Holiday winter Christmas time has centuries-old traditions on Russian soil, which are associated with mysticism and the pagan roots of our ancestors. It is worth saying that Svyatki has a long history of origin and development, fouling with traditions and rituals. Christmas time has long been the main and most fun winter holiday in Rus', and the festivities lasted half a month.
"Christmas" or "holy days" start on Christmas Eve, which falls on the sixth of January, and end on the coming nineteenth of January. On the days of Christmas time, according to tradition, it was a sin to work, so as not to cause trouble for yourself and loved ones. But this was already in the time of developed Christianity, and before that, during the time of paganism in Rus', there was a similar winter holiday dedicated to the supreme heavenly god Belbog, who still had a name - "Svyatovit", from the root of the Old Slavonic word "sviatki", that is, "the souls of the ancestors." These days, according to popular beliefs, the souls of the dead returned to earth from another world, but besides them, all evil spirits came, and the witches organized their sabbaths these days to amuse the patrons of hell.
In the days of Christmastide, it was customary to guess about the future, to produce magical rites, recite spells for the year ahead, according to Christmas signs, find out the fate of the crop, family, home. Of course, the opportunity to peep into their future could not but arouse keen interest among the girls, so they, traditionally, guessed at the betrothed. Until now, many young ladies are not averse to telling fortunes on the night before Epiphany.
In the Christmas season in winter, it was believed that Kolyada, the embodiment of the birth of the sun, passed to Rus'. On the night of the Kolyada holiday, the Slavs kindled huge bonfires, moreover, from the sacred fire obtained in an ancient secret way, and they were supposed to burn for exactly twelve days. Bonfires were surrounded by well-dressed young people, they danced around them, told fairy tales, asked each other riddles, sang and had fun, jumped over the flames, rolled a set fire wheel from the mountain. But most importantly, young people “dressed up” - dressed up in sheepskin coats turned upside down, hiding their faces behind masks, which was symbolic and was perceived as a renewal of mother nature. In the evenings, dressed up, singing carols, they went from house to house, they quoted jokes, amusing the hosts, wished them prosperity, health and wealth, and they were supposed to treat them to ritual food. It was believed that as far as the owners of the house, where the mummers came with carols, would be generous to their guests, then they would have such prosperity in the coming year. It was the brightest ritual action of Rus'. Holy days began with it. Caroling is an exciting theatrical spectacle, which took place to the accompaniment of special thematic songs and wishes to the owners of the house. Caroling at Christmas time was customary on the night before Christmas, on New Year or as it was called "Vasil's Day" in those days, as well as on Christmas Eve before Epiphany. Christ was glorified, mostly by children and youth, and sometimes already adult men, walking through the village from house to house, and carrying a Christmas star in their hand.
The main holidays during Christmas time were Christmas, New Year, Epiphany, as noted above. It is clear that these days, against the backdrop of ongoing festivities, were celebrated more solemnly. In the evening, ritual meals were held in every house, during which people ate ritual food, and what remained on the table from dinner was placed on the threshold or on the window so that the souls of deceased parents would be treated to it. This ritual was called “feeding the ancestors”. The days of Christmas time were divided into “holy” and “terrible” evenings. In the first week after Christmas, they had fun at Christmas time, because these were “holy” evenings, when you could have fun at night - dancing, sleighing, playing snowballs, and on the “terrible” evenings in the second week after Christmas, they were guessing.
Christmas time abounded with rites, rituals, thanks to which our ancestors wanted to appease the souls of the dead, so that they would bring prosperity to everyone. Of course, many rituals had a purely domestic overtones. To increase the fertility of livestock, on the eve of Christmas they baked “goats” - small livers in the form of figures of animals and birds. In order to make life happy next year, the sheaf was placed in a red corner - under the icons, for this they poured straw on the floor of the hut, gave the remains of kutya from Christmas Eve to chickens, tied trees in the gardens with colorful ribbons. On the morning of Christmas and New Year, the boys had to perform a sowing ceremony in every house in the settlement. The child came into the house and scattered grains, to the song of congratulations for the owners on the New Year's holiday. The performance of such a ritual, according to our Slavic ancestors guaranteed a rich harvest next year.
As with any other folk holidays in Rus', many signs were associated with holy days. They said that if the day at Christmas was warm without frost, then the spring should be expected to be cold. It was believed that God would punish those who sinned by working in Svyatki: weaving bast shoes - with sick cattle, sewing clothes - with blind cattle, making yokes and runners for sleds - with barren cattle. Of course, people performed the main housework, but within the framework of what was permitted by Christmas traditions.
But young people were completely freed from work at Christmas time and were only busy with fun and looking for a mate. Every evening during holy days, with the exception of Christmas Eve, the youth arranged games, so boys and girls could notice each other, and even prepare for marriage. At gatherings, they dressed up in outfits and masks, started games.
