is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

The now widespread custom of visiting cemeteries on the very day of Easter contradicts the most ancient institutions of the Church: until the ninth day after Easter, the remembrance of the dead is never performed. If a person dies on Easter, then he is buried according to a special Easter rite. Easter is a time of special and exceptional joy, a celebration of victory over death and over all sorrow and sorrow.

Trinity holidays stretched from the Feast of the Ascension to the Trinity incantation. Important dates in the cycle of Trinity holidays were also Semik, Trinity (June 15 - the date for 2008) and Spirits Day. It was to these dates that the greatest number of ritual actions were timed. The holidays of the Trinity cycle, which complete the spring period of the folk calendar, are filled with symbolism, which can be traced in almost all spring holidays. Among the Russians of the southwestern Kama region, all Trinity holidays often received the epithet "Merry". Most likely, "fun" holidays should be associated precisely with their spring character, because. the word "spring" in Slavic languages ​​is conceptually related to the word "merry".

A special position in the traditional calendar was occupied by the Feast of the Ascension (Ascension Day, Merry Ascension), which falls on the fortieth day after Easter and immediately preceding the Trinity. Ascension was the last day when the Easter greeting was pronounced: "Christ is Risen!". In the Kama region, there is also such a specific form of rituals that “help” Jesus Christ ascend to heaven, such as the preparation of “ladder” cookies, which were small cylindrical or rectangular loaves with notches. Several "ladders" were usually prepared, one was placed on the shrine, and the rest were eaten. In the north of the Kama region, it was customary to prepare shangs and stack them in a slide so that “Christ went to heaven” along them. Ascension was considered a rainy day: "For forty days, Jesus Christ walks the earth, and only then in heaven, so he washes the earth with rain." Healing properties were attributed to Ascension dew.

Semik (Thursday in the seventh week after Easter) was mainly associated with funeral rituals (although in some areas it was on Semik that they “curled a birch tree”). Almost everywhere they commemorated the "unclean" dead, as well as those who died during the last year. The commemoration of the dead on Semik and Trinity, in contrast to Easter, most often took place not at home, but at the cemetery. The commemoration almost did not differ from how it took place in other calendar periods. As on other memorial days, it was customary to leave food on the graves, sprinkle grain on the graves, burn the graves, lament for the dead. In some areas it was customary to decorate graves with birch branches. Eggs were one of the obligatory elements of the memorial meal. It was believed that in Semik "the dead are raked", "after Semik they do not see alms".

At the heart of the Trinity rites is the cult of vegetation. The birch was the main symbol of the Trinity holidays. Birch is associated with the upper, divine world, often becomes an intermediary between a person and higher powers (in the Old Believer traditions, if there is no mentor, it was allowed to confess to a birch or a birch branch). In addition to birch, ritual use of viburnum and bird cherry is known. Grass was also used, which became a symbol of the holiday: the floors in the temple and the house were covered with it, the walls were decorated with flowers. Trees were also used for decoration. They were cut down, brought to the village and decorated, and sometimes decorated and walked around a growing tree. In some villages, a girl decorated with birch branches and wreaths was called a “birch”, in other cases a straw doll became a symbol of the holiday along with a birch.

With the Trinity, street games of youth began, including round dances. Trinity was considered the day when the name day of the forest was celebrated. Therefore, in some traditions, the birch was not broken on Sunday, it was broken on Saturday. In some villages, name days were associated with the following days of the Trinity week: “After the Trinity there are three Spiritual days - water, land and forests, they don’t dig the earth, they don’t cut the forest, they don’t wash and they don’t wash.”

One of the components of the Trinity rites was mummers, known in some traditions of the Kama region: they dressed in whatever they thought of, various animals, birds, girls dressed in men's clothes, young men in women's clothes.

In some areas, for the Trinity, as well as for Easter, it was customary to paint eggs. Often they were dyed green with a decoction of a birch leaf or nettle. In the northern regions of the Kama region, games with eggs were played.

Ivanov's Day (July 7) in the Russian traditions of the Kama region is not considered a big church holiday, but there are a lot of rituals, beliefs and ideas associated with this day. The ritual complex of Ivanov's day included the day of Agrafena Kupalnitsa, celebrated the day before (July 6). By Agrafena Kupalnitsa, they timed the preparation of brooms, steamed with them in the bathhouse, guessed, bathed and doused with water. In the northern Kama region, the Bathing was the day from which they began to swim in rivers, ponds and lakes.

In the Kama region, in addition to the common name - Ivan's Day - there were other options: Ivan the Baptist, Ivan the Forerunner, Ivan the Svyatnik (indicating a connection with the church name of the holiday); Ivan Rosnik, Ivan dewy (reflecting ideas about the healing and magical properties of Ivanovo dew); as well as Ivan-day, Ivan Yagodobor, Ivan Kapustnik, Ivan Travnik, Ivan Flower, Ivan Drowned.

Ideas about the cleansing and healing properties of Ivanovo water and dew reveal the widespread customs of bathing and dousing with water, washing with dew on Ivanov's day. Dish bins were taken out onto the Ivanovo dew, the eyes were washed, and the feet were treated with water.

