Rituals and folk signs for Holy Week. Holy Week: Traditions and customs of Holy Week. Features of Holy Week

Holy Week 2018 © depositphotos.com

Today Holy Week 2018 has begun. He will tell you how to behave correctly before, what you should not do, what signs and traditions of this period have been preserved to this day. tochka.net .

Holy Week in 2018: what date begins and ends

Holy Week 2018 will last from Monday, April 2, to Saturday, April 7. The end of Holy Week marks the arrival of the main Christian holiday - which this year will be on April 8.

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Holy Week: what not to do

What not to do during Holy Week © depositphotos.com

During the entire week before Easter, one must not ignore the severity of Lent, nor indulge in gluttony. You will have to continue to give up meat, eggs, dairy products and even fish.
During Holy Week you cannot spend time in places of pleasure and entertainment. Forget about discos, concerts, noisy companies, gambling, singing and dancing.
A dissolute lifestyle is considered a great sin; one should not even allow sinful thoughts and desires. The impulses of the flesh should be restrained to purify the soul.
During Holy Week, no one should be denied requests for help, compassion and good deeds. It is believed that during this period God himself turns to people with a request.
Also, under no circumstances should you quarrel with anyone. Insults, foul language, lies, envy, aggression and other negative feelings and actions are unacceptable towards others.
In the church during Holy Week, the sacraments of baptism and weddings are not performed, the days of saints are not celebrated, and the dead are not commemorated.

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Holy Week by day: what you can do on what day

Monday It is best to devote to cleaning the house, painting, whitewashing, minor repairs and reading prayers.

Tuesday dedicate to things and putting clothes and household items in order: take them apart, wash them, mend them, iron them.

From about environment You can already start preparing for the Easter meal, although fasting continues.

Thursday It’s not called clean for nothing. This time is dedicated to early ablution before sunrise, cleansing the body and clean things. You can also bake Easter cakes on this day.

Passionate Friday- a particularly significant and sad day that should be dedicated to prayers and memories of the passion of Christ. You should not do any household chores.

Saturday- a suitable day for preparing for the holiday, preparing Easter treats, Easter eggs, Easter cakes, Easter eggs. With a prepared Easter basket, believers go to all-night services in churches.

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Holy Week 2017: How to spend the week

On Monday they sing of Patriarch Joseph, who was deceived by his brothers and sold a barren fig tree. It is allowed to eat only baked goods and plant foods. At home, women have many tasks that are required by customs. In residential areas, a major cleaning began, sometimes combined with cosmetic repairs. From early morning they began to look for the usual signs about Holy Week:
It’s sunny, which means the weather will be great in the summer, and the harvest will be abundant.
No rain - you can have a wedding this year. Young people will live their entire lives without tears.
After waking up on Monday, you need to wash your face using silver, or even better, gold dishes in order to enjoy wealth and health all year long.

