The Great Lent has ended. Having celebrated such significant days as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, we celebrate Easter - the Resurrection of Christ. And don't forget that Easter week is ahead!

The Easter celebration is just beginning

Traditionally, mass public festivities begin on Easter evening and last the whole Easter week. The tradition of celebrating Easter week is based on the religious belief of Orthodox people that on the day of the Resurrection of Christ, the sun that rises into the sky sets below the horizon only a week later. During Easter week the celebration changes its flavor.

Remember that the Easter action begins in the church during the night service with the Easter fire and the morning bell ringing. Then the celebration moves into the stage of breaking the fast after Lent at festive hospitable tables with the indispensable symbols of Easter: blessed Easter cakes, Easter cottage cheese, colored eggs. And on Sunday evening, the celebration moves into the stage of festivities and acquires a mass street character. Usually people go out to the squares of cities and villages, smartly dressed. Mass celebrations are accompanied by music, dancing, round dances, rituals, and games.

Easter Week has a number of additional names: Bright, Great, Veliko-Denskaya, Red Week, Bright Week. The names themselves somehow speak about the nature of Easter week and its significance in the series of religious holidays.

Easter customs of believers

Every day during the entire Easter week, Easter liturgies are held in Orthodox churches. The altar gates and deacon doors must remain open at all times. This symbolizes that the resurrected Christ opened the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven for believers.

Another custom of Easter week is a tour of all the villages of the parish by the church clergy, led by God-bearers with icons and banners, followed by priests, deacons, and psalm-readers. If the parish was large, then the priests walked around the villages for several days. The procession was full of solemnity and began in the central village, where there was a church. As it progressed, villagers joined the procession, and everyone went to the chapel, where the priest served a prayer service. Then the clergy followed from house to house, where they were greeted with Easter eggs and Easter cake. In every house, the priest served a prayer service, burned incense, and sprinkled holy water all around. After walking around the village, the icons and banners were handed over to the God-bearing peasants who came for them from the neighboring village. And the next day at dawn the procession gathered and went to the neighboring village to perform church services in it.

In the evenings before going to bed during Easter week, you should not just pray in front of the icon, but also read prayers of praise and chants in honor of Jesus Christ and the Mother of God. The eve is brought to the images - a small jug of honey and 2 wax candles, which should burn all night to commemorate the departed. Easter prayers were supposed to protect people from troubles and misfortunes, bring prosperity to families and prosperity to the household. It was believed that during Easter week the Lord gives people grace to celebrate.

Easter memorial days

During Easter week it is customary to remember the dead. There are 2 days for this - Easter Monday and Easter Thursday. But this does not at all contradict the joyful spirit of the holiday on the occasion of the Resurrection of Christ. It is believed that the souls of the departed on these days temporarily return to earth to enjoy the holiday together with the living, and thus they seem to receive hope for their own resurrection. Commemoration is not carried out in churches; the deceased are commemorated in a cemetery. According to signs, you can’t sew these days, so as not to sew up the eyes of the dead, you can’t wash, so as not to muddy the waters for the dead.

Easter rituals

Easter week is a symbol of rebirth, renewal of life. And therefore, during this period there are many rituals that are associated with marriages. Of course, the main initiators and participants in such actions are young people. From Easter week, “marriage” festivities for boys and girls begin, and bridesmaids are also held, the traditions of which differ depending on the region of residence.

For example, the show could go like this. The girls, putting on the most beautiful outfit, went out onto the village street and... played bacha: they took a long stick decorated with paintings and knocked over a wooden figurine placed on the ground with it. Their dexterity, accuracy and accuracy were observed by the guys and everyone who wanted to, which gave reason to understand which of the girls was the best. There was also such an option for viewing. The girls, dressed in everything new, gathered in the square in front of the church and stood there for some time for everyone to see. Then the girls got on horses and rode them around the village.

During Easter week, it is customary to perform all sorts of magical actions that should bring marriage closer: writing notes with the names of the intended grooms or performing various fortune-telling.

Easter games and fun

Throughout Easter week, you need to visit each other, enjoy a festive meal, dance, sing choral songs, have fun and enjoy life. The holiday traditions include several popular Easter games and fun.

1. Round dance. An ancient folk pastime, when people join hands and, forming a closed circle, dance in a circle to the music, changing the direction of the circle after each verse. Gradually the music speeds up, and the round dance speeds up in rhythm with it, and accordingly, the round dance changes the direction of the circle more and more often.

