Is it possible to roll up jars at the Dormition of the Virgin Mary? Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary: what you can and cannot do

Feast of the Assumption Holy Mother of God widely celebrated in the Orthodox world. This day is dedicated to the memory of the Dormition Mother of God and many beliefs, traditions and signs are associated with it.

The Dormition of the Mother of God means the end of earthly life and the ascension to heaven to the Lord. that religious holiday goes back centuries in tradition and has rich history. It is celebrated annually on August 28, and is one of the 12 main church dates in the Orthodox calendar.

Traditions and customs of the Assumption

On the day of the Dormition of the Mother of God, believers brought seeds and ears of bread to churches and temples for blessing and consecration. They left a small handful of ears of corn in the field, tied them with ribbon and said: “God grant another year a bountiful harvest and good weather.”

On the Assumption, the harvest season ended and relatives and neighbors were invited to a meal. On this day, according to legend, you should not hold sharp objects in your hands to avoid failure. On this day they broke bread with their hands, avoiding using a knife.

On the day of the holiday, they did not walk barefoot, so as not to incur illnesses and hardships. Dew on the grass was considered the tears of nature after the Virgin Mary, who left this world.

Failures on this day also awaited those who chose uncomfortable shoes. If you rub your heel on this day, then according to popular beliefs, a person would face a life full of difficulties and hardships.

On the day of the Assumption, food was prepared for the winter. Housewives canned fruits and vegetables so as not to be left without food in winter.

On this day, our ancestors were engaged in removing the evil eye and damage, sprinkled it with holy water and fumigated it with wormwood branches in order to expel all the evil spirits gathering in secluded corners for the winter.

After the Dormition, matchmakers were sent to perform lavish weddings. On this day, girls did not cut or throw away their hair in order to be happy in marriage and not collect the tears of the Virgin Mary.

Folk signs for the Assumption

• After the Assumption, Indian summer begins, which usually lasts the entire first month of autumn.
• Our ancestors believed that if you plow the land before the Dormition, you can reap another harvest.
• A rainbow on the day of the Assumption promised a warm, quiet autumn.
• Good weather on the day of the holiday usually foreshadowed a cool Indian summer.
• On the Assumption, girls chose grooms for themselves so as not to remain unmarried throughout the winter.
• On the Assumption, it is forbidden to quarrel with loved ones, so as not to bring discord and misfortune into the house.
• A lot of cobwebs on the day of the holiday foreshadows a cold winter with little rainfall.
• Frosts after the Assumption indicate a long autumn.
• Calm water promised a calm autumn and winter without snowstorms.
• Fog in the morning meant an abundance of mushroom harvest.

The Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a truly bright and joyful holiday. We must understand that the departure of the Mother of God in the church is called not death, but dormition, since she did not die, but seemed to have peacefully fallen asleep and passed into the Kingdom of Heaven.

What can you do on the Feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary?

Among the people, the feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary coincides with the harvest period. Earlier on this day, it was customary to dress up the last sheaf of the harvested wheat (“dozhinka”) in a sundress and carry it around the villages with songs.

After the procession, the sheaf was placed under the icon and a noble feast was held with songs, round dances and the preparation of mead. On August 29, the first day after the holiday, Nut Spas falls, when, according to tradition, it is customary to collect nuts and make preparations for the winter.

Since the holiday falls at the end of the Dormition Fast, you can eat any food on this day, but it is advisable to limit yourself to meat and fatty foods. If the Assumption falls on Wednesday or Friday, breaking the fast is postponed to the next day. You can do housework, work in the garden, make pickles and sauerkraut.

There is a belief among residents of villages and hamlets that on the Assumption one should leave a few ears of corn in the fields, which helps increase the harvest for the next year.

What not to do on the Dormition of the Virgin Mary

On this day you should not handle piercing or cutting objects, or cook food. Believers break bread with their hands, since they cannot use a knife.

You cannot go barefoot on the Assumption, it was believed that in this way you can collect all the diseases. Dew on this day is the tears of nature that the Mother of God has left this world and cannot be with people and help them.

You should not wear old or uncomfortable shoes on this day to avoid problems in life. It is believed that if you rub your leg on this day, a difficult life awaits you, full of problems and failures.

On this day you were allowed to work, especially if you did not finish some work you started or if someone needed help.

On the day of the Assumption, everyone can visit the church and offer prayers to the Virgin Mary, the patroness of the entire human race. You can turn to her with any problem, and the Higher Powers will definitely help those asking to resolve their difficulties.