Holy Week 2017: Tuesday commemorates the following stories of Jesus before his martyrdom: the ten virgins, the talents, and the resurrection of the dead. You can eat only raw food. Preparations for the holiday begin in homes.
You need to wash your linen and clothes in order to appear at the festive service in all its splendor. The women were still deciding what products they would use to make Easter cakes and how to paint the eggs. If there was a shortage of something on the farm, it was purchased on Tuesday.
Holy Week 2017: Holy Wednesday
IN Wednesday they remember the traitor Judas and the sinner who washed the Son of God. You can only eat raw food. Orthodox Christians strive to receive communion. Folk customs force us to clean the house. The windows are washed and the curtains washed the day before are hung on them. Order is restored in all corners, chests of drawers, and drawers. This big deal will end tomorrow.
Thursday, also called pure, is marked by the memory of the Supper, the Great Savior. Characterized by the washing of Orthodox Christians in the morning and the preparation of Easter food. Many signs for Holy Week relate specifically to Maundy Thursday. Popular beliefs boil down to the fact that families who fail to get their homes in complete order before evening will live unsettled and in the dirt all year. There are other important rules:
Before dawn, everyone needs to wash themselves, cleansing themselves of the evil that has accumulated over the year. Even the little ones were bathed. The special magic inherent in all the days of the Great Week cleansed a person from the evil eye and damage. From the morning service, bring home a candle that will help any family member in moments of illness. It should be protected and lit only when the household is in serious condition. Heat the salt in the oven (in a frying pan), pour the resulting black mixture into a bag. At the consecration of Easter cakes, it is placed in a common container so that it acquires special properties. Then this Thursday salt can be used for magical purposes as a talisman. Superstitions give her enormous power. Girls can cut their braids on this day. Children who were already a year old were getting their hair cut. It was impossible to cut children's hair before Maundy Thursday. All cleaning had to be completed before lunch. Cleaning is prohibited for the next 6 days. And from lunch, the housewives in the cleaned houses made dyes, put dough on Easter cakes, kneaded Easter cottage cheese. To ensure that wealth does not leave the house, they count money and move furniture. Nothing can be taken out of the apartment until Easter.
Friday called passionate, illuminates the torment and death of Jesus. It is forbidden to eat before the evening service. They read the “Our Father” three times. They say: “Lord bless.” They form the cake and put it in the oven.
Ash from the oven where the Easter cake was baked is used as a talisman. On Good Friday it is prohibited to use pitchforks and shovels. But it’s useful to clean things up again. After all, within a day or two, dust can already accumulate. It is better to wipe off the dust with a new cloth. After the dust is finally collected on Friday, the rag cannot be rinsed or washed. It is dried and hidden in a secluded place. They take it out to get rid of lower back pain or aches in other joints. Usually it is wrapped around the most painful area after washing in a bathhouse. Some important signs are given below: They tried to wean infants only on Good Friday. Popular beliefs convinced that such children would be healthy and strong. If you look out the window, you can find out your fate for 3 months. Happiness is for those who see a man first, and then women and children. On Friday, Holy Week comes to an end, so prohibitions appear that regulate people's lives. For example, from this day they do not wash until the end of the Easter holidays.

IN Saturday The Liturgy of Great Basil takes place, Easter food is blessed. Alcohol is strictly prohibited. Women spend the day preparing the festive table for Sunday. In the evening, all work is abandoned and people go to work. Saturday is the optimal period during which various rituals are held. The coin ritual is called effective. They take 5 kopecks, say a text on them, and then place the coin in the same place as the other money. Next, the charmed money is sewn into the jacket and coat from the wrong side. When choosing an item, you should focus on your favorite outfits, which are most in demand. Saturday - wakefulness combined with inaction. During this special week, it is customary to pray a lot and go to church. On Saturday the service runs from morning until the next morning. The priests dress in light clothes, this symbolizes that Holy Week is coming to an end, good is victorious.

Holy Week 2018 © depositphotos.com

Today Holy Week 2018 has begun. He will tell you how to behave correctly before, what you should not do, what signs and traditions of this period have been preserved to this day. tochka.net .

Holy Week in 2018: what date begins and ends

Holy Week 2018 will last from Monday, April 2, to Saturday, April 7. The end of Holy Week marks the arrival of the main Christian holiday - which this year will be on April 8.

READ ALSO:

Holy Week: what not to do

What not to do during Holy Week © depositphotos.com

During the entire week before Easter, one must not ignore the severity of Lent, nor indulge in gluttony. You will have to continue to give up meat, eggs, dairy products and even fish.
During Holy Week you cannot spend time in places of pleasure and entertainment. Forget about discos, concerts, noisy companies, gambling, singing and dancing.
A dissolute lifestyle is considered a great sin; one should not even allow sinful thoughts and desires. The impulses of the flesh should be restrained to purify the soul.
During Holy Week, no one should be denied requests for help, compassion and good deeds. It is believed that during this period God himself turns to people with a request.
Also, under no circumstances should you quarrel with anyone. Insults, foul language, lies, envy, aggression and other negative feelings and actions are unacceptable towards others.
In the church during Holy Week, the sacraments of baptism and weddings are not performed, the days of saints are not celebrated, and the dead are not commemorated.

READ ALSO:

Holy Week by day: what you can do on what day

Monday It is best to devote to cleaning the house, painting, whitewashing, minor repairs and reading prayers.

Tuesday dedicate to things and putting clothes and household items in order: take them apart, wash them, mend them, iron them.

From about environment You can already start preparing for the Easter meal, although fasting continues.

Thursday It’s not called clean for nothing. This time is dedicated to early ablution before sunrise, cleansing the body and clean things. You can also bake Easter cakes on this day.

Passionate Friday- a particularly significant and sad day that should be dedicated to prayers and memories of the passion of Christ. You should not do any household chores.