2. Choose a bride. This game is somewhat similar to the children's game trickle. The girls stand in two rows, forming a corridor along which the “well done” walk. Their task is simple - choose the girl they like and take her away from the “corridor”. And then the “matchmaking” procedure is carried out, when the guy, holding the girl’s hand, asks his friends about her merits. If, after listening to the reviews, the guy kisses the girl, then from that moment they are considered the bride and groom for the entire period of the spring-summer festivities.

3. Egg rolling. This is a game with colored eggs. The first time it is held on Easter. But they continue to play it throughout Easter week. According to the rules of the game, a low hillock is selected on the ground or some kind of wooden tray is installed at an angle. At the bottom, the eggs of all participants in the game are laid out in a semicircle. Each participant rolls their egg down the slide with the task of knocking someone else's egg out of place. The knocked down egg is assigned to oneself as a “trophy”, and the game is continued by another participant. If the rolled egg does not knock down any eggs, the owner loses it and it remains on the line. It becomes clear how important the original painting of eggs is for this game, so that they can be easily distinguished. In addition to excitement and fun, this game also had a magical meaning: it was believed that rolling eggs on winter crops helped awaken and fertilize the earth and gave hope for a good harvest.

4. Swing. Swinging has always been the most popular and favorite pastime during Easter week. The main participants are, of course, young people, and the rest are enthusiastic spectators. The girls sit on the swing first. If the swing is paired, then the guy who wants to ride with the girl sits on the swing after her. If the swing is not paired, then the guy pushes the girl from the ground. There was a tradition according to which girls gave the guys colored eggs in gratitude for skating. The swing ride was accompanied by the refrain:
On holy week
We hung swings.
First you sway -
Then you'll get married.

Fomino Sunday

Easter week ends on the eighth day, Fomino Sunday. This day received its name in memory of the appearance of Jesus Christ to the Apostle Thomas, who at first did not believe in the miracle of the Resurrection of Christ - Thomas the Unbeliever.

This day is also called: Antipascha or Red Hill. According to church tradition, Antipascha means a day similar to Easter, and is celebrated just as joyfully. On this day, the Easter liturgy is served for the last time, and the royal doors are closed. And it received the name Red Hill because games and festivities on this day were held on the hills where the snow melted earlier than others - the red (beautiful) hills. The red hill symbolizes the full arrival of spring.

On Fomino Sunday, Easter celebrations reach their peak. On this day, the greatest fun is planned with all the Easter games and amusements; crowded booths are held everywhere. According to folk custom, weddings are scheduled for Krasnaya Gorka. An old Russian proverb says: “Whoever marries on Krasnaya Gorka will never get divorced.” Therefore, participation in the festivities of unmarried boys and girls was considered mandatory, and refusal to participate was considered a bad omen.

And after Fomin Sunday, Fomin Week begins. But that's a completely different story...

1:502 1:507

It was believed that the ringing of bells on the day of Christ's resurrection was endowed with truly magical powers - By ringing the bell, believers asked for a good harvest, peace and harmony in the family, and the girls for a handsome and rich groom. If a person said his request from the bottom of his heart, then it would definitely come true.

1:1068 1:1073

In Rus', every year on the day of this great holiday, jugs of honey, called kanunchiki, were placed near the icons in every house. The owners lit candles in them and remembered their relatives and friends who had departed from this world, so that they too could rejoice that Christ had risen. After the holiday, on Easter week, these jugs were taken to the cemetery and left on the graves of the dead. They also took three red Easter eggs with them to the cemetery and, saying “Christ is risen” at the grave, crumbled the colors for the birds.

1:2004

1:4

As soon as the bells began to ring on Easter Sunday, people crossed themselves and said three times: “Christ has risen, and my family has health, my house has wealth, my field has a harvest. Amen".

1:363 1:368

It’s good to go on a swing on Easter (and throughout Easter week). This is a ritual of fanning. They say it blows away all sins.

1:584 1:589

If you scoop up water from a spring or river on Easter night , then, according to popular belief, it will have special power.

1:816 1:821

So, the one who will be the first to see the sunrise on Easter, he will not know troubles all year.

1:976 1:981

Girls to get married, During the church service on Easter, you should say to yourself: “The Resurrection of Christ! Send me a single groom!”

1:1263 1:1268

If the child was born on Easter Sunday, then he will become a famous, famous person. Anyone born on Easter week will have good health. Great people, who can even change the course of history, are born not just on Easter Sunday, but also at noon and with a shirt on.