Christmas divination have become a hallmark winter holidays in Rus'. Fortune-telling was performed in every family: adults guessed for the harvest, young people for marriage. The girls gathered in the evenings in some one house and arranged fortune-telling, trying to find out: will they get married this year, who will be the groom, what will be their fate? The guys also guessed at the betrothed.
When Christianity was established in Rus', the Christmas holiday changed its sacred meaning. The Russian Church condemned folk festivals, especially sharply she spoke about fortune-telling, caroling, and disguise. But the Russian people loved the winter Christmas holidays so much that they were not able to refuse this fun, so they decided to veil the pagan roots of the holiday under the morality of Christianity. The holiday of Kolyada, revered by the people, was transformed into the Nativity of Christ. The Church was able to convince people that it is a sin to conduct many traditional rites of Christmas time and fortune-telling. Orthodox Christian, but nevertheless, a trick was found here too: the time from Christmas Day to Epiphany was considered possible for fortune-telling, because sins could be washed away in the hole, which on the feast of Epiphany on the rivers was cut in a cruciform shape, people dipped there to wash away the sins of amusements and divination during Christmas time. And, in general, fortune-telling has ceased to be called an unclean act, it has become an ordinary pampering.
Time passed, and the meaning of the ancient pagan traditions of the holiday of Christmas time was completely erased from the memory of people, since now the Russian people glorify the Nativity of Christ, the mercy of the Lord, who showed the world the miracle of the Epiphany. Of the traditions and rituals of the holy days of pre-Christian Rus', in our time there are only carol songs, fun and fortune-telling, but they are perceived only as a winter folk entertainment that accompanies the old folklore holiday Christmas time.
GREEN HOLIDAYS (otherwise - RUSALIA) in the traditional Russian month-word (calendar) - a magical time dedicated to seeing off spring (Goddess Lely), honoring water spirits (mermaids) and birches, as well as commemorating the dead (including - mortgaged (that is, the dead before the deadline) of the dead).
Semik is the Thursday of the Russian week.
In ancient times, the beginning of the Green Christmas time, presumably, was associated with Yarilin Day (4 Sundays \ June), and the end of the Mermaids - the holiday of the summer Solstice - Kupalo.
Our ancestors associated mermaids with water and honored them by holding festivals and prayers for mermaids, considering them to be the spirits of rain, vegetation and fertility. Initially, mermaids were not depicted with fish tails, but in the form of winged girls - “Sirins”. Mermaids were winter and summer. Winter ones were closely intertwined with New Year's incantational magic, and summer ones ("Rusal Week") - with prayers for rain. Mermaid girls were associated with birch trees. Thin, delicate, light, they became a symbol of the end of winter and the beginning of summer.
During Green Christmas time, it was customary to bring home birch branches (the branches of this tree, especially used in rituals, were considered a powerful amulet by the Slavs) and flowers, decorate everything with greenery.
The birch was a symbol of life, inexhaustible strength. Wreaths were woven from its leaves. They were then placed in pots and covered with earth to plant cabbage seedlings there. It was believed that the "Trinity plants" have magical powers.
The first flowers and birch branches were brought to the houses. When branches and flowers withered, they were not thrown away. It was customary to keep them all year in a secluded place. And when the harvest began, dry plants were mixed with fresh hay.
Mermaid rituals consist of two main parts: honoring birches and mermaids and commemorating the dead.
Honoring birches and mermaids.
Curling wreaths.
At the beginning of Christmas time (in Semik), the girls “curl wreaths” to the ritual birch. First of all, a protective circle is drawn around the tree (very often it is replaced by a girl's round dance singing ritual songs). Then, on a birch, they bend and tie the top or branches in the form of a ring (without breaking them!). These rings are called wreaths.
“I twist, I twist a wreath,
- Curl, birch.
I twist, I twist a wreath,
- Curl, curly.
Through the rings, the girls are skating. After a few days, the wreaths are sure to develop.
According to folk beliefs, mermaids come out of the rivers in spring and swing on the rings of birch branches. People are trying to appease the water spirits, bringing them trebs.
"During the dirty week, the mermaids sat,
- Early, early.
Mermaids sat on a crooked birch,
- Early, early.
On a crooked birch, on a straight path,
- Early, early.
The mermaids asked for bread and salt,
- Early, early.
And bread, and salt, and bitter cibuli,
Early, early."
Tree feeding.
The tree is being fed - various food is left under it (the main ritual dish is scrambled eggs), cooked in bulk - that is, from products collected from all participants in the ceremony. Often the girls themselves eat under the tree (which can be understood as a meal together with the tree).
“Rejoice, white birch:
I'm going to you
Red yawns,
Tsebe carry
Cute yaeshni,
The burner is bitter
The violin is ringing "
Dressing up.
The birch is decorated with ribbons and scarves, sometimes it is completely dressed up in women's clothes. At the same time, the participants in the ceremony put on wreaths of birch branches and other greenery and dress up themselves. Most often, representatives of other gender and age groups were depicted: - as married women or men, sometimes - animals, devils and mermaids. Dressing up is a complex ritual that has many meanings: birch wreaths serve to liken girls to a birch, dressing up in clothes of the opposite sex and wearing masks (masks) of some animals - to ensure fertility, mummers depicting various spirits are, in fact, their representatives. In addition, disguise (according to folk beliefs) serves as a way of protection from possible harm from the inhabitants of the Other World.