In some villages, on the contrary, all actions with water, and first of all, bathing, on the contrary, were strictly prohibited. Bathing bans were most likely associated with ideas about mermaids, water spirits. They said that "on Ivanov's day, the name day of the waterman."

A common rite was the rite of divination on wreaths. Wreaths were woven and floated down the river. If someone's wreath sank, it was a bad omen. In the northern Kama region, brooms were also used for divination: they were knitted on the Bathing Suit from birch branches and bathing bath grass, then they washed in a bathhouse and threw the brooms into the river. In addition to fortune-telling with wreaths and brooms, by Ivanov's day they were guessing for a prophetic dream: they put 12 flowers under the pillow of a spider or grass to dream of the betrothed.

Medicinal herbs were collected on Midsummer Day. Wreaths of Kupala herbs were used in healing magic. Forty herbs collected on Midsummer's Day were plugged behind the mother so that there were no bedbugs and cockroaches in the house. Herbs collected ahead of schedule were taken out on the eve of the holiday “under the Ivanovo dew”.

The time coinciding with Ivanov's day was considered special. According to popular beliefs, it is on this day that “the sky and the earth open”, while at Christmas and Easter only “the sky opens”. It was believed that on this day evil spirits come out, treasures come out, on this day one could conjure or learn witchcraft.

With this holiday, as well as everywhere among Russians, in the Kama region, ideas about the fern flower, the male flower of hemp (sweep), and the bathing herb were associated. It was believed that a flower makes a person invisible, and if you pick a fern flower, there will be happiness.

Midsummer's Day, like no other summer holiday, has absorbed all the actions and beliefs associated with the summer period in general.

Among the holidays and revered days of the summer period, a special place belongs to Ilyin's day (August 2), the day of memory of the prophet Elijah. The holiday was also called Ilya, Ilya the Terrible, Ilya the Angry, Ilyin, Ilyinskaya.

For his fiery zeal for the Glory of God, the prophet Elijah was taken to heaven alive in a fiery chariot. The prophet Elisha was a witness to this miraculous ascent. Then, in the Transfiguration of the Lord, he appeared together with the prophet Moses and appeared before Jesus Christ, talking with him on Mount Tabor. According to the tradition of the Holy Church, the prophet Elijah will be the Forerunner of the Terrible Second Coming of Christ to earth and during the sermon he will accept bodily death. The prophet Elijah is prayed for the gift of rain during a drought.

Ilyin's day was recognized as an important boundary between summer and autumn and was revered as one of the most "terrible" holidays: "On Ilyin's day, before lunch, summer, after lunch, autumn." If Ilyin's day went without a thunderstorm, this was considered a bad omen.

Ideas about the beginning of eating garden crops (raspberries, peas, etc.) are associated with Ilyin's day. Walking "on peas" on a holiday turned into a walk with an accordion.

One of the most common customs associated with Ilyin's Day, not only in the Kama region, but also in other East Slavic regions, was a ban on swimming after the holiday: after it the night is long, the water is cold, "Ilya threw an ice floe." There are a lot of options for explaining the ban, they are associated either with animals (“The bear wet its paw”, “The deer entered the water”), or with an unclean layer (“the mermaids will drag away”, “the middays will drown”), or with “blooming water” (“ you will get sick with greens or you will have boils on you”).

One of the characteristic features of the veneration of Ilyin's day was a collective meal with the slaughter of a ram or a bull, known as "prayers", "victims", "pooling", "brothers". Part of the meat, having been consecrated, was left in the church, the rest was eaten in a clearing or in a cemetery.

The Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos is celebrated by the Holy Russian Orthodox Church on October 14 in a new style.

Christian historians say that almost six hundred years ago the Saracens attacked the Greek empire, the enemy was strong, and the Greeks were in great danger. At that time, the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God took place.. Kneeling down, the Blessed Virgin began to pray with tears for Christians and remained in prayer for a long time, then, going up to the Throne, she continued her prayer, having finished which, She removed the veil from Her head and spread it out it over people praying in the temple, protecting them from enemies visible and invisible. The Most Holy Lady shone with heavenly glory, and the veil in Her hands shone “more than the rays of the sun.” The wondrous appearance of the Mother of God, covering the Christians, encouraged and consoled the Greeks, having gathered their last strength, they defeated the Saracens.

The veneration of the Intercession has been noted among the Eastern Slavs for a long time and everywhere. The Russians of the Kama region have preserved legends related to the origin and veneration of the Intercession: “They prayed to God, there was a strong war, they could not stop the war. The Mother of God came out and said: “If you believe in the Protection, the war will stop!” The war has stopped."

They say about the Pokrov: "The Intercession is the last holiday, from the Intercession - winter." Signs and beliefs on the Pokrov are associated with the borderline, transitional nature of the holiday. For example, fortune-telling for the groom: if there is snow on Pokrov, the girl will marry. In some places, fortune-telling on the Intercession was repeated by the Christmas ones.