Life of the Virgin Mary

After the crucifixion of Christ, few words are said about the Virgin Mary in the Bible. What is known is that after the Ascension of Jesus into the Kingdom of Heaven, she lived in the capital of Israel until the persecution of the Christian people began. John the Theologian, who was entrusted by Christ himself to protect and care for the Mother of the Lord, helped her move to Ephesus. Every day, the Ever-Virgin visited Bishop Lazar the Four-Day, and also visited Mount Athos, which she later designated as a place for prayer and turning to God.

Before her death, the Blessed Virgin returned to Jerusalem. There she devoted herself to prayer every day and went to those places that were connected with the life of her Son Jesus Christ. In her prayer requests, the Mother of God begged for a meeting with her Son in heaven.

Before her death, the Mother of God herself left all her savings to her maids - widows. And she gave them instructions to bury her next to her parents at the foot of the Mount of Olives, in the village of Gethsemane.

History of the Feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary

On the day when the Virgin Mary died, all the residents of the capital came to say goodbye to her. All preachers and believers gathered under one roof with the news that the hour of death had struck for the Mother of God. Everyone watched her dormition; everyone came to say goodbye to the Blessed Virgin. The news of the death of the First Mother spread throughout the world, because the miracle that happened that day amazed even the most strict and godless person.

The Mother of God departed from the world of the living with a light, bright, dazzling and pure; she was surrounded by angels, among whom Christ himself appeared before her. Mary turned to her Son with a request for the salvation and blessing of all those who are next to her on this day and who pray for her. The Virgin Mary also appealed to Jesus in prayer to protect her by the power of the Lord God from demons and Satan, and then, in happiness and ecstasy, she completely surrendered into the hands of the Lord. Jesus Christ personally lifted his mother in his arms into the Kingdom of Heaven.

For three days and three nights, the apostles sang biblical psalms near the tomb of the Blessed Virgin. And only on the third day did they receive true and complete peace from the Image of the Holy One, which appeared to them in the face of the Mother of God and her speech. She demanded to rejoice and rejoice, to sing in spirit, since from now on she will be next to everyone, forever protecting and patronizing. After the resurrection, the Mother's body left this world, going to the Lord in heaven.

Many people may think that it is completely absurd to celebrate the Day of the Assumption, that is, the day when the Mother of God died. After all, for most people, death is nothing more than pain, suffering and sadness. But true believers know the truth: death is only the beginning of eternal life. Only after repose does the real thing begin, happy life in heaven, next to our Lord. Christians know that it is not death that brings suffering, but the actions that people do while living on earth.

The Feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary makes us understand that the Virgin Mary left this world in joy and with peace in her soul. That life is just a difficult but forced path to gain eternal and true life. Therefore, the Dormition of the Virgin Mary is a blessed holiday for Christians, because only through death do we know true happiness. We wish you a great mood and strong faith. Be happy!

and folk signs on this day

Great holiday - Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary noted August 28.

Dormition of the Virgin Mary: what you can do

1. Celebrate the holiday with your parents at a set table. But, since this holiday falls on the last day of Lent, it is better to limit yourself to fatty foods and meats.
2. Pickling cucumbers, according to popular wisdom, will help add salt to your husband’s house. You can also ferment cabbage, make other pickles and work in the garden.
3. Save the last sheaf, harvested the day before in the field. In some areas they even put a sundress on him.
4. Bless the bread of the new harvest in church, and after bringing it home, sit down at the table with the whole family, taste the loaf, and put the leftovers behind the icon. This bread must be fed to the sick and infirm.
5. Help harvest the harvest for those families where there are not enough workers or, for example, where the breadwinner has died.
6. Leave a few ears of corn in the field to reap a good harvest next year.

Dormition of the Virgin Mary: what not to do

1. It is considered extremely undesirable to use cutting or piercing objects on this day. Even bread is better to break with your hands.
2. It is not recommended to go barefoot to the Assumption: it does not cure all diseases, but, on the contrary, attracts them, because it symbolizes tears for the deceased Mother of God.
3. , on this day it is also impossible.
4. To avoid difficulties and failures, it is not advisable to wear uncomfortable or old shoes on this day. Rub a callus on the Assumption - attract problems.
5. On this day you should not eat vegetables and fruits that are round in shape - apples, cabbage.
6. You should not drop bread crumbs on the floor, especially if the loaf was consecrated in church - this is a great sin.

