What does Trinity holiday mean and its traditions

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

The holiday of Trinity occurs seven weeks after Easter - on the fiftieth day. This day is also referred to as the Day of the Holy Trinity or Pentecost, and also carries certain signs, traditions and customs. In 2020, the holiday falls on June 7th.

What holiday is it

What is this holiday, Trinity, should be known to all who at least a little adhere to the Christian faith. This is one of the most beautiful events in Orthodoxy. Every year it falls on a period when the first leaves are already beginning to appear on the trees. Houses and temples are decorated with green branches of birch, mountain ash or maple.

Trinity is celebrated from year to year on different days and does not have a fixed date. Celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter. According to information from the Bible, on this day the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles. The disciples mastered the ability to preach the teaching of Christ.

On the basis of this, another name for the holiday appeared - Pentecost or the Descent of the Holy Spirit. In the XIV century in Russia began to celebrate the holiday of the Trinity. Since then, many people have followed his customs and traditions. The holiday was established by the Monk Sergius of Radonezh.

Signs and superstitions on the Trinity

The holiday of Trinity is associated with various signs and superstitions. It is compulsory to visit the church and light the grass there.

The branches were specially mourned in advance, since tears are a symbol of rain. Then the grass was taken home and stacked behind window frames or icons. So the ancestors asked nature for a good and fruitful summer without drought. Green grass was scattered around the room.

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1. On the holiday it was impossible to work either in the house or on the land. Any work was frowned upon, except for cooking. It was impossible to swim in reservoirs. It was believed that on this day mermaids emerge from the water and can drag a person to the bottom.
2. The Saturday before the holiday is considered the parent day. This is the day when you need to go to the cemetery and remember the departed relatives.
3. It was believed that if a person did not go to the grave of his deceased loved one, then he calls on the deceased, who can come and take one of the family members with him. This meant that in the near future someone could die.
4. Before the holiday, it was customary to arrange a memorial dinner. The clothes of the deceased were hung on the fence in order to drive death away from their home by such an action.
5. Elderly women walked through the graves and swept them with birch wreaths. This helped to drive away evil spirits and delight the departed, who grant peace, wealth and prosperity to all living things.
6. A good omen for Trinity is to get married. In addition, if you also get married to the Pokrov, then the family life of the newly-made spouses will certainly be long and happy.
7. The rain for the holiday is by sign - for a good harvest, a warm summer and an abundance of mushrooms.

Another tradition: on the Monday after Trinity on Spirits Day, it was impossible to work on the earth. In the morning it was customary to go in search of the treasure. It was believed that something would be found on this day.

Customs and rituals

Since mermaids woke up on Trinity, there was a custom in the villages to make a stuffed mermaid and lead a round dance around it. After that, it was torn to pieces and scattered over the field.

There were other rituals as well. So, in order to escape from the mermaids, the women, before going to bed, ran around the village with a broom in their hands. It was customary to dress up one of the girls as a mermaid and throw it into a cereal field. All those present were to immediately run home.

All traditions and rituals for the holiday were aimed at driving away evil spirits from their homes. According to another legend, on this day a water person woke up. To get rid of him, the villagers had a custom to kindle fires along the coast.

On Trinity, houses were decorated with branches of maple, birch, rowan, oak. It was believed that this rite would help protect people and give them health.

On Pentecost, it is better to visit a church, feel bright emotions, spend time with your family or visit, and also do some pleasant and kind deed.

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What not to do on Trinity

In addition to the fact that many signs and customs are observed on Trinity, there are also prohibited actions. Here's what you can't do for a holiday:

1. Play a wedding. You can't get married and get married. Marriage at Pentecost will only bring unhappiness to family life.
2. Sewing, working in the garden, baking. As with other major Christian holidays, these activities are prohibited.
3. Work. The holiday coincides with the period when all work ends, preparations for harvesting begin. People who do not rest at Pentecost will be miserable and in trouble. Those who cultivate the land will lose their livestock. He who sows, the hail will spoil all the plantings, and who is engaged in the manufacture of wool - will lose his sheep.
4. Walk in the forest or in the field, graze animals. The people believed that on this day mythical creatures such as mermaids and mawks come to Earth.

The next day after Trinity is the day when you cannot work on the land, but you can go in search of treasures. This day is considered the name day of the Earth, and a person will surely find something valuable.

Fortune telling and conspiracies

According to church canons, it was impossible to guess, but this did not stop people, and many girls wondered about their fate, about their betrothed and waited for the arrival of matchmakers.

Curling a birch tree

One of the most common fortune-telling is wreath-weaving. On the eve of the holiday, the girls went to the forest and wove a wreath on the top of the young birches. If on Trinity the wreath has blossomed or wilted, then there will be trouble, and if nothing has changed, this is for a wedding and a happy marriage in love and wealth.

Weaving wreaths

It was customary for girls to weave wreaths in company and not show their creations to men. If someone from the male half saw a wreath, it was considered a bad omen.

It was also customary to go with wreaths to the river and put them on the water:

• in which direction the wreath floated, the betrothed will come from there;
• if the wreath remains on the shore, then the girl will remain unmarried;
• if you go to the bottom - this is the death of the girl.

It was impossible to lower the wreaths into the water with your hands. The girl had to put it on her head and bend over to the river so that he fell himself.

Since ancient times, believers have used Trinity conspiracies to save their families from all misfortunes. On a holiday, you need to visit the church and read the prayer "Heavenly King", kneeling prayers.

Summarize

1. Trinity is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Bright Sunday, and has a second name - Pentecost. In 2020, this day falls on June 7th.
2. The holiday is fraught with many traditions, rituals and customs. It was believed that on this day mermaids and other evil spirits emerge from the reservoirs, which are capable of bringing misfortune. People protected themselves from them in every possible way: they burned fires along the river, ran around the village with a broomstick and decorated houses with tree branches.
3. Despite the church prohibition, on Trinity the girls wondered about their fate and their betrothed: they wove wreaths and lowered them into the water. It was customary to read conspiracies in order to protect yourself and your family from illness, bad weather and troubles.