Cumulation.
This is followed by the rite of cumulation - through a curled wreath they exchange rings, scarves, earrings.
"- We'll have a gossip, gossip,
I twist, I twist a wreath,
- Kiss, dove.
I twist, I twist a wreath "
The Russians call the birch after curling the wreaths "kuma", and in one of the Belarusian ritual songs it says directly: "I made a feast, turned blue with a white birch". In later times, as a result of a rethinking of the original custom, an alliance was made with mermaids. Trying to appease the mermaids and ensure a fertile season rich in rains, people performed ceremonies of culling, as if inviting the mermaids to become their relatives.
Raskumlenie.
A few days later, the so-called shaming took place: tree branches were untied, decorations were removed, and the holiday approached its final phase - seeing off the mermaids. According to popular beliefs, mermaids came out of the rivers in the spring for a short time, and their stay on land beyond the prescribed period was harmful: they began to play pranks, trample on crops and cause inconvenience to people. A rite of passage is a delicate way to remind water spirits that it is time for them to return home.
Cutting down a birch.
After all the symbols of the holiday were removed from the birch, it was cut down (sometimes dug up by the roots) and carried to the village. There, they usually brought her into all the houses “for good luck”, and then they went around the village with her and threw the tree into the river. The birch thrown into the water was supposed to transfer its healing power to the water. It was believed that the drowning of the ritual birch in the river provides a sufficient amount of moisture for the whole summer.
Seeing off the mermaids
After the reckoning, the rites of "wiring" and even the "funeral" of the mermaid are performed.
A girl or a doll was dressed up as a symbolic mermaid. They performed a ceremony of wires, which ended at a rye or grain field. This was done to improve crop growth, in the hope that water spirits would help grow a decent crop.
Presumably, the rite of "cuckoo's funeral" held at Green Christmastide has the same meaning. The fact is that in the folk tradition the cuckoo is associated with mermaids, and in the Belarusian language the word “zozulya” means both a cuckoo and a mermaid. This ritual is as follows: the girls make a scarecrow out of grass or rags, dress it up in women's clothes, solemnly "baptize", and soon (maximum every other day) two chosen girls bury the "cuckoo" in a secret place.
In some areas, before seeing off the mermaids, a rite of driving the “mermaid” into the living room was held. In the Gomel region, it was done like this: they chose the most hilarious girl, let her hair down, took off her clothes, covering only her shoulders with something, wove a huge wreath and wrapped a “mermaid” around it. Then she was solemnly led into the rye with songs and drumming, during the procession torches were lit.
When they reached the place, they dragged the "mermaid" into the rye by force, tore the rest of her clothes and ran away. The girl ran after her fellow villagers, trying to stop them ... The purpose of this ceremony is to imitate the migration of mermaids to the crops, which is necessary for the water spirits to help the crop grow.
Commemoration of the dead.
During Green Christmas time, it is customary to commemorate the dead. Commemoration of the Ancestors was performed on a large scale
A special place at Green Christmastide is occupied by the commemoration of the pledged dead. In folk tradition, this is how people who died before their time are called: those killed, suicides, those who died from an accident, and also those who died at a young age, cursed by their parents and communicating with evil spirit(sorcerers and witches). "Pawn" are considered to be inclined to harm people, including - to send all sorts of natural disasters (frost, drought, etc.). During the mermaids (and also during drought), it was customary to pour water on the graves of the drowned and the drunkards - it was believed that this helps to prevent (or stop) the disaster. The “mortgages” are commemorated separately from those who died a natural death, on time, the “clean” dead. This rite can be performed at any time, but Semik is a special day for commemorating this category of the dead.
other rites.
1) Walking in the living.
This ceremony was performed at the beginning or at the end of Christmas time: girls and women went to the fields to watch the crops. After the detour, they made a fire and had a feast around it. After eating, spoons (and eggshells) were tossed up with the words: “Let such a high rye be born, how high the spoon rises”; and then somersaulted on the ground shouting: "Rye to the barn, and grass to the forest!"
2) Seeing off or funeral of Kostroma.
In the Russian rites of "seeing off spring" ("seeing off Kostroma") - a young woman wrapped in white sheets, with an oak branch in her hands, walking accompanied by a round dance.
At the ritual funeral of Kostroma, it is embodied by a straw effigy of a woman or a man. The effigy is buried (burned, torn to pieces) with ritual mourning and laughter (cf. the funeral of Kostrubonka, Kupala, Herman, Yarila, etc.), but Kostroma is resurrected. The ritual is called was to ensure fertility.
3) Protective rites.
On the night of the Trinity, the girls and women plowed the village, thus creating a protective circle to protect against evil spirits. On the same day, in the west of Rus', a “cattle wedding” was performed: the shepherd brought two wreaths to the house, one of which was hung on the horns of a cow, and the second was put on the hostess, while performing magical actions.