READ ALSO:

See all the brightest and most interesting news on the main page of the women's online resourcetochka.net

Subscribe to our telegram and stay up to date with all the most interesting and current news!

If you notice an error, select the required text and press Ctrl+Enter to report it to the editors.

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The meaning of Holy Week

Holy Week is the last week of Lent. All the previous weeks have been preparing us for this time, since the strictest fast has been observed for the last seven days. Every day of this week has great significance and meaning, especially Holy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday. Maundy Thursday is known for the tradition of washing the house, cleaning, and also washing yourself. On this day we finally wash away our sins, hatred, anger and reluctance to follow the path pleasing to God.

Holy Week prepares us to celebrate Easter as befits a true believer. A complete abstinence from food is encouraged, but it is absolutely not necessary. Only monks burden themselves with such strict fasting during Holy Week. They eat only a minimal amount of bread. If your health allows you to do this, then you can try to observe the same strict fast this year.

Of course, we won’t be able to experience what Jesus Christ experienced, but we don’t need to do that. Holy Week reminds us that these torments were accepted for the sake of each of us, for the sake of the salvation of our souls.

Holy Week in 2017

Lent and Easter are transitory events, that is, they have non-permanent dates. Holy Week, of course, is also fickle. In 2017 she starts on April 10. It will end, as befits the rules, on the resurrection, when Jesus Christ rose to show his divine essence, to convey to people the essence of faith and salvation.

The clergy, as always, recommend not watching even the news on TV, not to mention entertainment programs. It is advisable to leave all sinful activities for later, exclude animal foods from the diet and get rid of bad habits that prevent you from concentrating on prayers and a righteous lifestyle.

Try visit church at least once in these seven days. You can do this before Easter - on Holy Saturday, for example, when you go to bless the Easter cakes. Try to take communion and confession so that you can celebrate this holiday with a pure body and soul as well. If you not asked for forgiveness from loved ones on Forgiveness Sunday, then ask for it during Holy Week. Become at least a little bit better. Even small victories over yourself and your human weaknesses can be considered an achievement. Do good during Holy Week by helping those who need it. Bring light into this world so that it stays inside you and illuminates everything around you.

Lent is not a time of restrictions. On the contrary, this is a time of freedom from addictions, from sin and emotional problems. It all depends on your perception, and not on how other people try to present the post to you. The Lord is merciful, therefore, even during Holy Week, people who need proper nutrition for health reasons are allowed to eat as they need.

Nutrition should be the last thing on your mind during Holy Week and during Lent in general. The main thing is to eradicate the evil within yourself and force yourself to become better. Learning to forgive is the main goal of fasting. When you prove to yourself and God that you have learned to let go of insults, your sins will be forgiven too. Good luck to you, and don't forget to press the buttons and

31.03.2017 08:34

Maundy Thursday is the fourth day of Holy Week, associated with many traditions and customs. To properly...

Christians have the most important holiday, Easter - the Resurrection of Christ. They begin to prepare for this day 7 weeks in advance, observing the Great Strict Lent. And now, when it comes to the very end, there is one week left before the bright holiday, a lot needs to be done in order to celebrate the important day, as befits Orthodox Christian believers.

Let's talk about what Easter signs and customs must be observed.

Great Holy Week

The most important last Holy Week of Lent has begun. Why is it called that? Because these were the last days of the earthly life of the son of God, filled with torment and suffering. All week we must remember the life of the Savior, his terrible martyrdom on the cross, and burial.

In ancient times, starting from Maundy Monday, in Rus' they ate only dry food, stopped court cases, avoided all kinds of entertainment, released prisoners from prisons and stopped such types of work as chopping wood, sewing, knitting, embroidery.

During Holy Week, according to church traditions, the following rituals were not performed:

child baptism;
commemoration of the dead;
wedding of young people;
celebration of saints' days.

The Great Week is filled with special beliefs, Easter signs, customs and rituals. They used to say: “The Great Week has come, women have their fill of things to do.”

Maundy Monday

From that day on, they began to put things in order in their homes, washed everything and cleaned it, tinted it, greased it, and repaired it.

This Monday determines what kind of summer is coming. Early in the morning you need to go outside and look at the skies: if they are clear and the sun begins to play, then you can expect a good harvest in the summer. Such a clear morning is a harbinger that all the newlyweds, whose weddings will be played this year, will have a happy life of prosperity and love.

