What is Christmas time? These are holy days, more precisely, the whole complex of the winter period, which consists of 12 holiday dates. As they say, it lasts "from star to water." That is, it begins at the time when the first star appears on Christmas Eve, and continues until the blessing of water for Baptism. Since ancient times, a lot of traditions and customs associated with such a period as Christmas time. When the festivities begin, what are the traditions and customs, how are fortunetellers at this time? All answers to the questions are presented in the article. We not only take a closer look at what Christmas time is, but also learn a little history regarding this magical period.
History of Christmas
The tradition of sanctifying the days between the two greatest religious holidays was established in the 5th century. How did this happen? How did you celebrate Christmas time? The Feast of the Epiphany in the church began to be widely celebrated as early as the 4th century, and this happened on January 6. This day was dedicated to three gospel events: the Nativity of Christ, the worship of the Magi, the Baptism of Christ. However, by the end of the 4th century, in some churches in the East, Christmas was celebrated on December 25, separately from the Epiphany. As a result, in 451, a separate celebration of this date was allowed within the Christian church, but it was officially established for all 12 holy days in the period between Christmas (Epiphany) and Baptism. That's how the Christmas time appeared. Christmas is not celebrated by everyone in January, but almost everyone knows about this special period.
The magical power of the period
For each person, this time is associated with different traditions. What is Christmas time for believers? This is primarily a visit to temples, fasting, the opportunity to cleanse oneself, to get rid of sins. And what is Christmas time for most people? This is a fun and stormy period associated with rituals, rituals, festivities. According to legend, during the Christmas time the old sunny year is leaving, and a new one is opening. It is on these days that the impure force is activated, incomprehensible and mysterious events occur constantly. It is believed that the souls of dead people are next to the living at a time such as Christmas time. When the holidays begin , fortune telling starts, rituals that can predict the future, open the curtain on the unknown.
Tradition of celebration
In antiquity, on the very first day, Christmas time made a fire and supported it until the end of the period. Even today, in some rural settlements, people are happy to support the traditions of their ancestors. On the same evening everyone dressed in festive dresses, sang, danced, went home with carols. It was believed that such ceremonies would give the owners of the house next year a good harvest and prosperity, so carols could enter any house without knocking. Who wants to live poorly?
There is still a tradition not to sweep rubbish from the house on Christmas Eve until January 14, and then all the garbage must be burned at a time. Particular attention during this period was given to dreams. It was believed that Christmas time is a time of prophetic visions.
A little bit about the holidays
Christmas with carols and dresses was described a little above, but one cannot help but say what marked the other days of the period. For example, on January 8, women in labor and midwives should be honored. This is logical - Christ has just been born, which means that we must pay tribute to all the women who give birth to children, and those who are also involved in this action.
January 11 honored the memory of the babies killed by Herod. The church mourned for the 14,000 martyrs who were killed on the orders of the king who wanted to destroy Jesus.
January 16, it was decided to seek help and support from the home. Luli was sure that on that day the evil witches spoil livestock, and only a small bearded brownie can help.
Christmas time ends on January 19, the feast of Baptism. To this day, an ice hole is made in the shape of a cross on ponds, then the priest consecrates it, and after that everyone can bathe there.
Fortune-telling at the bridegroom
During this period, as we have already said, many were not averse to turning to the dark forces to find answers to questions of interest. Especially often young girls came together and wondered at the betrothed, although it could be done alone at home. Consider the most popular fortune-telling fortune-telling.
We get a deck of cards
This fortune-telling must be done on the night before Christmas. Before going to bed, the girl should be pulled from the deck of the tambourine king and put the card under her pillow. That night, as always, the lady should look great. Therefore, before going to bed, you need to comb your hair, wash, even apply light makeup. After this, you should turn to the higher powers from the heart, ask them to have the narrowed come into your dreams tonight. Now you can go to bed. It is believed that the person whom you will see in the night dreams will become your destiny.
Onion will help to know the name
This fortune-telling will be especially useful to those representatives of the fair sex who have several candidates for the role of the narrowed one, but it’s difficult to choose the best among them. To do this, take as many bulbs as you have suitors, and sign them or label them in any way so that each vegetable is “responsible” for a particular man. On the first day of Christmas time, place the bulbs in the water and wait until the first of them sprouts. Once this happened, look at the signature. Whose name appears on this vegetable, that person will be narrowed. Fortune telling has tremendous power and significance, since the whole process takes place in magical, holy time, which means that the reliability of fortune telling is very high.
Rooster will tell the future
This method is suitable for those girls who like to guess not alone, but in company, and this can be done on any of the holy evenings, although, of course, it is desirable for Christmas. So, all the fair sex, who want to know about the future narrowed, should get together in the same house and "recount". Then you need to sprinkle wheat or any other cereal on the floor with which you feed your bird. At midnight, the rooster must be "called" into the house. Now it remains only to watch him closely. If he is hungry and pecks absolutely all the grains, then he will put on the wedding dress this year that girl who sprinkled food on the floor. If the bird is saturated, and a certain number of seeds is still left, then the one with the number corresponding to the number of grains absorbed by the bird will marry. But if the rooster is not hungry and does not eat at all, then you will have to repeat the fortune-telling for the next year, since this year no one will wear a bride’s outfit.
Guessing with hair
This method is suitable for those girls who already meet with a guy and make plans for the future, but something is haunting them, some doubt lives in the heart. Better to fortune at the Christmas time and be calm for your fate. Just pick up a hair from the head of your groom in advance. So, take a shallow bowl, pour water into it, add here a pinch of ash, sugar and salt. Mix everything thoroughly and set it aside for a while so that the liquid "calms down". As soon as this happened, put the hair of the narrowed and your own in the water. Now hide the container from prying eyes until morning, and then interpret the result. If the hairs are not only nearby, but even intertwined, then you will be the bride of this young man. If they are far from each other in the water, then it was not for nothing that you were worried, the relationship is not destined to develop further.
Guess, have fun during this period, create your family traditions and customs!