Holidays of the Slavs - Awakening of the Brownie

If you imagine yourself awakened and excited, you can easily understand what it feels like for a brownie on the first day of April All winter he slept in warmth and comfort, only occasionally, on his own initiative, crawling out from under the blanket and establishing the order necessary and sufficient for the cold But then the spring equinox arrived, people began to actively celebrate the arrival of warmth, they did this for ten whole days By the first of April, spring was considered to have finally come into its own It was on this day that it was necessary to awaken the home spirit from winter hibernation, so that the keeper of comfort would maintain order and protect the house, because most household members go to the field Of course, the brownie could not like this He was out of sorts, dissatisfied with everything, grumbled and could even act out mischief out of frustration Spots suddenly appeared on clothes, horses' manes became tangled, grain spilled out of sacks, pots broke, and handles caught on the housewives' hems All this was considered the tricks of the domestic spirit The brownie is known for his cleanliness and neatness He is a big fan of eating delicious food and laughing heartily at a good joke To appease the small owner of the house, large-scale work was carried out on the premises They sorted through the supplies, checking that they had not spoiled or become moldy They hung mattresses, mattresses, blankets and bedspreads in the sun We washed bedding and winter clothes They lifted the furniture so that all corners became accessible and carefully swept them out Then the house was disinfected with essential oil herbs: wormwood, juniper They went to the bathhouse to steam so that they could come to a clean home clean and washed Afterwards a hearty lunch was arranged, but before that the brownie was buttered with rich pastries, porridge, milk and bread While cooking, they were supposed to fool around and joke with each other: wear clothes turned inside out (just like a brownie does, he wears a caftan with the seams facing out), put on different shoes, and play kind and good-natured pranks Then the brownie grandfather stopped being angry, finally woke up, took upon himself the responsibility of keeping the hearth, became well-fed, complacent, friendly and completely satisfied This is where the saying comes from that you can’t trust anyone on the first of April For it is not clear whether the household and neighbors are telling the truth, or playing it out for the amusement of the awakened domestic spirit The explanations for the emergence of this tradition are simple Over the winter, a lot of rubbish has accumulated at home, something has decayed, something has become unusable It's time to sort through your things, dry everything damp and damp in direct sunlight, get rid of rodents, insects and mold That is, to prepare for spring and the fact that now there will be no time to stay in the home, because the time for agricultural work begins This means doing some general cleaning Of course, all household members get in each other’s way; our ancestors did not live in such spacious dwellings It’s easier to get through this day through jokes, jokes and irony And also under the motto that order is needed by some unclean (and therefore powerful) force and it is better not to mess with it, to clean up the home, since experienced and wise ancestors called for the same