Dormition of the Virgin Mary: folk signs

Of course, our ancestors could not help but associate a number of holidays with this great holiday. So unmarried girls believed that if you don’t find a guy before the Assumption, you won’t get married until spring.

In addition, it is believed that the first Indian summer begins on August 28, which will last until September 11. According to the folk calendar, if it is dry, the second half of September will be rainy.

If frosts begin after the Assumption, the autumn will be long, and if a rainbow appears on this day, the autumn months will be warm.

Farewell to the Assumption – welcome autumn,”- people said.

We will tell you what date to celebrate the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 2019, what needs to be done on this day, whether you can work, and we will remember the signs and folk traditions of the holiday.

What you can eat on the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary and what you can’t eat

The date of celebration of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary is August 28. Christians are led to this day by a two-week period comparable in severity to Lent. That’s why many people ask whether Dormition is a fast day.

In fact, on the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, if it falls on Wednesday or Friday, you can eat fish. In this case, breaking the fast is postponed to the next day. But if Dormition falls on other days of the week, then there is no fasting - you can eat whatever you want!

Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary: what to do on this day

Many folk traditions are associated with the celebration of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (see also). Orthodox holiday The Dormition of the Mother of God coincided with the harvest. At this time of year, Russian peasants were busy harvesting.

U Eastern Slavs The so-called “Ozhinki” - the festival of the harvest of bread - was timed to coincide with the Dormition of the Mother of God. In addition, this day was called “Mistress”, “Mistress”, “Mistress’s Day” - these words reflected the veneration of the Mother of God, whom believers address as the Lady, the Lady.

On the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, there was a custom to dress up the “dozhinka,” that is, the last sheaf, in a sundress. “Dozhinka” was carried to the village with songs and placed under the icons. Then they started a feast to celebrate the Dormition and the end of the red summer. They brewed mead, danced in circles, and sang harvest songs.

Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary: signs

Folk signs about the Dormition were associated with the harvest season and observing the weather:

On Assumption, pickle cucumbers, on Sergius, chop cabbage.

If a rainbow appears on Assumption, it means a long and warm autumn.

The young Indian summer begins, and the sun goes to sleep.

Since the Assumption the sun goes to sleep.

Farewell to the Assumption, welcome autumn.

From Trinity to Dormition there are no round dances.

The Most Pure Mother sows, and the Veil covers.

The Assumption ends the dozhinki.

To plow until the Assumption - to press an extra hay.

Any Christian knows that on holy holidays it is necessary to attend church and the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary also requires attendance at the service. But what cannot be done on the Feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a more complicated question, because There are many different signs associated with this day.

The Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the dozen most important church holidays. According to legend, Mary’s earthly life lasted 72 years, and before her death he appeared to her and announced her imminent death. Three days after the death of the Virgin Mary, it was discovered that her crypt was empty.

Christians consider the Assumption a dual holiday: on the one hand, they mourn for the Mother of God, on the other, they rejoice at her meeting with the Creator and the upcoming eternal life. That is why the holiday is called the Dormition - not death, but the transition from earthly life to eternal life.

Now believers celebrate the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 28, or on the 15th according to the old style. In Syria, where the tradition of celebrating the Dormition appeared for the first time, the holiday was celebrated for a long time on December 26. For two weeks before the Dormition, believers observe fasting, the day before is pre-holiday, and the next 8 are post-holiday.

Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary: what should not be done on this day?

One of the most famous prohibitions is that you cannot go barefoot to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Dew on this day symbolizes the tears of Mary, so getting your feet wet with it is a sign of troubles and misfortunes. In addition, on the Assumption you cannot stick anything into Mother Earth, otherwise you can offend and upset her.

It is not advisable to cook food on the Feast of the Dormition - this must be done in advance. In general, on this day you should not pick up piercing or cutting objects. Even believers try to break bread rather than cut it. But what you should do for the holiday is to salt cabbage and cucumbers. They will turn out tasty, aromatic and will definitely last until spring.

You shouldn’t even work on the Feast of the Assumption. The only exception is work that cannot be postponed, as well as deeds to help others. But if work begun in advance is completed precisely on the Assumption, this is a very good sign, promising good luck.

Ancient beliefs say that for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary you should not wear bad shoes - old, uncomfortable, rubbing calluses. If you neglect this sign, your future life will be overshadowed by various difficulties and problems.

