What a holiday January 6th is. Definition of magical abilities

August 20, 2018 is Marina Pimena Day. Today the Church remembers the martyr Marin and two saints named Pimen (which of them is associated with the national holiday is not known for certain).

According to legend, Pimen the Many-Sick was unwell all his life. After his arrival at the Pechersk Monastery, one night angels appeared to him and performed the rite of tonsure as a monk, warning him that the day of recovery would mean intkbbach his imminent death. On the day of Pimen’s death, an image of three pillars of fire appeared above the church. He probably died in 1110.

Pimen Pechersky was abbot Pechersk Lavra until 1141, he worked in the Far Caves. He was called a faster because he ate only once a day and in minimal quantities.

The martyr Marinus was executed after numerous tortures during pagan times for destroying an altar in a pagan temple, trampling on offerings and publicly declaring his ardent love for the Savior.

According to signs, if spiders throw their webs and hide, it means the weather will worsen.

If the water in the river foams, it will soon begin to rain, and if the dawn is red at sunrise, it will soon rain.

Cheburashka's birthday

Cheburashka's birthday is celebrated on August 20. The holiday originated in 2005, when at another charity event for orphans, children's writer and storyteller E. Uspensky named this date as his character's birthday.

Small exotic animal with big ears- this is a fabulous reflection of a child. On the one hand, he is in need of the protection and care of an adult comrade (the crocodile Gena), and on the other hand, he is a child’s wisdom and spontaneity. Cheburashka gained its popularity in 1968, after the film adaptation of the book “Crocodile Gena and His Friends.”

Vasily, Afanasy, Dmitry, Alexey, Mikhail, Mitrofan, Alexander, Anton, Peter, Nikanor, Ivan.

1667 - John Milton's poem Paradise Lost is published.
1721 - The famous fountains and cascades of Peterhof were launched
1812 - Mikhail Kutuzov was appointed Commander-in-Chief of all active Russian armies
1915 - Eighteen-year-old Georgy Zhukov (Future Marshal) was accepted into the army Soviet Union)
1945 - A Special Top-Secret Committee was created in the USSR to manage work on the use of uranium atomic energy

Vasily Aksenov 1932 - Soviet and Russian prose writer
Slobodan Milosevic 1941 - First President of Serbia
Rajiv Gandhi 1944 - Indian political figure, Prime Minister of India
Boleslaw Prus 1847 - Polish novelist and journalist
Benjamin Harrison 1833 - Twenty-third President of the United States, political and public figure
William Pokhlebkin 1923 - Soviet and Russian scientist, historian, geographer, journalist and writer
Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky 1937 - Soviet and Russian theater and film director, screenwriter, People's Artist of Russia.

Christmas Eve January 6, 2018: what kind of holiday is it, its history, customs, signs and beliefs of this day. Christmas Eve is the eve of the Nativity of Christ, in 2018 it will be celebrated on January 6. On this day, the Nativity Fast ends, and the Orthodox complete the main preparations for the bright holiday.

Christmas Eve January 6, 2018: what kind of holiday is it, its history. Christmas Eve on January 6, 2018 also has other names - Holy Evening or the Eve of the Nativity of Christ. According to history, its celebration was established in the 4th century. For Christmas services, hymns written back in the 5th-8th centuries are used. At that time, the Royal Hours were celebrated in churches, at which it was customary to proclaim many years to the Tsar, his family and all Orthodox Christians.

History says that the name of the holiday comes from the words “sochivo”, “sochni”. Our ancestors prepared both of these dishes on the eve of Christmas. Sochivo is a dish made from soaked wheat or barley grains, to which the juice of poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, nuts, and mustard is added. Sochni are bread cakes with holes for eyes, which in ancient times were used for fortune telling. To do this, they looked out into the street through the holes in the saplings and watched who would pass by. If it was good man, it was believed that the year would be good and successful. And if you saw a bad person, then a corresponding year should have been expected.

Christmas Eve January 6, 2018: customs, signs and beliefs of this day.
On Christmas Eve, January 6, 2018, all Orthodox Christians will rush to churches to attend the all-night vigil and liturgy.

On the morning of January 6, housewives usually throw away old and unnecessary things and prepare a festive dinner. According to custom, there should be twelve festive dishes on the table.

Some homes have a custom of special decoration of the Christmas table. Housewives take out new tablecloths, and put a bunch of hay under them, as a symbol of the manger. Banknotes and garlic cloves are placed on the corners of the table. They symbolize the well-being and health of all household members. An ax is placed under the table. Everyone sitting at the table places their feet on it so that they can be healthy body and strong in spirit. Candles and fir branches are placed in the very center of the table.

Traditionally, a festive dinner begins with a prayer in which they glorify Christ, asking him for health and happiness for everyone sitting at the table. The first dish to try is kutia. After which they try all the other dishes of the festive table.