The girls asked: “Father Pokrov, cover the earth with a snowball, and cover me with a groom!” In Rus', weddings began from Pokrov Day, and the girls went to church that day to pray that the Lord would send them good suitors. As you know, the more snow on Pokrov, the more weddings this year.

Each country has public holidays common to all, but each nation has its own holidays that have come from the depths of centuries.

The national holidays of Russia, the most beloved and famous, are, without any doubt, snowy and frosty Christmas, early spring Maslenitsa, showing the way to spring and sunny days, the luminous celebration of Easter, the spring-summer Trinity and the sunny rainbow day of Ivan Kupala. All of them, except Easter, are interconnected with the natural world, with its revival, flowering, planting and gathering a generous harvest. On holidays, people are especially brightly inherent in a peculiar worldview, a sense of the fullness of life. Without exception, all folk holidays in Russia are filled with traditions, rituals, rituals.

Folk holidays in Russia

Kolyada- a common holiday of pagan origin among the Slavic peoples, connected with the winter solstice. Date of celebration - on the night of January 6 to January 7. The meaning of the holiday is the reversal of the sun from winter to summer. Celebration - caroling, dressing up, Christmas fun, fortune-telling, homemade food. According to popular belief, Mother-Cheese-Earth could open up only as a result of a lie, for an incorrect oath, or as a result of perjury.

Christmas time- Ukrainian national solemn complex, celebrated from January 6 to January 19. Christmas time is oversaturated with various magical rituals, divination, signs, customs and prohibitions. The purpose of the holiday: folk festivals, caroling, sowing, dressing up, erotic fun, ritual outrages of youth, divination for the betrothed, a journey into colors, rituals for prosperity and fertility. Holiday sayings: wolves get married at Christmas time, from Christmas to Epiphany it is a sin to hunt animals and birds - grief will happen to the hunter. According to popular beliefs, the presence of spirits in the midst of living people, imperceptible to the ordinary eye, made it possible to look into the native future, which explains the countless forms of Christmas divination.

Maslenitsa- Ukrainian common holiday, celebrated in the movement of the week before Lent. The purpose of the holiday is to say goodbye to winter. Traditions: baking pancakes, wandering in paint, settling feasts, sledding and sledding, dressing up, burning or burying the Shrovetide scarecrow. It is celebrated from meat-fare Saturday to Forgiveness Sunday. The fertility of people in the popular mind was firmly associated with the fertility of the land and the fertility of livestock, the stimulation of fertility is associated with the other side of Maslenitsa - the funeral.

Clean Monday- the first day of Fedor's week and Great Lent. On this day, everyone forgives each other and starts the day with a clear conscience and a pure soul. This is a day of extremely serious fasting as well as the following days. The name of the holiday came from the desire to keep the first day of fasting clean. On this feast, during the main Lenten Great Compline, they begin to recite the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete and other penitential prayers. At the end of the 19th century, a large fraction of oil-bearing revelers, despite a serious fast, on this day “rinsed their mouths” or got drunk. Since this is a fasting day, all that is allowed to eat or drink on this day is: little dark food with salt and water or unsweetened tea. The prayer of Ephraim the Syrian, "O Lord and Master of my life," in the future will be lifted up during all the days of Great Lent.

palm week- the sixth week of Lent. The main folk rituals of the week are connected with willow and fall on Saturday and Sunday. There is a fairy tale associated with this week, which says that before the willow was a lady, and she had so many children that the lady argued with Mother Earth herself that she was more prolific than the Earth. Mother Earth got angry and turned the lady into a willow. There is a belief on this holiday - a consecrated willow can stop a summer thunderstorm, and thrown into a fire - help with a fire. Holiday traditions: consecration of willow, beating with willow twigs, spring calls.

Holy Week- the seventh extreme week before Easter, lasting 6 days, arising from Monday and ending on Saturday before Easter Sunday. The meaning of the holiday is preparation for Easter. Traditions on the holiday: cleaning the house, obligatory bathing, commemoration of ancestors, setting up a swing, decorating eggs, baking Easter cakes. According to the beliefs of the people, painted eggs have magical powers, for example, if you solve the shell on a flame, then the smoke from this testicle is allowed to cure a person from night blindness, they also believe that such an egg is competent to heal an unhealthy tooth. Signs for this holiday: if you heat the oven with aspen wood on Maundy Thursday, then the sorcerers will come to beg for ashes, parsley, sown on Good Friday, gives a double fee.

Easter- the oldest Christian holiday, the main holiday of the liturgical year. Established in honor of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon, which occurs no earlier than the day of the relative vernal equinox on March 21. Traditions: consecration of painted eggs and Easter cakes, greeting kissing. Most of the Easter customs originated in worship. The scope of Easter festivities is associated with breaking the fast after Great Lent, a time of abstinence, when all holidays, including family ones, were postponed to the celebration of Easter. At the end of the 19th century, it became a tradition in Russia to send open letters with colorful drawings to those relatives and friends with whom you cannot be christened on Easter as the main holiday.

