Calendar of Russian holidays
The autumn holidays open the calendar, since according to Orthodox teaching, it was in the first month of autumn, in September, that the world was created and September was considered the beginning of the beginning. In addition, at the end of the 15th century, the beginning of each year began to be counted from September 14, i.e. This day was New Year's Eve. However, they called it differently - "the entrance of summer", where summer meant not the time of the year, but the New Year. Today, although the calendar year does not begin in September, this is the beginning of the school year and everyone's favorite holiday on September 1 - Knowledge Day. The coincidence of the beginning of the school year and the Orthodox New Year is very symbolic and carries a deep spiritual meaning.
AUTUMN
SEPTEMBER
11 September - Ivan the Lent's day. It was believed that Ivan the Lenten was the godfather of autumn, since this day ends the summer.
September 30th - day of Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia. This day was not only the day of the Angel of women with these names. It was called "universal woman's name day" and was sometimes celebrated for three whole days in a row. Along with the joy of the holiday, it was believed that on this day, women definitely need to cry and lament in order to bewitch happiness and peace in the house.
OCTOBER
October 27 - Praskovya-Gryaznukha Day, who were asked to get rid of loneliness. the rites of this day, like most of the October rites, are connected inmostly family business. So, on this day, women could learn about upcoming events in family life.
NOVEMBER
WINTER
The folk calendar defines winter with frosts, and the end is drop by drop, taking as a basis the phenomena of wildlife. December in popular belief is a turning point of the year, its peak on the days of the winter solstice, which divided the year into dark and light halves. In pagan times, wise men and sorcerers predicted events in December that awaited people in the summer. The whole month was filled with sorcery, sorcery, magical rites and all kinds of mysteries.
DECEMBER
December 1 - the holiday of the beginning of winter
was held under the motto: “What is Plato and Roman - such is winter for us!”, A holiday of folk winter games and fun. The celebration went on for several days
December 3 - Proclus Day (“They curse every evil spirit on Proclus”) and Introduction.
December 7 is the day of Catherine the sleigh. The main sign of this day is sledding, which, according to popular belief, relieved all worries and hardships from the soul. On this day, the girls began to guess about their betrothed, and finished fortune-telling at Christmas time in January.
December 9 - St. George's Day , the day of Egor Kholodny, the day of the patron saint of Russia, St. George the Victorious, is one of the main holidays of December, which has been celebrated with us since pagan times.
Most readers remember this day with the saying: “Here you are, grandmother, and St. George's day!”, Said for the first time in 1607 as a reaction to the ban on transferring from landowner to landowner, which became the beginning of serfdom in Russia.
December 13 - the day of St. Andrew the First-Called , the first disciple of Christ, "the Russian church of stone", who predicted the spread of Christianity on Russian soil. Oddly enough, but most often it was a girl's holiday dedicated to fortune-telling and prayers for a good groom, since it was believed that on this day a girl's prayer easily reaches the sky.
December 14 - Naum Literacy Day - the patron saint of students, the holiday of letters, the holiday of initiation into students. Education in Russia has long begun in the fall on the day of Kuzma and Demyan, and on the day of Naum Literacy, students demonstrated their successes. The teacher was most often a deacon. The training took place in the home of the student's parents. The means of instruction were the primer and the whip. For his work, the teacher received refreshments and gifts. According to ancient custom, often such a gift was a pot of porridge, thickly strewn with coins.
December 19 - Nikolin's day, Nikola winter. On this day, the elderly and elders in the family were honored, since the cult of St. Nicholas replaced the pagan cult of the Family - the deified first ancestor.
December 22 - the day of Anna dark or winter coincides with the winter solstice in the astronomical calendar.
December 31 - the end of the cold month , followed by the month of "flare up of the sun". In this regard, on December 31, the fire was to burn invariably. Today, the living sacred fire of this day has been embodied in modern candles and lights on Christmas trees. It was believed that on this day, the evil spirits celebrate their last fun and you need to protect yourself from it.
For the forecast of the next year, they guessed, leaving a shallow bowl of water on the porch on New Year's Eve. In the morning, the “forecast” appeared as a frozen picture: the ice froze evenly - a calm year, the ice reared up - a good year, the ice froze in waves - a year of happiness interspersed with grief, water froze out in a hole - a bad year.
December ends with the meeting of the New Year according to the secular calendar. According to the folk New Year in Russia, it began on March 14, according to the church - on September 14.
JANUARY
January 1 - the day of the holy Christian martyr Boniface - a healer from drunkenness and patron of people with alcohol. It was he who determined the measure of wine consumption.
Before Christianity, this day was dedicated to the memory of the mighty hero of the Russian land, the epic hero Ilya Muromets.
However, first of all, January 1 is the beginning of a new year according to the European calendar. In Russia, for the first time, this day began to begin the new year only at the behest of Peter I in 1700. According to the folk calendar, the year began on March 14, and according to the church calendar, from September 14. The introduction by Peter I of the date of the celebration of the New Year was accompanied by a huge celebration, which was repeated every year. At first, the people looked with pleasure at the amusing amusements, but many, including noble persons, began to grumble, not understanding how the sovereign could change the movement of the Sun. Assuming that God created the world in September, those who were dissatisfied with the innovation remained of their opinion for a long time, counting the new year according to the ancient custom.
The word "year" sounds the same in the language of Russian, Bohemian and Vendian Slavs and means "holiday". The year is divided into four parts - winter, spring, summer and autumn. Although this was not always the case: our ancestors divided it only into winter and summer. Summer consisted of the present three spring and three summer months, the last six months were winter. Later, our ancestors adopted the word "year" from their fellow Slavs, but not in the sense of a holiday, but in the sense of the entire annual time and summer as part of it.