4) Rites for love and marriage
The theme of love and marriage was one of the dominant in the process of celebrating the Mermaids. At this time, the girls wondered about marriage, to approach the matchmaking they performed various magical actions (for example, they made a furrow from their house to the young man's house).
Many ceremonies held on Green Christmas time have come down to modern times. And if you look closely at them, then the rites of the Green Christmas time are not a random set of ritual actions. All rituals are arranged in a certain order into an action, or, in modern terms, into a mystery that unfolds at this time. This means that there is a deep meaning in the celebration of the Green Christmastide, Rusalia, Ivan Kupala, which is repeated every year throughout Rus'. What is this meaning?
What did Rus' really celebrate on Green Christmas time?
Let's try to figure it out on the basis of the rites themselves, in the many described by ethnographers.
The celebration of Green Christmas time at their very beginning, as a rule, was full of rituals associated with agriculture and cattle breeding. For example, one of the agricultural rituals performed at that time was a ritual called “walking in the zhito”. It was performed in different ways, but its meaning was the same everywhere - to increase the yield of what was planted. It was believed that brides, like future mothers, could transfer their power to the earth. At the same time, the appeal was like to the plants themselves - “Let the rye be born so high, how high the spoon rises”, “Rye to the barn, and the grass to the forest”, “Where the round dance goes, life will give birth there, and where it does not happen, life lies down there”- and to Mother Earth, the breadwinner of the Russian peasantry - “Burn, hall, fall ashes, and you, Mother Earth, give birth to a harvest”, “The Earth gave birth, the Earth rewarded, the Earth enriched, Mother of God, save. Amen".
Of the rites associated with cattle, this is often described. The shepherd brought two wreaths to the hostess, one of which he hung on the horns of the cow, and the other was put on the head of the hostess, and performed certain magical actions. The wreaths were then kept in a barn and used to treat animals.
D.K. Zelenin in his book "East Slavic Ethnography", published in 1927, writes: "This night ( on Ivan Kupala - D.S.) and the dew has a wonderful healing power; they bathe in it to maintain health and beauty, they water cows with it so that they give a lot of milk..
Also on the night of the Trinity, the girls and women plowed the village, thus creating a protective circle to protect against diseases and what could bring them.
It is obvious that these and all similar rites of the Green Christmas time were aimed at preserving life and increasing fertility. That is, their meaning was to ensure that in the world of people “gobino” was provided - prosperity and a well-fed life.
As a rule, rituals followed, in which girls were involved and did not married women. They gathered in groups and went to the fields, meadows to collect flowers and curl wreaths. Sometimes flowers were collected from different fields that belonged to neighboring villages. Hoping in this way to lure suitors from these villages. Girls threw wreaths into the water, guessing about marriage, performed various magical actions (burned a harrow, made a furrow from their house to the boyfriend’s house, etc.), which were supposed to bring matchmaking closer.
Common meals, singing songs, walking almost until the morning were the rites of bonding the girl's union, which included more and more girls entering the marriageable age. The symbol of the girl's unification was also the rite of sacrifice, which was performed on the Trinity or on Spirits Day. Girls gathered together in the forest, approached a wreath curled on a tree from the branches of the tree itself, on which a cross or a painted egg hung, kissed through it and exchanged gifts, becoming godmothers. And after the culling, they arranged a feast, to which the guys were invited. The relationship of nepotism usually ended in a week, in the Petrovsky conspiracy.
The meaning of the maiden rites, I think, is expressed in the meaning of kumleniya - sisterhood. It gives the same communication and rapprochement between girls as brotherhood among guys, which they gain during male rites and initiations. And the birch tree, whose branches were woven into a wreath and tied with ribbons, became a witness to the sisterhood. And if we remember that the birch is associated with spiritual purity and bright thoughts, then the sisterhood during the culling takes on the meaning of reminding every girl, soul-bird, about that world where souls live in the same closeness as sisters.
But why mention it? The following lines from the girl's song give a clue:
Kuma with godfather let's have fun,
So that we do not scold all year.
Let's scold - we will be sinful,
The cuckoo will get sick.
Calling on a birch or a cuckoo to witness, the girls, the sisters of the rite, thus laid some foundation for forgiveness of what was offensive between them, and what could happen in everyday life, in ordinary life throughout the year until the next holiday.
