Eve of the Annunciation

The Annunciation, a great Orthodox holiday, has a fixed date It is celebrated annually on April 7th According to the Gospel, on this day the Archangel Gabriel informed the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to the Savior of the human race On April 6, the day before the onset of the celebration, the Eve of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated The holiday began to be called the Annunciation in the 7th century Before this, it was called greeting, redemption, proclamation and incarnation According to the customs on the eve of the celebration, April 6, believers must prepare for the Annunciation:• take communion and confess in church;• clean up the house;• bake Lenten pies in the form of larks and other birds;• at a family dinner, remember deceased relatives, ask for their protection alive from misfortunes and troubles A solemn service is held in the church on the night of April 6-7 - an all-night vigil The choice of canons for worship is determined by the period in which the Eve of the Annunciation falls - Great Lent, Easter or Bright Week This is interesting: April 6 is also considered the Day of Zechariah the Faster, who lived in the caves of the Pechersky Monastery The saint, who saw angels, cast out demons with prayers, healed mental illnesses and did other good deeds Zechariah received the nickname “The Faster” because, having imposed asceticism on himself, he stopped eating baked and boiled food, eating only grass after sunset Before the arrival of Christianity in Rus', another significant holiday for the Slavs was celebrated at the Annunciation On this day, the gates of Svarga (Iria) opened - the heavenly paradise, the “sunny country”, where the souls of the dead went According to legends, they were carried there by larks, which is why on March 6, pies in the shape of these birds are baked Storks with babies flew from Iria, in which the souls of previously living people were embodied This is interesting: In the Orthodox tradition, birds are released from cages on the Annunciation This ritual came to Christianity from paganism Therefore, at the end of the Divine Liturgy, clergy symbolically release doves into the sky from the porch of the church Most of the celebrations of our ancestors were associated with natural cycles The last ten days of March marked the spring equinox Catholics and Protestants celebrate the Annunciation according to the Gregorian calendar on March 25 Christian celebrations are tied to the Julian calendar, so the date of the holiday does not coincide with the equinox It was believed that it was on this day that the earth awakened from winter sleep, light conquered darkness, and Zhiva, the goddess of spring, descended from heaven She personified love, youth, joy and the blossoming of all things To facilitate the coming of Alive, our ancestors burned bonfires, ie “they burned down the winter” and spent the clicking of spring With songs and jokes, birds were invited to return from warm countries Young people climbed hills, roofs of houses and logs of firewood and “hooted spring” In addition to larks, they baked pies in the shape of stork paws They were thrown up in the street by children shouting “Busnyu, busnyu, you’re on a galepu, give me a zhita kopa!” The ancient Slavs, in addition to spring spells, also performed other rituals: • fumigated their homes with juniper, which drove away evil spirits; • beat dishes or rang a bell to protect against evil spirits and scare away wolves from livestock; • burned garbage, straw, old bast shoes and other rags , protecting themselves from diseases and evil spells; • they made fires from horse and cow dung, driving away snakes and other reptiles The stove was not lit in the house to avoid drought and hail Iriy, the Slavic paradise, was believed to have spring water Therefore, on the eve of the Opening, Svarga washed themselves in a river or other source to prevent the appearance of scabs According to folk signs, various predictions were made on the Eve of the Annunciation Thus, the snow that fell on April 6 foreshadowed a good buckwheat harvest, and gusty winds meant a poor fish bite Bad weather on Annunciation Eve meant the arrival of a rainy summer, the singing of a lark meant the imminent onset of warmth, and the chaffinch meant a cold snap The custom of celebrating spring dates back to the traditions of the ancient Slavs Christians celebrate the Annunciation at this time The eve of the holiday for Orthodox believers falls on April 6, the day they received news of the impending birth of Jesus Christ