On the morning of Holy Monday, it was customary to wash oneself using gold or silver utensils, which promised health, youth and financial well-being.

Maundy Tuesday

On this day, housewives begin to think through the Easter menu, decide how to prepare Easter cakes, what other dishes will be at the festive feast, and what products need to be purchased.

Also on Maundy Tuesday, all clothes, bedding, towels and tablecloths, towels and curtains are washed in the house. Tuesday ends with the fact that people must prepare themselves festive clothes, in which on Sunday they will go to the all-night Easter service and the lighting of Easter cakes and eggs.

Great Wednesday

On this day they begin to thoroughly clean houses. They wash the windows, hang up the curtains washed the day before,
clean kitchen utensils and dishes, carpets, mop floors, clean closets and mezzanines, shelves and drawers. It’s clear that you can’t get it done in one day, so they continue cleaning on the next day of Great Holy Week - Maundy Thursday.

Great Maundy Thursday

That’s why it’s called clean because by evening all cleaning work in houses and apartments must be completed so that everything shines and sparkles. There is even such a belief: those who did not have time to clean up on Maundy Thursday and who have dirt left in their houses will live in dirt for the entire next year.

On Maundy Thursday, it is customary to go to church for service and bring home a passionate candle, then light it all year long; if one of the family members is seriously ill, it will help in healing.

You definitely need to prepare Thursday salt. You need to take ordinary coarse salt and calcine it in an oven; in modern conditions this is done in the oven. During the blessing of Easter cakes, salt is also placed in the basket. And then after this ritual it gains special healing power and can protect from any evil.

If a person is unwell, you need to dissolve a little Thursday salt in water and give the patient a drink.
In order for peace, comfort, tranquility and happiness to always reign in the home and family, a pinch of such salt is thrown at the head of each bed.
To protect the house from grief and misfortune, you need to pour a little Thursday salt in each corner (this is done in the evening, when all the work on cleaning the house is completed).
If you feel that an unkind person with evil thoughts has come to your house, add a pinch of this salt to his food. And when he leaves, lightly sprinkle all his traces with it.
When spouses begin to quarrel among themselves, you need to put a small canvas bag of Thursday salt under their pillow.
In order for little children to grow up healthy and cheerful, kind and reasonable, while bathing them you need to throw a little salt into a basin or bathtub.
If suddenly someone leaves home and does not return for a long time, you need to throw a pinch of such salt into the fire.

Prepare
There will be more Thursday salt so that it will last for the whole year until the next Maundy Thursday. It can also be added to the food of domestic animals - cows, goats, pigs, sheep.

On this day, not only the home is washed, but the owners also need to take a swim, wash away all their sins, they can take a steam bath or plunge into an ice hole. On this Thursday, young girls always cut their braids to make their hair thicker and more beautiful. It is also customary on Maundy Thursday to cut the hair of one-year-old children for the first time; it was forbidden to cut their hair before this day.

Maundy Thursday is considered the most troublesome day for housewives, because after lunch, when you have bathed and put the house in order, you should start making Easter cottage cheese, start coloring eggs and making dough for Easter cakes.

Great Good Friday

On this Friday, you are supposed to buy a lot of candles at church and light them throughout the day in all rooms of your house. This is a terrible and mournful day, the son of God was crucified, dying on the cross in suffering and agony. If possible, on Good Friday, as a sign of grief, Orthodox Christians completely refuse to eat.

Good Friday is the day when housewives prepare Easter cakes from the dough made the day before.

Before starting a responsible task, you need to read the “Our Father” prayer three times, then say: “Lord, bless.” And get to work.

If Easter cakes are baked in an old Russian oven, then after cooking you need to take a little ash from it. It has healing powers, will help remove damage, the evil eye and love spells, and cure a person of alcoholism.
On Good Friday, in all corners of the house, you need to thoroughly wipe it with a cloth again. Then they don’t wash it, but carefully put it in a bag in a secluded place. If one of the family members has severe lower back pain, then tying yourself with such a rag can relieve the pain. If diseases of the legs or joints suddenly strike, then after bath procedures they wrap it around the sore spots.
Never use pitchforks or shovels on a Friday like this.

They say that babies who are weaned from their mother's breast on Good Friday will definitely grow up healthy, strong and strong.

