Holidays and rituals

In Russia, every national holiday is accompanied by rituals and songs or singing adopted by them. The very origin of this or that celebration, the content and purpose of them, decisively separates them from church saints. festivities and independently in relation to St. rituals of the church, because most of the folk holidays arose during the times of the deepest paganism, when various government decrees, trade transactions, etc. were combined with liturgical rites. So almost always, where there was bargaining, there was trial and reprisal and a solemn holiday. It is clear that the solemnity of the day was enhanced even more by the influence of the mass of the people with the goals of such a high moral and religious direction. These customs are easily explained by German pagan customs, where the priests were at the same time judges, and the gathering areas themselves were considered sacred and were always located near rivers, roads and generally convenient places for communication.

Such messages of the pagans at gatherings, where they prayed to the gods, consulted about affairs, settled litigation through the priests, or resorted to their wisdom, asking for advice, could not remain completely forgotten, as they seriously underlie the life of the people and were firmly established in their memory . When the Christian faith overcame the pagan faith and established itself, although the pagan rituals were put to an end, many customs that were not part of direct pagan worship were abandoned and many of them have been preserved even to this day in the form of entertainment, customs, and festivities. and, to the shame of Christianity, some pagan customs were grafted onto Christian celebrations.

The meaning and concept of the festivities were so confused that our famous Russian historians, chronographers and ethnographers had a lot of trouble to determine their nature.

In the future, we will provide details and instructions based on historical information about the rituals.

(Russian people. Their customs, rituals, legends, superstitions and poetry. Collected by M. Zabylin. Moscow, 1880. Published by bookseller M. Berezin)

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In Russia, every national holiday is accompanied by rituals and songs or singing adopted by them. The very origin of this or that celebration, the content and purpose of them, decisively separates them from church saints. festivities and independently in relation to St. rituals of the church, because most of the folk holidays arose during the times of the deepest paganism, when various government decrees, trade transactions, etc. were combined with liturgical rites. So almost always, where there was bargaining, there was trial and reprisal and a solemn holiday. It is clear that the solemnity of the day was enhanced even more by the influence of the mass of the people with the goals of such a high moral and religious direction. These customs are easily explained by German pagan customs, where the priests were at the same time judges, and the gathering areas themselves were considered sacred and were always located near rivers, roads and generally convenient places for communication.

Such messages of the pagans at gatherings, where they prayed to the gods, consulted about affairs, settled litigation through the priests, or resorted to their wisdom, asking for advice, could not remain completely forgotten, as they seriously underlie the life of the people and were firmly established in their memory . When the Christian faith overcame the pagan faith and established itself, although the pagan rituals were put to an end, many customs that were not part of direct pagan worship were abandoned and many of them have been preserved even to this day in the form of entertainment, customs, and festivities. and, to the shame of Christianity, some pagan customs were grafted onto Christian celebrations.

The meaning and concept of the festivities were so confused that our famous Russian historians, chronographers and ethnographers had a lot of trouble to determine their nature.

In the future, we will provide details and instructions based on historical information about the rituals.

(Russian people. Their customs, rituals, legends, superstitions and poetry. Collected by M. Zabylin. Moscow, 1880. Published by bookseller M. Berezin)