Red hill- a spring holiday among the Eastern Slavs, which is celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. On this day they celebrate: spring girl dances, food with scrambled eggs, youth fun. The red heap symbolizes the whole income of spring, it is this holiday that celebrates this time of the year. In addition to the fact that the Red Pile symbolizes the income of spring, the holiday also symbolizes meeting men and women, because spring is the rule of new life for all nature. There is a proverb at the Krasnaya Gorka festival that says: "Whoever marries on Krasnaya Gorka will never get divorced."

Trinity- the twelfth holiday of the Orthodox calendar, celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter, on the tenth day of the Ascension. Other names of the Trinity are the day of the Holy Trinity, Pentecost, the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. On this day, the Orthodox church mentions the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and honors the Holy Trinity. The event described in the New Testament book "Acts of the Holy Apostles" has a specific association with the doctrine of the Trinity - one of the main provisions of the Christian faith. According to this doctrine, God exists in three unmixed and inseparable persons: the Father - the beginning without beginning, the Son - the logos, and the Holy Spirit - the life-giving source.

Ivan Kupala- a summer holiday of pagan origin, celebrated from July 6 to 7. The holiday is associated with the summer solstice. Traditions: burning bonfires and jumping through them, lead round dances, weave wreaths, make grass. The celebration starts early in the evening. The name of the holiday came from the name of John the Baptist (the epithet of John is translated as "bather, sinker"). The main personality of Ivan Kupala is the cleansing bonfires, for such a person to be cleansed of the evil spirits surrounding a person, he would have to jump through these bonfires.

Day of Peter and Fevronia- folk Orthodox holiday, celebrated on July 8. Holiday traditions: to splash around without looking back, because it was believed that on this day the extreme mermaids leave the banks deep into the reservoirs and fall asleep. After the Kupala games, couples of the betrothed were determined, and this day was beneficial to the family and love, apart from this, in the old days, from that day until Peter the Great, marriages were played. The first haymaking is the day of every evil spirit such as: witches, mermaids, werewolves and almost everyone else. According to The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom, King Peter reluctantly married Fevronia, only their alliance was childless and ended with the tonsure of both spouses as monks. Sayings: there are 40 hot days ahead, after Ivan you don’t need a zhupan, if it rains that day, then it will be a good harvest of honey, pigs and mice eat hay - to a thin mowing.

Ilyin's day- Memorial Day of the Prophet Elijah on July 20 (August 2) and a traditional folk holiday among the Eastern and Southern Slavs, Greeks, Georgians and some other peoples who converted to Orthodoxy. This is one of the most important and especially revered all-Russian folk holidays, since Elijah the Prophet in popularity can only compete with Nicholas the Wonderworker. They started celebrating this holiday the day before: they baked ceremonial cookies, stopped doing field work and tried to protect their house from rain, hail and lightning, and themselves from illness and the evil eye with the help of various ritual actions. On Ilyin's day itself, any work was strictly forbidden, since this could anger the formidable saint, and then do not expect good. Also on Ilyin's Day in Rus', it was customary to arrange religious processions and pray for the weather suitable for field work, for the harvest, for protection from the evil eye and diseases, etc. By Ilyin's day, it was customary to bake the first loaves from the grain of the new crop, which were eaten by the whole village.

Apple Spas- the popular name of the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord among the Eastern Slavs, celebrated on August 19, and even before this holiday it is forbidden to eat apples and various dishes from apples, on the contrary, on a holiday, you need to pick more apples as allowed and consecrate them. The purpose of the holiday is the consecration of apples, seeing off the sun at sunset with songs. The Apple Savior has another name - the first autumns, then there is a meeting of autumn. According to tradition, it is necessary to treat with apples at first all relatives and narrow-minded, later orphans, the poor, as a remembrance of the ancestors who fell asleep in an endless sleep, and only later do they themselves have apples. In the evening, after the holiday, everyone went to the field to live together with the songs of the sunset, and with it the summer.

Honey Spas- Orthodox holiday celebrated on August 14. The essence of the holiday is a small blessing of water. The traditions of the holiday - the rule of collecting honey, its consecration and food - "widow's help". The holiday is celebrated in honor of the Origin of the woods of the Cross of the Lord at the end of the 14th century. The meaning of the holiday is the first day of the Dormition Fast. Honey rescued is also called “Savior on the Water”, this is due to a small water blessing. According to tradition, on this particular day in Rus', the newest wells were consecrated and the old ones were cleaned. This holiday is called “Honey Savior” due to the fact that on this day bee hives are traditionally filled to capacity and beekeepers go to collect honey collection.

Semyon Letoprovodets- the holiday of the Eastern Slavs, which comes on September 14th. The essence of the holiday is a feast on the occasion of the approach of autumn: summer ended in advance and the new year began. Rituals are performed on this day: celebration, sitting, lighting a fire, tonsure ritual, burial of flies, legend about sparrows. Semyonov's day is considered happy, which is why it is recommended to celebrate the celebration. Signs: Semyon accompanies summer, induces Indian summer; on Semyon - extreme trouble; they didn’t remove the spiked seeds - consider them disappeared; if the geese fly away on Semyon-day, wait for early winter.

