Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary for Catholics

On September 8, the entire Catholic world celebrates the Nativity of the Mother of God As legends say, it was on this day that the Holy Virgin Mary was born Her Nativity was not an ordinary or random event, because many centuries before Mary was assigned a special role in the salvation of mankind The Old Testament prophets also foretold this event Unfortunately, the New Testament tells very little about the birth and earthly life of the Mother of God But this can be learned from church traditions, which say that the parents of the Virgin Mary, Joachim and Anna, did not have children for a long time This fact greatly upset the pious couple from Jerusalem, because the Israelis considered it a shame Mary's parents were very devoted to God and fulfilled all his commandments They could not boast of particular nobility, although they came from sacred families Joachim was a descendant of King David, while Anna was from a priestly family from the tribe of Aaron One day, on a great holiday, Joachim wanted to make a sacrifice to the Lord in the Jerusalem Temple But he was refused by the high priest, who reproached him for being childless The distressed Joachim left the temple for the desert, where he spent 40 days in fasting and prayer, so that the Lord would have mercy on him and send him a child At the same time, his wife Anna, left alone in the house, also cried out to God for great mercy towards them Then an Angel appeared to both of them, who announced that the prayer had been heard by the Lord and they would have a daughter Through which salvation will come for all mankind, and also indicated the name by which she will be called - Mary After this, Joachim and Anna offered prayers of thanks and also brought gifts to the temple of the Lord After some time, the elderly couple gave birth to a girl, who was named Mary, as indicated by the Angel of the Lord The parents made a vow that they would give their daughter to serve in the Jerusalem Temple The girl grew up surrounded by the love and care of her parents When little Mary was three years old, she was brought into the temple, where she grew in purity and holiness The first mentions of the celebration of the Nativity of the Mother of God are found in the 5th century A little later, the holiday was added to the church calendar Now it is one of the most significant holidays of the liturgical year On this day, it is especially emphasized how important the mission was assigned to the Mother of God After all, it was through her that the Savior himself came into this world There are a lot of folk traditions and rituals associated with this holiday For example, among the East Slavic peoples it is also called Osenin At this time, all field work had already ended, and the peasants thanked the Mother of God for the harvest, and also asked for a blessing for the coming year Lush feasts were held, because it was believed that the richer the table was set, the more fruitful the next year would be Children honored their mothers, and they, in turn, guided the young on the right path Unmarried girls wondered about their betrothed There was also a sign that if a girl washes herself with water before sunrise, then matchmakers will come to her that year; when a married woman washes herself, then her beauty will not fade until old age Young children were doused with water on the doorstep so that they would have good health and not get sick for the next year Those who wanted to protect themselves from the evil eye or damage burned old shoes and clothes on this day After the holiday, beekeepers began to prepare bees for winter It was also considered what kind of weather there was on the Nativity of the Mother of God; it would be like this for at least four weeks