Holy Saturday

This is also a day of mourning, when all Orthodox Christians mourn the death of Jesus Christ. Any kind of fun, intimate relationships, and consumption of alcoholic beverages are prohibited.

Housewives are preparing for tomorrow's big day and are working in the kitchen, preparing dishes for the festive feast. By evening, all work stops, and the Easter service begins in the church.

Try
definitely go to it. It is not easy to endure the All-Night Vigil service, but believe me, when the church bells begin to ring, when the world is told that Christ is Risen, the feeling in the soul is indescribable. We become little witnesses of the Great Mystery, we learn and believe that life has defeated death, and good has triumphed over evil.

If for some reason you cannot go to service that night, do not go to bed early. Go out into the street at midnight, turn your gaze to the sky, and you will feel God’s Grace descending, you will understand with some parts of your soul beyond the control of our consciousness that Jesus Christ has risen.

These are the happiest moments for truly Orthodox people.

When the All-Night Vigil service ends, the priest begins the blessing of the Easter cake, eggs and everything that you brought with you in your holiday basket.

Holy Resurrection of Christ - Easter

Coming from church, the whole family sits down at the festive Easter table to break their fast.

If you were unable to get to the All-Night Easter service, then know that the consecration of Easter cakes begins at about 4-5 o’clock in the morning and then continues throughout the day while parishioners go to church; the priest is always waiting for even the slowest Christians.

But try to do it on time, because the church ministers who conducted such a long, most serious service of the year need to rest and celebrate this great day.

And also, when eggs are blessed on Easter, it is customary to place several eggs in the baskets of church servants who walk ahead of the priest as gifts. You can also put sweets, pies and buns, small Easter cakes, and cookies.

Easter egg dyeing traditions

Perhaps some people still don’t know where the tradition of painting eggs for Easter came from. The painted egg is a symbol of this holiday.

When Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene came to Rome to preach, she presented Tiberius, who then ruled the Roman Empire, with a gift of an egg and proclaimed that Christ had risen. The emperor doubted that dead people could be resurrected and said: “This is as impossible as if your presented egg now turns red.” And at that very moment a miracle happened: the egg turned red.

Christians believed in the resurrection of the Son of God and henceforth recognized the egg as a symbol of life. The eggshell symbolizes the Holy Sepulcher, and the red color symbolizes the blood that Jesus Christ shed for the salvation of people. That's why eggs are painted red at Easter.

But today the custom of dyeing eggs no longer implies only red. The holiday is very bright, bright and joyful. As a sign of this, Christians began to use any colors: green, yellow, orange, blue, pink.

The most traditional way is to use onion peels. It gives a rich burgundy shade. All kinds of food colorings are also used for this purpose. If you doubt their naturalness, you can use natural substances that a good housewife always has on hand in the kitchen:

To color eggshells with natural substances, pre-boiled eggs are simply placed overnight in the liquids listed above and in the morning you get a riot of colors.

Now there are many ways to decorate Easter eggs: they are made of marble, confetti is glued with egg whites, openwork braid or thin satin ribbons, bright floss threads or patterns cut out from napkins in the form of flowers and butterflies.

Children especially like painted Easter eggs; they love to knock them against each other, finding out whose egg is stronger. Be sure to explain to your children why eggs are painted for Easter, so that from an early age the child understands that this is not just fun or entertainment, but a symbol of a big bright holiday.

After the blessing of Easter eggs, try not to eat everything during the holidays, but leave a few pieces so that a week later you can take them to the cemetery to the graves of deceased relatives on the day of remembrance of all the dead - Krasnaya Gorka.

Easter egg shells cannot be thrown away; there is a special place in the church where you can then bring all the shells and leave them.

If this is not possible, then, having collected all the shells, burn them and bury the ashes.

Easter signs and rituals

Of course, the most important meaning of Easter is the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the victory of life over death. But also for farmers it meant the real arrival of spring and the beginning of agricultural work. It is with this that so many rituals and signs are associated:

Many people are interested in the question of when they can start working. The entire week after Easter is called bright. All seven days are allowed to celebrate, rejoice, and have fun.

But no one has canceled household chores, so do them to the best of your ability. You won’t keep the dishes dirty all week, they need to be washed. But it is better to do handicrafts, do general cleaning in houses, wash and iron on the fourth day after Easter.

Moreover, if you do everything correctly during the Great Holy Week, you will not have the need for special household chores.