Green Christmas time is a fairly significant Slavic holiday period. There is also another name - Semik. Since ancient times, traditions of this holiday have been observed in various parts of Russian lands.
Description
The next after this period is the Trinity festival. Green Christmas time is essentially the week before it. Sometimes the celebration is celebrated from Tuesday or Thursday to the end of the seventh week from Easter. In addition, there are a number of activities aimed at glorifying the transition between spring and summer. This, for example, Ascension and Meditation.
Green Christmas time is a period of time, which in earlier times was also called the Rusal Week. The holiday was considered girlish, as, in fact, the Trinity itself. According to traditions, young girls could enter into the company of older friends, began to be interested in the opposite sex, spent divination on the narrowed, and also came to gatherings held in autumn and winter.
Distinctive features
The peculiarities of the holiday “Green Christmas time” are in a subtle analogy between the beauty of a young girl and nature blooming from the rays of warmth. After all, summer is the time of fertility, rich harvests and the triumph of natural beauty. During this period, ears of oats and rye grow from which stocks were made for the cold season.
A fairly large-scale event in the life of people can be called Green Christmas time. The Rusal week is dedicated to the deceased relatives and relatives. The emphasis is on the infinitely rotating wheel of life. Green Christmas time - the moment when the Slavs thought about the unlimited power of nature.
At the end of the solemn period, a detour was arranged on the territory of the settlement. During this cavalcade, the villagers saddled their horses and walked through their native streets. Also, time was devoted to games such as Kralitsa.
Church attitude
For the first time, literary references to this tradition appeared on the pages of the Lavrentievskaya annals, which date back to 1068. The text of this document contains reproaches directed towards the pagans, who turned to the “devil” to prevent drought.
Of course, the spirits with which the ancient Slavs tried to establish contact seemed unclean only to Christian priests. They considered such rituals to be heresies, because Green Christmas time is a custom that has remained in the habits of people along with old beliefs. As soon as this event was called, "games with demons" as well. People believed that these days the mermaids leave the water and are on land, next to a person, sometimes some contact may occur.
Precautionary measures
In order to prevent the troubles that were considered probable at Green Christmas time, prohibitions on difficult work were introduced, solo walks in the forest with livestock or light clothes, rinsing clothes and sewing clothes. Of course, the most dangerous area was the river, so I had to refrain from bathing.
Midnight and noon were considered the times of greatest danger. People believed that there was a risk of becoming a victim of mermaids and disappearing forever in the abyss of water at their will. In order not only to avoid such a fate, but also to benefit from communication with the river inhabitants, they should be appropriately coaxed. Therefore, after midnight, they arranged festivities and singing, which the church authorities looked at without special approval. For example, in 1551 similar rituals were condemned by the Stoglavy Cathedral.
Period
Centuries were replaced one after another, and Semik became more and more identified with the Trinity. There is no stable and unchanging date when the Green Christmas time is celebrated. How many Semik passes, you need to determine each year in different ways. The starting point is Easter, in the seventh week after which this holiday is held on Thursday or Sunday. In 2016, Semik fell on June 16.
So his name is quite logical, in itself prompting a moment of implementation. Due to the proximity in time to the Trinity, one can speak of a strong mixture of pagan and Christian customs and their complete unification in the 19th century. In Russia, a pagan holiday was celebrated on the same day as the Christian, that is, on Sunday. Semik is no longer celebrated on the scale that many years earlier. They remember him, adhere to the basic ideas, observe some rituals, even if they are not always fully aware of their true meaning. In any case, this event preaches only bright and pure ideas.
Wake of the Dead
The important features that characterize the Green Christmas time are fortune-telling, as well as the commemoration of the so-called mortgaged dead, by which they mean people who died due to unnatural death. Such wires were carried out on Thursday.
At this time, the souls of these people could again find themselves in the world of the living, turn to Mavka in order to continue their existence. The church was against their commemoration. Also, the funeral process was different from the usual. It was believed that their bodies were torn away by the earth, and the spirit could not rest. Eternal wanderings and the inability to find a haven for themselves forced them to contact with living people, moreover, in not always harmless ways.
Many of them come to the service of evil forces or are themselves like demons. So Semik was the only period when such souls people could properly remember, at least somehow facilitating their existence.
Natural symbol
Interesting traditions are associated with the Trinity tree, which is a rather important symbol. Girls wove beautiful birch branches into their hair, made wreaths. Branches adorned rooms in the house and courtyard. They could also be seen in the church. This tradition is characteristic both for Siberia, and the Volga region, many other regions.
We traveled outside the village, to a field or to a forest, found a young birch tree, which was called a seven, a bush or a pillar in different variations. Its branches broke off. Upon returning to her native village, she decorated places for parties, used it during round dances. Also, people came to the river and left twigs to swim along its waves.
For Tobolsk province, the custom of dressing a tree in a girl's dress was characteristic. Then he was carried home, as if brought to visit, even symbolic treats and farewells were carried out, ending with the sinking in the river waters. There were ceremonies in which a growing tree was used, it was curled and developed. Many today know about them. The curling, which was most often carried out by girls, was carried out during Semik, while the reverse process - at the time of the onset of the Trinity, as well as the Spirits of the day.
The magical properties of birch
Despite the fact that in the territories inhabited by Slavs, a mass of tree varieties, it was birch that won people's love. While still young and fresh, she was considered the owner of magical energy aimed at ensuring fertility.
Getting a good harvest has always been a pressing concern for people. So that he really was rich, the Slavs tried to appease higher powers. Analyzing the customs of the peoples of Western Europe, you can see that they have given similar importance to the May tree.
Such representations are characteristic of totemism, which, as we see, even in the 21st century, firmly sits in the traditions that have been established for centuries. In Russia, maple, with which many rituals were performed, was also always given great importance. In this regard, you can find names such as Klechalny Monday and Saturday.
Rite of maturation
Much can be heard about cumulation, which is an initiation carried out during the spring-summer cycle of holidays at the Slavs of the southern and western regions. In addition, it is a special kind of youth union.
In the east and the European part of Russia, this term is also found and is quite famous. Adult girls took part in the ceremony, forming couples or groups of four people. It also happened that immediately the whole company was idling, using the same wreath for everyone.
He was woven from branches. The process was accompanied by singing songs, driving round dances. They brought food under birch trees, which they later ate. The obligatory dish was scrambled eggs.
During curling of wreaths cumulation was carried out. The ceremony consisted of tying the branches into a circle on which a cross was worn. Through him, the girls kissed each other in turn and exchanged things. It could be a ring or a scarf. After that, they were considered each other as cums.
Thus, the onset of puberty of young girls was noted. They were accepted into the society of older friends. Cumulation was carried out in the middle of the holiday complex, which began with the rituals associated with decorating and bringing the dressed Trinity tree into the houses. It ended with a general girl’s meal. Sometimes young men joined them. In addition, with the help of wreaths, fortune-telling was carried out, a wreath worn on it was removed from a birch.
Although the holiday has been for many centuries, however, it is still paid attention to both ordinary citizens and creative associations. They perform traditional Russian songs dedicated to old customs, create entire concert programs on this topic, for example, such bands as the Babkina Theater. Green Christmas time is a tradition deeply rooted in human hearts.