Intercession Day - one of the holidays of the Eastern Slavs, is celebrated on October 14th. The meaning of the holiday is the final coming of autumn, on this day it was previously fixed towards Autumn and Winter. People say that from the Pokrov the goblin stops walking through the forests (otherwise they are called forest owners). On the eve of this holiday, young village women burn their old straw beds, and old women burn their old bast shoes, worn out over the summer. Russian people, celebrating the days dedicated to the Mother of God, expected support from Her.

Holidays in the Russian village of the past were an important aspect of social and family life. The peasants even said: “We have been working for the holiday all year long.” The holiday was perceived by the religious consciousness of people as something sacred, the opposite of everyday life - everyday life. If weekdays were interpreted as a time in which a person should be engaged in worldly affairs, earning their daily bread, then the holiday was understood as a time of merging with the divine and familiarizing with the sacred values ​​of the community, its sacred history.

First of all, the holiday was considered obligatory for all members of the village community who had reached adulthood. Children, old people, cripples, old maidens, sick people were not allowed to the holiday, as some have not yet reached the age of understanding sacred values, while others are already on the verge between the world of the living and the world of the dead, others have not fulfilled their destiny on earth - they have not entered into marriage.

The holiday also assumed complete freedom from any work. On this day, it was forbidden to plow, mow, reap, sew, clean the hut, chop wood, spin, weave, that is, perform all the daily peasant work. The holiday obligated people to dress smartly, to choose pleasant, joyful topics for conversation, to behave differently: to be cheerful, friendly, hospitable.

A characteristic feature of the holiday was the crowd. A quiet village on weekdays was filled with invited and uninvited guests - beggars, wanderers, pilgrims, walkers, leaders with bears, booths, raeshniks, puppeteers, fair traders, peddlers. The holiday was perceived as a day of transformation of a village, a house, a person. Severe measures were applied to those who violated the rules of the holiday: from a fine, whipping to complete expulsion from the village community.

In the Russian village, all holidays were included in a single multi-stage sequence. They coped from year to year, from century to century, in a certain order established by tradition. Among them was the main holiday, which, from the point of view of the peasants, had the greatest sacred power - Easter. Great holidays: Christmas, Trinity, Maslenitsa, Ivanov and Petrov days and small holidays, they were also called semi-holidays, were associated with the beginning of various kinds of peasant work: the first day of sowing grain, harvesting cabbage for the winter and others.

Holidays not associated with church tradition included Christmas time, Shrovetide, cherished holidays - in memory of some village event, more often tragic, in the hope of propitiating nature, a deity, as well as various men's, women's and youth holidays.

Holidays in spring are not only March 8, May 1 and 9. There have always been much more spring holidays in Rus'. Some of them date back to pagan times, somehow adapting to the Orthodox calendar and Christianity and harmoniously merging into church traditions.

Spring holidays of the Slavs

The first spring holiday, which was celebrated back in pagan Rus' - (Maslyanitsa) or cheese week. This spring folk festival involves a cycle of rituals associated with seeing off winter and ends with the burning of an effigy symbolizing winter. Before that, people have fun all week long, treat each other with pancakes and other dishes, participate in fisticuffs, ride a sleigh and dance.

The burning of an effigy by our ancestors personifies rebirth, similar to the Phoenix bird, through death. After that, the ashes of the effigy, as well as old things thrown into the fire, were fluttered across the fields so that with the new harvest a new revival would come, prosperity and prosperity would come.

Another Russian spring holiday - stoneflies, meeting of spring. Like Shrovetide, the celebration takes place on different days in accordance with the church calendar. Prior to that, he was tied to the astronomical spring equinox - March 22.

The celebration is accompanied by invocations of spring with the help of spells. And since the beginning of spring is associated with the arrival of birds, the main means of the spell is the preparation of larks and waders, which are then placed on elevated places or thrown into the air. The action is accompanied by ritual songs designed to bring spring closer.

Another spring holiday associated with a meeting with spring - " Alexey - streams from the mountains". It is celebrated during Lent. From that day on, the peasants began to prepare for field work. The Orthodox Church on this day remembers Alexei - the man of God.

Easter holiday cycle

- a holiday celebrated always a week before Easter. On this day, the Lord's entry into Jerusalem is remembered, shortly before his torment and death on the cross. Believers met him with palm branches, lining the road with them, because another name for the holiday is Palm Sunday. On this day, all Orthodox go to church and illuminate the willow branches and greet Christ, who has come to save humanity from eternal death.

The main spring holiday, of course, is - Easter. The miraculous resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a holiday, but the most significant event in world history. This is the whole essence of Christianity and the meaning of faith, the hope of salvation.

Easter traditions include the greeting "Christ is Risen - Truly Risen", "christening" with colored eggs, lighting Easter cakes and Easter cakes.

Folk festivals with round dances, songs and games, which sometimes lasted up to 2-3 weeks after Easter, are called Krasnaya Gorka. This holiday has been known since ancient times, it is also timed to welcome spring.