An unmarried girl who dreams of finding family happiness cannot talk to anyone on the morning of the Assumption. Before starting to communicate with her family, the girl must wash herself with cold water, repeating the spell to herself three times: “Most Holy Theotokos, you marry everyone, unite families, help me find a groom. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen".

In the villages, on the Feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was customary to finish the harvest, and dress the last sheaf as a maiden and place it under the icons. On this day they also prepared mead, picked apples and pears, and held large celebrations.

A person who fasted before the Dormition could afford all the festive dishes on this holiday. And, besides, he could believe that the “evil one” would not come close to him for a year.

On the Assumption, bread was required to be brought to church. The consecrated crust acquired excellent taste and medicinal qualities. But when eating this bread, it was impossible to drop even one crumb on the floor.

Christians also looked closely at the weather for the Assumption - for this holiday they were considered very accurate. The sun and fine weather promised rainy and cold autumn, but the bad weather for the holiday promised favorable and dry weather until the cold weather.

Orthodox Christians always celebrate the Feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the same day - August 28. It ends the Assumption Fast and symbolizes the end of the warm season. summer period. On the Eastern European plains at this time the grain harvest usually ended, and for the Slavs such a day was always symbolic and mystical. Agricultural and Christian traditions that have existed for centuries have turned into a special holiday in Rus' with their own beliefs and rules.

The essence of the holiday

All Christians consider the Assumption a dual holiday. On the one hand, on this day the Most Holy Theotokos completed her earthly existence, and on the other hand, she passed from the mortal world to the heavenly world and found eternal life. At this sacred moment, all the apostles and angels gathered around the Virgin Mary, she turned to God with prayer and transferred her soul into the hands of the Lord. It is this plot that is canonically depicted on the icons of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Christians both mourn for the Virgin Mary and at the same time rejoice at her meeting with the Creator and her upcoming eternal life.

Since ancient times, all farmers knew that this is reflected in nature. A ripe crop is cut off and collected from the ground, which means the end of its growth and death as a plant. But on the other hand, now his grain will turn into bread, which will gain eternal life. After all, Jesus Christ “...took bread and broke it (...), saying: this is my body...” And in order for the harvest to necessarily receive a divine purpose, certain rules were to be observed at the Dormition.

Traditions of the Assumption

First of all, for this day, bread was necessarily baked from the grain of the new harvest and consecrated in the temple during the morning service on August 28. Then this bread was eaten, as they say, “by the whole world,” but in no case was it cut - on the Assumption it was forbidden to pick up a knife. They just broke the bread, but not a single crumb should fall from the table, otherwise there would be famine in the family. The sacred meal was allowed to be washed down with wine or mead.

Dormition is also a holiday for a mother and her child. Married but childless women on this day were supposed to ask the icons for a quick addition to the family, unmarried girls- to pray to the Mother of God for a groom, and young men were instructed to show special respect to their mother.

Mistresses

The agricultural traditions of the Assumption are associated with the last sheaf of the harvest. It was a kind of sacrament that was carried out right in the field. Each family left a small grain plot on their land - exactly enough for one last sheaf. Next, the peasants knitted it together, very carefully and always silently, so as not to frighten away the spirits of good luck for the future harvest. In some Slavic regions, this sheaf was left to winter in the field. In others, they put a red sundress on him and carried him around the village singing. Then, in the largest and most noble hut, the sheaf in a sarafan was placed under the icons and again a feast was held “with the whole world.” The Southern Slavs often wove wreaths from the remaining grain ears, which they then gave to people important to them. These last sheaves and wreaths were called dozhinki or spozhinki, and also mistresses. They were kept in the “red corner”, behind or in front of the icons, until the birth of the next harvest. It was believed that a wreath or sheaf from the harvest plot not only brought good luck to the house, but also protected the entire family from evil spirits.

It is because of this ancient agricultural tradition that the feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Russian villages was often called Dozhinki, Spozhinki or Gospozhinki. Reaping is the same as finishing the harvest, that is, almost finishing this work in the field. Mistresses are the same dozhina sheaves, simply connected not silently, but with prayers for our Lady - the Most Pure Mother of God, which is why another similar name appeared. This holiday was for everyone, but women especially looked forward to it and revered it.

Since young and strong peasant women mainly participated in the harvest work, in the old days, the time of rest after field work was called the small Indian summer. It was very short, lasting from the Assumption until the end of August. Therefore, “Dozhinki - Gospozhinki” were eagerly awaited and the Assumption was celebrated to the fullest.