1:1818

1:4

Death on Easter is a special sign. A person who died on this day is marked by God. His soul will immediately rush to heaven, to the holy saints. The deceased is buried with a red testicle in his right hand.

1:349 1:354

After the morning service, you need to get home as quickly as possible and start the festive meal: The faster you do this, the more successful things will go.

1:636 1:641

And so that the baby grows strong and strong, on the morning of Easter Sunday, he must be placed with his feet on an ax and said: “As steel is strong, so be you strong and healthy. Amen.

1:955 1:960

If your baby is developing slowly, On Easter, walk him barefoot on a wooden floor. And his teeth will erupt faster, he will walk on his own legs sooner, and he will speak sooner.

1:1288 1:1293

Willow, brought during Palm Week, was used to fan the children's room, thereby driving out misfortunes and illnesses.

1:1485 1:1490

It's a good sign for Easter to hear the cuckoo - this portends an addition to the family, and for young girls - an imminent marriage.

1:1724

1:4

Our great-grandfathers always crumbled a piece of blessed Easter cake for the birds , thus invoking good luck and wealth.

1:214 1:219

It is considered a bad omen if a candle goes out during the Easter service in church, but if it burned down before the end of the service and the person put it out himself, then this is good.

1:511 1:516

On Easter and throughout the week following it, the church did not marry newlyweds. - being distracted by worldly holidays was considered a great sin.

1:778 1:783

On Great Thursday, or as it is also called, Clean Thursday Each housewife did a general cleaning of the house and washed all the dirt clean. People say that holidays do not come to a dirty house.

1:1137 1:1142

If you are constantly experiencing money difficulties , on Easter, be sure to give a coin to a beggar - you will not know the need for the whole year.

1:1392 1:1397

The girls made themselves beautiful that day - the blessed red Easter egg was placed in water, and then they washed themselves with this water.

1:1617 1:4

Couples in love were sensitive to kisses on Easter. It was considered a bad omen to kiss on the threshold - it promised separation. Also, if you hear the croaking of a raven during a kiss, then the lovers could soon separate. But if the kiss took place under a tree, then this promised a joyful life.

1:546 1:551

Mothers protected their children in the following ways: - starting from Easter and throughout Easter week, the babies were first given a piece of blessed Easter cake on an empty stomach, and then only fed the rest of the food.

1:895 1:900

And so that there is peace and harmony in the family and no one quarrels with each other , the Easter meal must begin with the whole family and everyone must first of all eat a piece of Easter cake and an egg that was blessed in the church.

1:1301 1:1306

A woman who can't get pregnant , on Easter, you should put an extra plate next to you, put a piece of Easter on it with the words: “Kulich for the kids!” After the meal, this piece was crumbled to the birds.

1:1699

1:4

At Easter, as well as at the Annunciation, birds were released into the wild as a sign of spring freedom. . When releasing it, they made a wish - it was believed that the bird was a heavenly creature, and she would pass it on to the Almighty.

1:351 1:356

Candles bought for Easter were kept in the church all year - they were used to bless the young, place them near the seriously ill, and use them to drive out evil spirits from houses.

1:650 1:655

Elderly people throughout Easter week, combing their hair, said the following words: “Send me, Lord, as many grandchildren as there are hairs on a comb.”

1:933 1:938

The remaining wax from Easter candles was stored until next Easter - according to popular belief, this served as a talisman for the house against fire, and for the family against curses.

1:1206 1:1211

A husband and wife should hit each other's colored eggs at breakfast on Easter Sunday. The one whose testicle has not broken will be the “head” of the family all year.

1:1499

1:4

If your child is capricious and whiny , on Easter, parents must definitely go to church to atone for their sins.

1:215 1:220

So that the harvest does not suffer from hail, drought or heavy rain, peasants buried Easter egg shells in the ground on Easter.

1:458 1:463

It was considered a bad omen to oversleep the morning service on Easter. - this prophesied failure.

1:625 1:630

If during Easter week you saw a deceased relative in a dream this means that next year no one in the family will become seriously ill or die;

1:893 1:898

If someone in the house is dying, then in church on Easter Sunday you had to try to take the Easter egg from the hands of the priest. When leaving the church, you need to go up to the icon of the Mother of God and call her with you: “Mother Mother of God, come with me to my home. Spend the night with us, heal the slave (name of the patient). At home, it was necessary to feed at least part of the egg brought to the patient. Then, according to popular belief, he will not die this year.

