Remembrance Day of Princess Olga among the Slavs

Many researchers and ordinary people are interested in the history and culture of the ancient Slavs There are many holidays marked in the Slavic calendar One of the important Slavic holidays is the Day of Remembrance of Princess Olga, which is traditionally celebrated on January 3 On this day, the Slavs did not celebrate or have fun It was customary to gather around the table and remember the deeds of Grand Duchess Olga, who was a very wise ruler and strengthened power in Rus' Very little information about Olga’s origins has been preserved in the chronicles Some historians claim that she was from Izborsk, while others insist that the princess’s homeland is Pskov Most researchers believe that Olga was the daughter of ordinary people and had to work hard as a ferryman on the river Prince Igor met the future princess at the crossing He was hunting in those places and needed to move to the other side Igor saw nearby the young man who was driving the boat and ordered him to be transported to the other side In the boat, the young prince saw that the carrier was not a young man at all, but a beautiful and sophisticated girl Igor expressed his immodest desires, but the beauty rejected such signs of attention, saying that she would rather drown herself than allow herself to be mocked After this incident, the prince could not forget the young girl who then happened to be next to him at the crossing, she was beautiful, brave and prudent After some time, Igor chose her as his wife So Olga became a young princess They lived together for 42 years Then great grief came to the princely family Prince Igor was killed by the Drevlyans, who assumed that in this way they would get rid of their problems and obligations to the dynasty After the murder of Igor, the Drevlyans wanted to gain power and demanded that Olga agree to marry the Dlevlyan prince Mal The Drevlyans tried to peacefully resolve the conflict and sent envoys to negotiate The princess lured the ambassadors into a trap and brutally dealt with them Some were buried alive, the rest were burned in the bathhouse, which was set on fire on Olga's orders After this, the princess went to the village of the Drevlyans to hold a wake at her husband’s grave All residents of the village were invited there, including Igor’s killers The warriors gave the 5,000 Drevlyans who came to drink, after which they killed them with sharp swords Olga continued her insidious and merciless revenge for the death of her husband About a year after the funeral, the princess arrived to the Drevlyans with her son The Russian army besieged the city of Iskorosten The princess demanded that a tribute be brought from each courtyard - pigeons and sparrows After this, smoldering coals were tied to the paws of the brought birds, and the birds were released back to the city, which soon caught fire Some residents of Iskorosten were enslaved by the warriors, some of the Drevlyans were killed, and the rest were subjected to a huge tribute Olga managed to significantly strengthen the power of Kyiv It is believed that her reign was better than that of Igor In domestic politics, Olga sought greater subordination of the Slavic tribes The princess established fixed tribute amounts and organized graveyards Olga also contributed to the spread of Christianity in Rus' During her baptism, she managed to outwit the Byzantine emperor, who wanted to marry her During the reign of her grandson Yaropolk, Olga began to be revered as a saint