The time of Green Christmas time was also associated with the appearance of mermaids. There are many assumptions and legends about who the mermaids are. Some of them say that mermaids are the souls of dead unmarried girls and children. The mermaid was called bathing suit, vodynitsa, shawl, mavka, navka. For example, the writer-ethnographer of the 19th century. P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky, it is told about mermaids as follows: “The whole Semitsk week, which is known among the people as “green Christmas time,” playful waterwomen roam the fields, ride on green rye, swing on trees, catching careless travelers in order to tickle them to death and drag them into the underwater kingdom of grandfather Vodyanoy. All night long, young boys and girls run briskly and cheerfully, with loud laughter, with joyful cries, running around the fields, chasing mermaids, and at sunrise they all bathe together in waters that are already safe from the tricks of crafty waterwomen ... "
Zelenin D.K. writes the following about the rituals associated with mermaids:
“The rituals associated with mermaids also include the expulsion of mermaids as something unclean and harmful from the village. Ritual folk songs sing that mermaids are driven out of the villages into the forests so that they do not harm people, crops and livestock. Before the expulsion of the mermaids, all sorts of amusements are arranged for them in the forest: in order for them to swing, which they really like, they hang special wreaths on the trees, arrange treats for them in the forest or near the water, mingle with them near the wreaths twisted around the trees, etc. etc."
These and many other ethnographic descriptions and testimonies indicate that mermaids look into the world of people during Green Christmas. But they also show up at other times. There is also a lot of evidence for this. But still, the time of Green Christmas time is special for mermaids. Therefore, people observed special prohibitions, largely coinciding with funeral ones: they avoided work related to spinning, weaving, sewing (“so that the mermaids can’t sew up their eyes”), did not perform any field and garden work (“they don’t go to the garden to dig and spud, because there will be a mermaid everywhere”), did not grease the stove and the walls of the hut ( "so that the eyes of the mermaids do not splatter with clay"), did not go to the forest for firewood, etc. At night, especially for the mermaid, dinner was left on the table, clothes were left on the nearest trees or a fence near the house.
If mermaids were as harmful as the descriptions of ethnographers convey, then why so much concern for mermaids, which is also mentioned and told in ethnographic evidence?
It was believed that on Green Christmas time, when the solstice occurs, the border between the subtle world and the world of people becomes thinner, and as the Sky becomes closer to the Earth, that is, to the world of people, so does the World of Spirits. This thinning of the frontiers was both a miracle and a danger. This means that all the prohibitions on certain actions that existed in Rus' are not accidental, so as not to harm those who can look into the world of people or so as not to inadvertently end up in another world before the deadline. Mermaids had a special relationship because they are the guardians of transitions between worlds and guides of souls. For this reason, they were so often seen in "this" world at the summer solstice, when the Worlds approached. And so they were rather respected and cared for, just like mermaids cared for souls in the interworld.
Due to the thinning of the border between the worlds, it was possible to communicate between the inhabitants of different worlds.
All the time of Green Christmas time was associated with the stay on earth of the souls of ancestors: the time of flowering of grain crops was considered the most favorable for contacts between “this” and “that” world. In some villages of southwestern Russia, it was believed that God releases souls from the other world, during the flowering of the life - the dead appeared on earth on Trinity Saturday, and left it on Trinity or the Spirit Day following it. In the Western Russian provinces, it was believed that they flew in the form of birds and sat on the branches of birch trees, specially brought to their homes for this purpose. It was believed that the souls of ancestors talk to each other and these conversations can be heard in houses and on the street.
There were also rituals designed to facilitate communication between the souls of ancestors and living people. For example, at night they set up a funeral fire on a raft and let it go with the thoughts that they wanted to convey to the souls of their ancestors. For this, lighted candles were sent on small boards and chips through the water. The effectiveness of these rites was associated with the fact that any river during the Christmas rites became a Forget-river that flows between the worlds and connects them. And passing on the news to non-incarnate souls, they waited from the “other” shore for a certain sign, as advice or an answer to their question, a request or an invitation to incarnate.
It was the task of the incarnation of souls, their birth in earthly bodies, that was the thread that connected most of the rites. Therefore, in the rites of the Green Christmas time, the theme of love, love games occupied a huge place. During Green Christmas time, initiation rites were held, which marked the transition of adolescents to a group of youth of marriageable age and the coming of age of girls and young people.
Guys and girls spent everything together free time. Joint festivities became more frequent closer to Ivanov's day, and games acquired an open love meaning. In festive attire, they usually gathered near the river, where, having lit a fire, they arranged round dances. Boys and girls swam together in rivers and lakes, which at other times was considered unacceptable, jumped, holding hands, over the Kupala fire, the fire of which resembled a love burning. Jumping over a fire was both a rite of purification and at the same time protection from all evils, diseases, grief and, mainly, a thin eye. At the same time, judging by a successful or awkward jump, they tried to predict future happiness or misfortune, early or late marriage. They also arranged meals that ended with a joint overnight, hit each other with nettles, and this was a “very” intelligible call for a love game, finding a mate for themselves, they sang songs and danced round dances, played kissing games.
Game rituals were also held, for example, such as the wedding game. For the game “wedding”, a “groom” and “bride” were appointed, and then they played all the stages of the wedding - from matchmaking to the wedding night - with the general fun of those present. The wedding theme was also played out through paired mythological characters, one of which symbolized the masculine principle, the other - the feminine: Semik and Semichikha, Cuckoo and Kukun, Mermaid and Rusalim, Good and Young. In many cases, the wedding game, especially if its participants were married women, turned into a strong revelry, kindled by strong words, singing ditties and songs that described bodily love. They danced to such songs with appropriate gestures.