1:1675

1:4

And, of course, people paid attention and noticed the weather on this bright holiday.

1:158

Good weather at Easter was considered a harbinger of a hot summer, cloudy weather meant a cold, dry summer;

1:372

If many stars were visible in the sky, this meant that there would still be frost;

1:512

According to popular belief, if all the snow has already melted on Easter, then the harvest will be rich this season.

1:693

Heavy rains during Easter week also foreshadowed a prosperous year.

1:823

A thunderstorm during Easter week was considered a sign of late and dry autumn;

1:954

Seeing a colorful sunset on Easter was considered an excellent omen and promised great luck.

1:1139 1:1144

Signs and spells for Easter

1:1202

A large number of signs and conspiracies are associated with the holiday of Easter.

1:1341

• If you wash your face with water in which a colored egg has been dipped, the person will be healthy and handsome.
• Staying awake the night before Easter protects against illness, ensures a successful and happy marriage, a rich harvest and good luck in the hunt.
• If you give seven gifts or do seven good deeds on Easter, then the Lord will protect you throughout the whole year.
• On Easter, a husband and wife do not cross Christ in front of everyone - this leads to separation. Parents and children can kiss three times.
• If on Easter you give eggs and Easter cake to someone who is sick in the house with your left hand and barefoot, the sick person will recover faster.
• If, at the first strike of the church bell, you cross yourself and say: “Christ is risen, and good health to the servant (name),” even a seriously ill person will recover.
• To live richly, change money three times in a row on Easter. When you exchange them for the last, third time, throw the change into the corner with the words: “Roll the silver into the red corner, For our wealth and goodness. Amen."
• On Easter Eve, place a colored egg and money in each corner of your house, saying: “Like an Easter egg and a ruble will not come out of this corner, so that money will never leave my house. Christ has risen, and to my words Amen.” The eggs are eaten the next day, but the money cannot be spent until Easter week has passed.

Kazanbaeva Ksenia

The connection of the traditions of one people with Orthodox traditions and pagan rituals preserved among the people

Download:

Preview:

Municipal budgetary educational institution Tashkirmen basic secondary school of Laishevsky municipal district of the Republic of Tatarstan

"Easter and the swing"

Head: Marina Terentyevna Sidorova, teacher of history and social studies, MBOU Tashkirmen secondary school, Laishevsky MR RT

2017

Introduction

1. Holiday of holidays.
2. Swing and Easter.
3. Conclusion.

Introduction.

Motherland. Such a simple and capacious concept. The origin of everything began. The homeland begins with the father's house, native street, city, village. The native land is a part of the Motherland. You need to know your small homeland well. To know in order to love her.And you can't love what you don't know. “Without the past, there is no future,” a wise man once said, and to this it remains to add: “You need to know and appreciate the history of your small homeland, only in this case can you benefit yourself and your fatherland!”

In my opinion, studying the history of one’s native village through the origins of its origins, through the life history of its inhabitants opens up new prospects for development.

The purpose of the study is to consider the features of the Easter rituals of the Kryashens. Tashkirmen.

During the work, the following tasks were set and solved:

1. Identify and describe the main traditions of the people associated with Easter rituals
2. Consider the main problems of preserving rituals.

To solve the problems, the following research methods were used:

1. Study, comparison of historical sources.
2. Conducting a survey of residents of the village of Tashkirmen.

The materials of F.S. Bayazitov “Dialects of the Tatar-Kryashens in comparative light”, Moscow, “Science”, 1986, were studied.SOUTH. Mukhametshin “Tatars-Kryashens”, Moscow, publishing house “Nauka”, 1977. Internet resources were used.

The work I carried out showed that the sources describe the traditions of the holiday in general terms inherent to the Kryashens as a whole. We want to show the peculiarity of holding the holiday in our village. This determines the novelty of our research.

The practical significance lies in the fact that the materials of this study can be used in the educational process of the school.

1. Holiday of holidays.

In the Christian tradition, Easter occupies a special place as the “Feast of Feasts”. Preparation for it involves consistent adherence to a number of religious instructions. But there is another, “folk” tradition of attitude 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.

Easter, as well as Maundy Thursday preceding it, was associated with a complex of cleansing rituals. In the morning, it was customary to wash your face with water in which silver crosses were dipped - “your face will be smoother.” Easter was associated with ideas about the holiness of water on this day. One of the features of the preparation for Easter was the decoration of the shrine and the house for the holiday. At the same time, the house was not decorated as usual, by hanging towels in the walls, but also special attributes and decorations were made.