50 days after Easter, the Orthodox celebrate the holiday Trinity or Pentecost. Everyone decorates their houses with green twigs and flowers, which symbolizes the flowering of human virtue, and also recalls the appearance of the Trinity to Abraham in the Mamrian oak forest. Decorated with greenery, the temple resembles the same oak forest.

Spring children's holidays

In order to instill in children a love for the history of their people and its traditions, it is best to involve them from the cradle in the celebration of native Russian holidays.

The organization of a meeting of spring can be very bright, non-standard and fun. Moreover, there are many ready-made scenarios for various celebrations and festivities.

In the section on the question Tell me good people, when do the Ural peoples celebrate the arrival of spring according to the old calendar? given by the author BALL the best answer is the Day - this is the Day of the Spring Equinox, with the onset of which the arrival of Spring on earth, the arrival of birds, is celebrated. In all births, figurines of larks, pancakes and cookies with Solar Symbols are baked from dough. This day is the astronomical beginning of spring. As you know, in spring the day lengthens and the night shortens. And on the 20th of March, there comes a moment when the center of the Sun, in its apparent movement along the ecliptic, crosses the celestial equator and when the Sun moves from the southern hemisphere to the northern, the lengths of day and night are equal. Our ancestors considered the onset of spring a holiday, they looked forward to its arrival with great impatience (just like we do now!) And celebrated it equally magnificently in different parts of Europe and Asia. The Vedic celebrations of the arrival of spring were filled with an important sacred meaning of the victory of Light over Darkness, the awakening of all living things and the beginning of a new life. Ancient spring celebrations were held with fun and rituals that called for the fertility of the earth and the well-being of people. Goddess Vesta - Heavenly Goddess-Keeper of the Most Ancient Wisdom of the Higher Gods.

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Answer from 22 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Tell me, kind people, when do the Ural peoples celebrate the arrival of spring according to the old calendar?

Answer from European[active]
Holiday of the arrival of Spring. On March 20 or 21 (in different years), the Spring Equinox occurs - the moment when the Sun moves from the southern hemisphere of the sky ... The moment of the spring equinox is considered the astronomical onset of spring. well i think it's good

Answer from Education[newbie]
March 1 - the Festival of Spring that conquered winter. It has nothing to do with the Christian holidays that take place before Lent these days, but comes from an old legend about Spring. One day the Sun descended to earth in the form of a beautiful girl. The sun wanted to dance and have fun. The Evil Serpent stole it and locked it in his palace. The birds stopped singing, the children forgot what fun and laughter are. The world plunged into sadness and despondency. One brave young man volunteered to save the Sun. For a whole year he searched for the palace of the Serpent, found and challenged the Serpent to battle.
They fought all day and night, and the young man, of course, defeated the Serpent. He released the beautiful Sun. It rose to the sky, illuminating the whole world. Nature came to life, people were delighted, but the brave young man did not have time to see spring. His warm blood dripped onto the snow. The last drop of blood fell. A brave young man has died. Where the snow melted, white flowers grew - snowdrops, heralds of spring, and flowers whose white petals were dotted with blood-red spots.

Holidays in spring are not only March 8, May 1 and 9. There have always been much more spring holidays in Rus'. Some of them date back to pagan times, somehow adapting to the Orthodox calendar and Christianity and harmoniously merging into church traditions.

Spring holidays of the Slavs

The first spring holiday, which was celebrated back in pagan Rus' - (Maslyanitsa) or cheese week. This spring folk festival involves a cycle of rituals associated with seeing off winter and ends with the burning of an effigy symbolizing winter. Before that, people have fun all week long, treat each other with pancakes and other dishes, participate in fisticuffs, ride a sleigh and dance.

The burning of an effigy by our ancestors personifies rebirth, similar to the Phoenix bird, through death. After that, the ashes of the effigy, as well as old things thrown into the fire, were fluttered across the fields so that with the new harvest a new revival would come, prosperity and prosperity would come.

Another Russian spring holiday - stoneflies, meeting of spring. Like Shrovetide, the celebration takes place on different days in accordance with the church calendar. Prior to that, he was tied to the astronomical spring equinox - March 22.

The celebration is accompanied by invocations of spring with the help of spells. And since the beginning of spring is associated with the arrival of birds, the main means of the spell is the preparation of larks and waders, which are then placed on elevated places or thrown into the air. The action is accompanied by ritual songs designed to bring spring closer.

Another spring holiday associated with a meeting with spring - " Alexey - streams from the mountains". It is celebrated during Lent. From that day on, the peasants began to prepare for field work. The Orthodox Church on this day remembers Alexei - the man of God.

Easter holiday cycle

- a holiday celebrated always a week before Easter. On this day, the Lord's entry into Jerusalem is remembered, shortly before his torment and death on the cross. Believers met him with palm branches, lining the road with them, because another name for the holiday is Palm Sunday. On this day, all Orthodox go to church and illuminate the willow branches and greet Christ, who has come to save humanity from eternal death.

The main spring holiday, of course, is - Easter. The miraculous resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a holiday, but the most significant event in world history. This is the whole essence of Christianity and the meaning of faith, the hope of salvation.

Easter traditions include the greeting "Christ is Risen - Truly Risen", "christening" with colored eggs, lighting Easter cakes and Easter cakes.