On the day of Ivan Kupala, there was such a rite as pouring water on everyone you met.
To do this, the guys dressed in old dirty clothes and went with buckets and jugs to the river. Here they filled them with dirty, muddy water, or even just liquid mud, and walked around the village, dousing everyone and everyone, while an exception was made only for old people and youngsters. But the girls were most willing to douse. To do this, the guys even broke into houses and dragged and carried the girls out into the street by force, and here they were already doused with water and mud from head to toe. In turn, the girls tried to "revenge" the guys and also ran to the river for their dirt. As a result, a general dump began, full of fun, screams and laughter.
This rite is interesting in that it shows the essence and psychological structure of the cleansing rites for Ivan Kupala. What you need to take into account right away - they did not take offense at such actions, and did not condemn - it was a rite adopted on that day by everyone. And there is already a condition for purification in this - actions that are forbidden or inappropriate at other times are allowed. But it is not only the permissibility of such ritual actions that is important. After all, living in the same village, people, one way or another, accumulated tension on each other, no matter whether it was tension from resentment, or from love longing. And in the playful conditions of the rite, the accumulated tension could be relieved. Therefore, slapping mud at each other, in the heat of the game, the players who played were for each other the stimulants of the desire to get dirty "more", thereby releasing what had been held back for some time. The rite itself kindled the hunt for purification. At the same time, dirt was both a sign of tension and the substance that absorbed it. And when at the end of the ceremony the time came and the desire to wash off this dirt, then along with it, the tension was washed away from the soul. Therefore, the principle worked in this game - the more you smear another with dirt, the stronger his desire to cleanse both body and soul will be.
Cleansing is one of the main tasks of all the rites of the Green Christmastide.
Purification of the body and consciousness did not just exist in Rus', in the form of random finds repeated as customs on holidays. All rituals have their own meaning and purpose and are built into a single continuous thread of any holiday, and especially Christmas time.
The fact that so much attention is paid to the girlish and female participation at Green Christmas time, I think, is not accidental and is due to the fact that a woman, both by cultural custom and by her destiny, is a keeper and protector. And as a guardian and as a shoreline, she needs to be cleansed of what accumulates in the soul, in order to remove the superficial, update the knowledge, understanding and vision of what she is called upon to preserve and what to protect.
For men, in order to renew themselves, it was necessary to obtain what women would undertake to protect. Men and boys gathered and either wiped or carved a living fire - Cres. All Kupala bonfires were lit from it, and it was carried around the huts to be melted in Russian stoves.
It was a visible manifestation of Fire, which everyone had to kindle within themselves on Green Christmas time. And in order to kindle it, so that the renewal would take place, it was necessary to prepare for this - to pay off debts to the Earth, the nurse, to transfer to her the vital force for fertility. Take care of the health of the cattle and its fertility too.
Then cleanse yourself of external dirt and internal dirt - restraint and spiritual tension. And also to remember the kinship and closeness of souls, both living and non-embodied.
And after all this in highest point celebrations to remember their true nature - Fire and Light.
Thus, it turns out that the renewal, which Rus' celebrated at Green Christmas time, comes not so much due to the external and strictly fixed ritual of action in mythology. The rite itself, ritual actions only create the conditions in which each person himself creates the space in which his renewal must take place. Rites are needed so that, having cleansed oneself, everyone can bring out what is inside - the desire to live and love, which manifests itself in the feeling of inner burning and light in the eyes.
The people believed that this light was of the same nature as the sun, because, like the sun, it also gives life. But it shines from another world, from that world where souls come from. And I think that the renewal that took place every year on Green Christmastide on the day of the summer solstice is a renewal that is called upon to repeat the World of Souls on Earth, among people. It can also be said that the renewal of the Green Christmas time creates that Paradise, into which everyone strives to turn their habitat.
Dmitry Strelov.
Literature:
D.K. Zelenin "East Slavic ethnography", 1927;
P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky «
In forests »,
1874.
E. A. Bannikov « Slavic holidays and rituals. Orthodox calendar», 2008.
Green Christmas time in 2019 begins on June 17 - on Spirits Day, the day after Trinity. IN folk tradition Slavs green Christmas time symbolize the boundary between summer and spring.
Usually, on Green Christmas time, girls arranged girlish gatherings, wove wreaths of flowers, and dressed smartly. It is also customary to sing carols on this day, go from house to house and collect sweets and pies. Such festive moods are designed to improve field work and increase the harvest. Many rituals came from paganism, when people worshiped various gods of fertility and prosperity.
And it was also customary to take teenage girls into girls' companies. This meant that girls could "get married" and go out with older girls.
In general, the Green Christmastide cycle consisted of several interesting rituals:
- wreath weaving,
- birch log,
- cuckoo funeral,
- stumbling.