While studying the topic, I turned to the village elders for help. They told me a lot about how preparations were going for Easter. As it turns out, we still adhere to the customs that were established by our ancestors.

In the tradition of the Kryashens of our village, the greatest significance is the procession around the church and the “meeting of Christ,” the time of the first utterance of the Easter greeting “Christ is risen!” My grandmother, Maria Ivanovna Kuznetsova, says that earlier, during her childhood, Easter night was the only one during the year that was covered by the ban on sleeping. The usual routine was disrupted, which had a special symbolic character. The entire time of Easter week was usually considered festive - from Sunday to Sunday. Any work was prohibited on Easter. The week before Easter was special: the house had to be washed, everything had to be cleaned. And this week, starting on Monday, the housewife counted how many eggs the chickens would lay that day. Each day was assigned to one of the household members, and if suddenly the chickens laid more eggs than usual, they said that God loved this person and that his year would turn out well. For children in any historical period, Easter is a special holiday and children are assigned an important mission on this holiday. Let's start with the fact that for Easter the children wore everything new. Then the boys and girls were sure to collect the colored eggs in beautiful bags, sewn especially for this holiday. And the housewife sat the first children who entered the house on the pillow and the children said: “Yomyrkagyz kup bulsyn, tavyklarygyz isen bulsyn, chybyshleregez isen-sau, matur bulsyn.” Housewives especially liked it when boys came to the house first. This promised a lot of eggs and a good litter of chickens. When the children have gone around all the relatives, they gather on the hill, count who collected how many eggs, have lunch and start playing: rolling eggs down the mountain: whoever rolls the farthest wins. Or they try to knock others down with an egg. What you touch is yours. These traditions are still maintained in our village. Usually housewives wait for the children until lunchtime, and then they themselves begin to visit each other.

1. Swing and Easter.

In my home village, Easter does not pass without a swing. The swing is installed on the day before Easter. Young guys are doing this. Installing a swing is a difficult task, involving heavy physical activity. Today in the village of Tashkirmen there is a special place for swings, but before they were installed in different places and they were not as large as they are today. Swinging is a fun activity for young people. But the most interesting thing is that the swing was installed for a certain period. So I was interested in how swings and Easter are connected?

Having studied the literature and Internet sources, I did not find information about what other nations put up swings for Easter. Not finding the necessary information in the literature, I again turned to the old-timers of our village.

The oldest resident of our village, Anufrieva Maria Ivanovna, who is 93 years old, told me that there have always been swings. They were installed even during the Great Patriotic War, but they were small. No one remembers the purpose of the swing for certain. Some say that swings are just youth fun, others associate swings with spring, with the sun, and still others claim that swings are a symbol of nature’s transition from the state of winter, and the call of the sun. After all, they were riding on the swings desperately, making “sun” or “half-sun”. However, the swing of the Kryashens of our village is at the same time a symbol of Easter, praise of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his ascension, and a symbol of spring.

It’s gratifying that swings are still installed today. The process is quite labor-intensive. It is necessary to prepare 7 logs, not thick, but long. The most suitable tree is pine. The guys prepare the logs for a week and trim them.

And on Saturday, before Easter, they spend the whole day installing them. Three logs are placed on both sides and tied tightly at the top with a rope.

And the swing ride begins!!! True, grandmothers warn that you should only ride on this swing in the week after Easter. And then the swing can harm a person’s spiritual state and worsen his well-being.

Conclusion.

Swings for Easter are an echo of Kryashen paganism. However, today this symbol has become an attribute of the Orthodox Easter holiday in the Kryashen village of Tashkirmen. In this work, I discovered that the Kryashens of the village of Tashkirmen not only remember the customs of their ancestors, but use them in modern life. “You need to know and appreciate the history of your small homeland, only in this case can you benefit yourself and your fatherland!” I completely agree with this statement. And for me, my little homeland is a swing at Easter.

List of used literature.

1. F.S. Bayazitova “Tatar-Kryashen dialects in comparative light”, Moscow, “Science”, 1986.
2. Maxim Glukhov-Nogaybek “The Fate of the Seyumbeki Guards” Kazan, Vatan Publishing House, 1993.
3. SOUTH. Mukhametshin “Tatars-Kryashens”, Moscow, publishing house “Nauka”, 1977.
4. Internet resources
5. Memoirs of village elders.