Folk festivals with round dances, songs and games, which sometimes lasted up to 2-3 weeks after Easter, are called Krasnaya Gorka. This holiday has been known since ancient times, it is also timed to welcome spring.

50 days after Easter, the Orthodox celebrate the holiday Trinity or Pentecost. Everyone decorates their homes with green twigs and flowers, which symbolizes the flowering of human virtue, and also recalls the appearance of the Trinity to Abraham in Mamvrian oak forest. Decorated with greenery, the temple resembles the same oak forest.

Spring children's holidays

In order to instill in children a love for the history of their people and its traditions, it is best to involve them from the cradle in the celebration of native Russian holidays.

The organization of a meeting of spring can be very bright, non-standard and fun. Moreover, there are many ready-made scenarios for various celebrations and festivities.

For our ancestors, who lived in ancient times in Rus', holidays were an important part of both family and social life. For many centuries, the Russian people honored and sacredly kept their traditions, passed down from father to son in every generation.

The daily life of an ordinary Russian person in those days was not easy and was dedicated to the hard obtaining of daily bread, so the holidays were a special event for him, a kind of sacred day, when the life of the entire community merged with their sacred values, the spirits of their ancestors and their precepts.

Traditional Russian holidays implied a complete ban on any daily activity (mowing, plowing, chopping firewood, sewing, weaving, cleaning, etc.). During the holiday, all people had to dress in festive clothes, rejoice and have fun, conduct only joyful, pleasant conversations, for failure to comply with these rules, a fine or even a punishment in the form of whipping was due.

Each season played its own specific role in the life of a Russian person. The winter period, free from work on the ground, was especially famous for its festivities, noisy fun and games.

Main Russian holidays in Rus':

Winter

On January 7 (December 25), the Russian Orthodox people celebrated Christmas. This holiday, dedicated to the birth of God's son Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, ends the Christmas fast, which lasts for 40 days. On its eve, people were preparing to come to him with a clean soul and body: they washed and cleaned their homes, went to the bathhouse, put on clean holiday clothes, helped the poor and needy, and distributed alms. On January 6, on Christmas Eve, the whole family gathered at a large festive table, on which the obligatory first course was the ritual porridge kutya or sochivo. Dinner was started after the appearance of the first star, they ate silently and solemnly. After Christmas came the so-called holy days, which lasted until Epiphany, during which it was customary to go from house to house and glorify Jesus Christ with prayers and hymns.

Christmas time (Christmas week)

The holidays of the ancient Slavs, and then passed into the church celebration, the days of Christmas, begin from the first star on Christmas Eve and before the feast of Epiphany, the blessing of water ("from the star to the water"). The first week of Christmastide was called the Christmastide week, it is associated with Slavic mythology, associated with the turn of winter to summer, the sun becomes more, the darkness less. During this week, on evenings called holy evenings, holiness was often violated by mythological rites of divination, which was not welcomed by the church, and during the day, magicians dressed in clothes with flags and musical instruments walked the streets, entered houses and amused the people.

On January 19, Orthodox Baptism was celebrated, dedicated to the sacrament of the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River, on this day the Great Blessing of Water was performed in all churches and temples, all water in reservoirs and wells was considered holy and had unique healing properties. Our ancestors believed that holy water could not deteriorate and kept it in a red corner under the icons, and believed that this was the best cure for all ailments, both bodily and spiritual. On rivers, lakes and other bodies of water, a special hole was made in the ice in the form of a cross called the Jordan, bathing in which was considered a charitable and healing activity, relieving ailments and all sorts of misfortunes for a whole year.

At the very end of winter, when, according to the beliefs of our ancestors, Spring-Red with the help of heat and light drove away cold and cold, the Maslenitsa holiday came, known for its exuberant fun, which lasted for a whole week on the eve of Lent. At this time, it was customary to bake pancakes, which were considered a symbol of the sun, to visit each other, have fun and dress up, sled down the hills, and on the final Forgiveness Sunday, burn and bury the stuffed symbol of the defeated winter.

Spring

On this feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, although in Orthodoxy it does not have a prefeast, since Holy Week begins next, believers bring willow branches to the church (in the Slavic they replaced palm branches), which in the morning after the all-night vigil are sprinkled with holy water. Then the Orthodox decorate icons in their houses with consecrated willows.

Holy Easter was considered the biggest holiday of the entire Christian people in Rus', on this day the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his transition from death on Earth to life in heaven were revered. People cleaned and decorated their houses, put on holiday clothes, attended Easter services in churches and temples, went to visit each other, treating each other with Easter painted eggs and Easter cakes, after Lent. Meeting people said “Christ is Risen!”, In response, you need to say “Truly Risen!” and kiss three times.

The first Sunday after Easter was called Krasnaya Gorka or Fomin's Day (on behalf of the Apostle Thomas, who did not believe in the resurrection of Christ), it was a symbol of the arrival of spring and the long-awaited warmth. On this holiday, festivities began at night and lasted all day, young people danced round dances, rode on a swing, young guys met and got acquainted with girls. Holiday tables were laid with plentiful treats: fried eggs, loaves in the form of the sun.