The birch was the main attribute of the holiday, it is also called the Trinity tree. It was customary outside the village, in the forest, to choose the most beautiful young birch and decorate the tree with wreaths, ribbons, and beads. With birch branches, young people walked around the village with a birch, and also installed it at the place of celebration. In some villages, it was customary to dress up a birch in a woman's dress and bring it to all houses. It symbolized prosperity, prosperity and love. Birch branches, as well as wild flowers, fragrant herbs were also brought to the house. Plants decorated the house not only from the inside, but also from the outside. It symbolized purification, protection from evil spirits, ailments. In addition, plants filled the house with a pleasant aroma, freshness, disinfected the air, and helped eliminate negative energy.
It was believed that these days grass, flowers, trees, shrubs have healing energy. Until the end of Green Christmas time, it was impossible to sweep in the house and on the street in order to preserve all the strength of the plants. Branches of various trees were also brought to the church for their consecration, and then also carried to the house.
It is customary to inspect the fields on Green Christmastide. Mostly girls did it. They "entered the fields" and examined the cereals. And the girls also gathered in groups, kindled a fire, fried eggs and treated each other with pies. In addition, during such gatherings, the girls asked to send them a good harvest, good weather, enough rain.
They also sprinkled water on the graves that day, especially those who drowned. In general, after the church, they always went to the cemetery and decorated the graves with birch branches.
By the way, it was believed that Green Christmas time is a good time to communicate with dead people. Therefore, girls often arranged so-called seances. All this is also connected with paganism, because the church does not approve of such actions. It was believed among the people that mermaids - dead girls and children - appeared on the Green Christmas holidays off the coast. And despite the fact that many rituals are associated with swimming in a pond, it was still considered dangerous to swim in lakes and rivers, because mermaids could drag them to the bottom with them.
Defended livestock on Green Christmas time. The shepherd brought two wreaths to the house. The hostess hung one wreath on cow horns, and with the second she adorned her head. Then ritual actions were performed, which, according to legend, were supposed to protect the health of livestock. After the rituals, the wreaths were hidden in the barn until the next year.
A wreath is an essential attribute of this holiday, so the girls always threw their wreaths into the water, thereby guessing at the betrothed. Girls spend a lot of time with guys on this day, giving them the opportunity and chance to make a marriage proposal. Many rituals are similar to the holiday of Ivan Kupala, because on Green Christmas time young people also jump over the fire, swim at night in ponds, hit each other with nettle branches.
Also, young people arranged impromptu weddings. The guy and the girl called each other "groom" and "bride". The couple went through all the rituals that a couple goes through when they really get married. In addition, stuffed men and women were created from straw and left them overnight in a barn, and in the morning it was customary to ask how their night went.
One more interesting tradition is the preparation of wheat pies, which, as it were, were wrapped in beetroot and cabbage leaves. And there was also a tradition when young girls had to cook small pies with meat filling with their own hands and throw them into a pond to appease the water spirits. It was believed that then the mermaids would become kinder and allowed to swim in the water and would not be taken to the bottom.
Divination for Green Christmas time
At Green Christmas time, most fortune-telling was traditionally related to love. The girls guessed in dozens of ways to find out when the betrothed would meet and how good the future husband would be.
Divination for the betrothed
The girls were guessing at the betrothed, in order to find out exactly when he would meet them, what his character would be. So, there was a custom when girls went into the forest and bent a birch tree to the ground, tying it with ribbons or braiding it with long grass. A week later, the birch had to be untied so that it would not be “offended”. If the branches have become lethargic, and the leaves have completely fallen off or faded, then a lonely year and failures await the girl, and if the birch has remained healthy and strong, then this year the girl will probably meet her betrothed.
And there was also a funny divination, which was supposed to show where the groom would come from. The girl stood in the center of the field and began to spin strongly. In which direction the fortuneteller will fall, from there it is worth waiting for the groom. In the same way, a part of the old plow was spun: in which direction it will fly away, falling out of the girl’s hand, the betrothed will come from there.
Divination on a chain
Among modern traditions such a fortune-telling appeared: if you have never counted the links in your chain, then you have such an opportunity for Green Christmas time. Make a wish or ask a specific question and count the links, guessing like a camomile. Or another option: they usually count three times, so as not to make a mistake with the number. Even number links will mean that the wish will come true, and the answer to the question will be positive, if the odd number falls out, then it is better not to implement the plan. After divination, you can not remove the jewelry for three days.
Divination with candles
Take three small pieces of paper, write on each as you wish. Now take the oak bark, attach the leaves to it and turn over, mix well. Now take three thin candles and place on the bark. Light it up and see. Whatever the first candle burns out faster, then the desire will come true faster than anyone else. And if the candle goes out without having time to flare up, then this desire will not come true very soon.