January 2 - the day of Ignatius the God-bearer , was celebrated as a home, family holiday. On this day, a prayer service was served and then, during the procession, icons were carried around the village in order to protect themselves and their goods from special evil spirits - shulikans (from the old Russian word "shui", which means "bad, leftist"). From the standpoint of Christianity, these are little devils. To protect against them, the owner stuck an ax into the threshold in the evening, and the hostess stuck a sickle into the lintel. The power of the sharp sickle and ax was to be transferred to the door and threshold in order to protect the entrance to the house from evil.
January 7 - Christmas
, the beginning of Christmas time, the multi-day celebration of which ended on Epiphany, January 19.
January 14 - St. Basil's Day according to the national calendar; according to the church calendar, the day of one of the most prominent church fathers, Basil of Caesarea. According to one of the legends, while blessing people, he accidentally blessed a pig, so the people prayed to this saint for the fertility of pigs. This was also reflected in the menu of the festive table, where the pig's head was traditionally placed.
This day is especially famous for a unique event - the secondary celebration of the New Year, i.e. New Year old style. On the night of January 13-14 - on Vasiliev (generous) evening - they again collected the New Year's table, where such an abundance of baked goods was especially noteworthy that the celebrants might not see each other behind a pile of pies. Another sign of this evening was the last fortune-telling: girls - about marriage, family people - about the harvest of the coming year.
January 19 - Epiphany according to the church calendar Vodokreschi - according to the people. On the eve of Epiphany, on January 18, they celebrated the holiday of snow and purity - Epiphany Eve. On this day, snow was collected, since the water from it can heal many diseases. At midnight they went to the hole for water, because it was believed that on this night the heavens open and their reflection in the water makes it holy.
The theme of holy water was also the main theme at Epiphany. Epiphany water was supposed to cleanse everyone who took part in fortune-telling, caroling and games of mummers. Up to swimming in the hole, if the sin was serious. On this day, children were willingly baptized, as this could make them happy people.
Baptism ended Christmas time, but opened the wedding season, which lasted all February until the celebration of Maslenitsa.
January 25 - Tatyana's day , or a woman's whip, i.e. oven corner. This day got its name in honor of the holy martyr Tatyana (Tatiana), the daughter of a noble Roman dignitary and a secret Christian, who was arrested because of her refusal to make sacrifices to pagan idols. The brutal torments to which Tatyana was subjected either did not harm her, or during the night their traces disappeared without a trace, or the tormentors themselves suffered from blows inflicted by an invisible hand. Shocked by her resilience, the executioners themselves converted to Christianity and were baptized in their own blood. An amazing and tragic story, but known to few.
For most of us, Tatyana's Day is a holiday for Moscow students, since in 1755 Empress Elizaveta Petrovna signed a decree on the establishment of Moscow University. Since then, not only Moscow, but all students of Russia have their own holiday.
FEBRUARY
February 15 - Candlemas , border between winter and summer. On this day, all the spiritual strength and prayers of a Russian person were aimed at luring spring and the sun. If as a result of requests the sun appeared, then spring responded, the first meeting with it took place. Otherwise, severe Vlasyev frosts were ahead of everyone.
February 24 - Vlasiev day , and in pagan times - the day of Veles, the god of wealth, cattle and the owner of animals. On this day, cattle from all over the village were driven to the church and consecrated with Epiphany water. However, even at midnight, women went out with a broom and a poker and “plowed” the village three times. At the same time, one of them beat the frying pan, the rest waved brooms and pokers in honor of Veles, helping him drive away death from livestock.
Performing festive rites in the spring, our ancestors deeply believed that they help the sun warm up in full force and defeat the cold.
MARCH
March 1 - Yarilo with a pitchfork. On this day, the struggle between heat and cold begins, and Yarilo "raises winter on the pitchfork." Yarilo was represented as a young man, an ardent lover in love. sometimes, wanting to emphasize his youth and beauty, they dressed up a girl with Yarila. They put her on a white horse, put a wreath of wild flowers on her head, gave ears of corn in her left hand, and an image of a skull in her right hand, a symbol of death. In another case, Yarila, as a rule, at the fair, was represented by a young man with a whitened and rouged face in a paper cap decorated with bells, ribbons and flowers. Naturally, fresh flowers were part of the decoration of Yarila's costume or head during the holidays in his honor only at the end of April. And on the first of March they lit bonfires, the so-called "Yarilin's fires", on elevated places - on "Yarilin's bald patch". The next day, March 2, there was a continuation of the Yarilin Games. An obligatory rite is "snow thickening", during which the snow was harrowed, especially where it was covered with a dark layer.
March 6 - Timothy-spring symbolizes the distinct spirit of spring. Watching natural phenomena on this day, you can predict what spring will be this year. From that day on, evil spirits that could cause illness were avoided. Indeed, weakness and illness, intensified by fasting and chilly weather, contributed to the strengthening of faith in evil spirits and caused a desire to bypass it.
10th of March -Tarasy-kumoha. The word "kumokha" in the Old Russian language means one of the impure forces - fever. Spring fever hid behind at least 12 demons - diseases that were represented in the form of terrible old women. It was possible to drive them away with melted March water, fun and work, walks in the healing March air.
March 12 - the day of Prokop. The dig finally destroys the winter crust and pierces the road.
March 13 - the day of Vasily the dropper. On this day, healing pine branches were collected in the forest, pine buds were brewed and the steam was inhaled, as it was considered healing.
APRIL