Summer

One of the most significant holidays of the summer was Ivan Kupala or Ivan's Day, named after John the Baptist and celebrated on the day from July 6 to 7, on the summer solstice. This holiday has an ethnic origin and deep pagan roots. On this day, they burn large bonfires, jump over them, symbolizing the cleansing of the body and spirit from sinful thoughts and deeds, lead round dances, weave beautiful wreaths of flowers and meadow herbs, let them go with the flow and tell fortunes about their betrothed.

One of the folk festival revered since ancient times, to which many beliefs, signs and prohibitions are timed. On the eve of the holiday on Thursday and Friday they baked ceremonial cookies and stopped field work. And on Ilyin's day it was strictly forbidden to carry out any household work, it was believed that this would not bring results. A "brotherhood" was held, all the inhabitants of the nearest villages were invited to a common meal, and after the treats ended with folk festivals with songs and dances. And most importantly, Ilyin's day is considered the border of summer and autumn, when the water becomes cold, the evenings are cool, and the first signs of autumn gilding appear on the trees.

In the middle of the last summer month, namely on August 14 (1), Orthodox Christians celebrated the feast of the Honey Savior (saved from the word savior), which honored the death of the seven martyrs of the Maccabees, who were martyred for their Christian faith from the ancient Syrian king Antiochus. Houses were sprinkled with poppy seeds that protected them from evil spirits, the first honeycombs collected on this day, when the bees stopped collecting nectar, were taken to the temple for consecration. This day symbolized farewell to summer, after which the days became shorter, the nights were longer, and the weather was cooler.

On August 19 (6), the Apple Savior or the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord came, among our ancestors it was one of the very first harvest holidays, symbolizing the beginning of autumn and the withering of nature. Only with its onset, the ancient Slavs could eat apples from the new harvest, which were necessarily consecrated in the church. Holiday tables were laid, grapes and pears began to be eaten.

The last, Third Savior (Bread or Nut) was celebrated on August 29 (16), on this day the harvest season ended and the housewives could bake bread from the new grain harvest. Holiday loaves were consecrated in churches, and nuts were also brought there, which were just ripe at that time. Finishing the harvest, the farmers always knitted the last "birthday sheaf".

Autumn

One of the most revered holidays of autumn, which came to the ancient Slavs from Byzantium, was Intercession Day, celebrated on October 14 (1). The holiday is dedicated to an event that took place in the 10th century in Constantinople, when the city was besieged by the Saracens, and the townspeople brought prayers for help to the Holy Mother of God in temples and churches. The Blessed Virgin Mary heard their requests and, having removed the veil from her head, sheltered them from their enemies and saved the city. At this time, harvesting work was completely over, preparations for winter began, round dances and festivities ended, gatherings with needlework, chants and conversations began. On this day, tables were laid with treats, gifts were brought to the poor and orphans, a visit to a church service was obligatory, and the time for wedding celebrations began. Marriage on the Intercession was considered especially happy, rich and durable.

New Year (on the night of December 31 to January 1). In the New Year, it is customary to decorate the room with a Christmas tree or branches. At midnight on January 1, the congratulations of the head of state and the chimes are listened to. It is customary to serve, among other things, Olivier salad and champagne. Children are given gifts (from "Santa Claus"). According to opinion polls, this is the most celebrated holiday.

January 6-7 - Kolyada. Kolyada is a traditional holiday of pagan origin among the Slavic peoples, associated with the winter solstice. Date of celebration - on the night of January 6 to January 7. The meaning of the holiday is the turning of the sun from winter to summer. Celebration - caroling, dressing up, Christmas games, fortune-telling, family meals. According to popular belief, Mother Earth could open only because of a lie, a false oath, or false testimony.

End of February - beginning of March -. The start date of the holiday "floats", it is associated with the lunar calendar, it begins 8 weeks before the first spring full moon.
Maslenitsa is a Slavic traditional holiday celebrated during the week before Lent. The purpose of the holiday is to say goodbye to winter. Traditions: bake pancakes, go on a visit, arrange feasts, ride a sleigh and sled, dress up, burn or bury an effigy of Maslenitsa. It is celebrated from meat-fare Saturday to Forgiveness Sunday. The fertility of people in the popular mind was inextricably linked with the fertility of the land and the fertility of livestock, the third side of Maslenitsa, the memorial, is connected with the stimulation of fertility.

Palm Sunday- Orthodox holiday (entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem). It is customary to decorate the room with willow branches, symbolizing the palm branches of those who met Jesus Christ.

Verbnitsa this is a big holiday that is celebrated on Saturday and Sunday a week before Easter. Verbnitsa has become a kind of children's holiday with a mandatory visit to the willow bazaar. In Moscow, such a bazaar was held on Red Square. Here, colorfully decorated willow branches, bright paper flowers, red balloons, skillful toys, whistles and pipes, sweets were bought for children. From ancient traditions, the custom is still preserved early in the morning on Palm Sunday to lightly whip children for health with a consecrated willow branch.