Divination with poultry
It is advisable to carry out in a house or in a country house, in a village where there are chickens, geese, ducks. If this is not possible, then fortune-telling can be done on the street, in the area where doves and sparrows accumulate. Pour millet into two plates, put a ring on one plate, a coin on the other, and do not put anything on the third and just pour the grain. Put these plates in the yard. Where the birds peck the grain faster, in that area, and wait for the news. The ring means receiving a marriage proposal or a meeting of fate, a coin is an inheritance, an increase in career ladder, profit. If the birds pecked at the grains in an empty plate, then the year will pass smoothly, without changes. Instead of a coin and a ring, you can use some other attributes: car or house keys, a globe keychain, a baby pacifier, a calendar. You can also write wishes on a piece of paper and also put on a plate under the grains.
What not to do during Green Christmas
It was believed that during the Green Christmas time, livestock should not be given fresh grass, and flour should not be sifted into a barrel or trough.
On Green Christmas time, they are afraid to swim in the reservoirs, because mermaids can take them to the bottom. But if you conduct a ceremony of "reconciliation", throw meat pies into the water and say certain words, then the water inhabitants will be allowed to swim.
We tried these days not to swear, to help each other, not to swear, but to smile more and have fun.
After the Green Christmas time, there came a time of humility, restrictions, which was also an important part of people's lives.
On the eve of the Trinity holiday, Green Christmas time is coming - one of the most magically powerful periods of the year. Green Christmas time in 2016 lasts from June 12 to 19, which means we must not miss this magical time and find out what awaits us in the near future.
A week before summer and winter solstice in Rus', it was customary to tell fortunes and perform rituals to appease the spirits, since it was believed that the transition from spring to summer and from autumn to winter is accompanied by powerful magical transformations in the universe. Such weeks were called Christmas time. After the adoption of Christianity, Christmas time was timed to coincide with church holidays. So, winter Christmas time began to be celebrated immediately after Christmas and until the very Epiphany. And summer, "Green Christmas time" (in the rites they welcomed the first greenery and the beginning of field work) - in the week before the Trinity, which in 2016 falls on June 19. The time of Christmas time has changed, but the tradition of guessing has been preserved. We will not violate it either.
Candle divination
Write on small pieces of paper 3 wishes, the fulfillment of which you are waiting for this year. Then take 3 fresh oak leaves and sew these pieces of paper to them. Turn the leaves over and shuffle. Place a thin wax candle on each sheet. Light candles and wait for which one to melt and go out faster. Turn over the sheet with the burnt out candle and find out which of the desires is destined to come true first. If some candle suddenly goes out without burning out, it means that the wish will not come true soon.
Divination by birds
Take 3 large cups, put a ring in the first, a coin in the second, and do not put anything in the third. Fill cups with millet and place them on an outside windowsill or in the garden. If the birds peck the grain first from the first bowl, then the year will be successful for personal relationships, if you are single, a wedding is likely. Was the coin cup empty first? Expect promotions and wealth. But the increased interest of birds in the third cup promises a stable year in which there will be no major changes.
It is not necessary to use only a coin and a ring. You can write special wishes on pieces of paper and hide in millet, increase the number of cups if you have more specific wishes for the year. But always leave one empty to be honest with fate.
Behind seven seals This fortune-telling will reveal the secret of how long you have to wait for the fulfillment of a desire. Take 7 identical pieces of thick paper (according to the number of magical days of Green Christmas time), in the center of each write a time range (for example, 1-2 weeks; 6 months - 1 year, 2-3 years, and so on). Seal the written with candle wax (to do this, hold a lit candle over the numbers until the wax drips them entirely, and then wait until it dries). Put the leaves in a cloth bag, put it in a secluded place at the beginning of the holy week (no one should see the bag!) And take it out only on the feast of the Trinity. Take out one of the sheets at random, scrape off the wax - that's the answer to your question!
Divination on the leaves
For this divination, you will need 5 colored ribbons of the same length. The red ribbon will symbolize love, the green one will symbolize the state of health, the white one will symbolize relations with relatives and friends, the yellow one will symbolize work and money, the blue one will travel. On one of the days of Green Christmas, go to a park or forest and tie ribbons to 5 different trees(for example, oak, maple, poplar, aspen, birch, or any other tree that grows in your area), pluck a leaf from each tree. But do not forget to which tree which ribbon was tied! When you bring the leaves home, lay them out on the table and see which leaf wilts last. If this turns out to be a leaf of a tree on which you tied a red ribbon, then this year you will be lucky in love; if the leaf of the tree where you left the blue ribbon - get ready for the journey, etc.
Divination on the water
Do you want to know what to expect from a relationship with your soulmate? Prepare 7 identical opaque glasses. Fill 6 of them with clean water, and leave the seventh empty. Add a little sugar to one glass, salt to another, vinegar to the third, honey to the fourth, white wine to the fifth, plain water to the sixth, and nothing to the seventh. Invite the chosen one or chosen one to choose one of the glasses and try the water. Sweet taste will mean that the relationship will bring you many pleasant moments, salty - grief that you will experience together; the taste of vinegar promises many quarrels, honey - the flowering of relationships; wine will mean that your partner will cheat on you, simple water - everything will remain as it was before, but an empty glass promises a quick parting.