In villages there is a tradition, which has survived to this day, of gathering in large groups on Christmas Eve on January 6th. Young people dress up in fancy costumes, paint their faces and go from house to house singing carols. They sing songs, ditties, and read poetry. The owners treat them with sweets. At the same time, a mandatory attribute for carolers is a star, symbolizing the one of Bethlehem. It is made from colored paper and ribbons, and an icon is placed in the center of the star. In ritual songs, carolers glorify Christ and the owners of the house.

There is another long-standing tradition preserved in modern times, this is on the night of January 6-7. However, it should be remembered that the church does not welcome this tradition.

Name day on this day:

Innocent, Nikolai, Sergei, Evgenia, Claudia.

Epiphany (Epiphany, Day of the Three Magi Kings, Epiphany)

The Feast of the Epiphany, or Epiphany, along with the Feast of Easter, is the oldest Christian holiday. It is dedicated to the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. According to Christian doctrine, it was after Baptism that Jesus began to enlighten people, illuminating them with the light of truth. In addition, in the Baptism of Christ, humanity participated in His Divine grace, receiving in this sacrament cleansing with living water, leading to eternal life. Therefore, acceptance of the sacrament of Baptism is a mandatory condition for believers to belong to the Church.

In the Western Church, the holiday was called Epiphany (Greek: Epiphany, Theophany), since during the Baptism of Jesus Christ a special appearance of all three persons of the Divine occurred: God the Father from heaven testified about the baptized Son and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descended on Jesus, thus confirming Word of the Father.

IN church calendar The feast of the Epiphany began in the middle of the 2nd century. and was first celebrated together with the Nativity of Christ (the Armenian Church still adheres to this tradition). In the 4th century, the celebration of Christmas was moved to December 25, and the feast of Epiphany retained the same date - January 6.

For Catholics, the central content of the feast of Epiphany is the church legend about the worship of the baby Jesus by the pagan kings - the magicians Caspar, Melchior and Belshazzar, who came with gifts to Bethlehem. In memory of the appearance of Christ to the pagans and the veneration of the three kings, thanksgiving prayers are held in churches; gold is sacrificed to Christ as a king, incense is sacrificed to God, and myrrh is sacrificed to a man. The Feast of the Epiphany was also called Festum magorum (Feast of the Magi), or Festum regum (Feast of the Kings) and is associated with the worship of the baby Jesus by the three wise men (three kings) - Caspar, Melchior and Belshazzar.

The celebration of Epiphany consists of attending a solemn mass in the church and a family dinner after midnight by the fireplace with a “Christmas log”. According to Western tradition, on the day of Epiphany, not only the consecration of water is performed, but also incense and chalk, with which believers write the initial letters of the names of the Magi at the entrance to their houses: “K + M + V.” They believe that these letters drive away evil forces and evil thoughts from the house and from the well-being of the family living in it. Chalk is stored all year, like water for the Orthodox. The tradition of lighting bonfires, the “epiphanic fires,” illuminating the “path of the Magi” is still preserved.

Yule - midwinter holiday

This festival has ancient pagan roots and many additional names that came over time:

Bonfire Festival - on this day, on the outskirts of cities and at specially prepared sites, giant bonfires are burned from last year's garbage and fireworks are set off.

The holiday "Trettaundinn" (The Thirteenth Day after Christmas) - it symbolizes the departure of the last of the many local Santa Clauses to the mountains.

Yule is considered the “Mother of All Nights”, and the holiday is dedicated to the diss - the female deities of childbirth and fate.

The celebration traditions are very close to Christmas ones. Branches of evergreen trees or entire trees are brought into the house and decorated. Gifts are placed under the Yule tree.

In addition, in Iceland it has long been believed that if you do not get new woolen clothes for Yule, you can fall out of favor with the Yule Cat: he will come and check if there are new clothes, and if he doesn’t find them, he will take away the festive dinner (at best) or even the children.

Epiphany (Blessing of the Waters, Jordan Day)

Epiphany is one of the most revered holidays in Bulgaria. It is believed that on this day the Lord Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Therefore, on this day people with the names Jordan, Jordanka, Bogdan, Bogdana celebrate their name days. The holiday is closely associated with water and swimming in cold water. After the service in the temple, the priests, at the head of a crowded crowd, go to the nearest river or reservoir, where it is planned to throw a cross into the water. This breathtaking spectacle attracts not only believers, but also crowds of onlookers. Young men are usually prepared to remove the cross from the water. It is believed that the one who first removes the cross thrown by the priest from the water will have success and health all year long. Another belief says that if the cross freezes in water, the harvest will be great. Girls also take part in this holiday in their own way. Even before sunrise, they go to a well or stream to pour themselves “baptized” water. By the stream they wash home icon and their faces. In the Rhodope Mountains there is also a tradition on this day of throwing newlyweds (those who got married in the past year) into the water so that they recharge their health for the whole year. Throwing into the water is performed by special people - “haskars”. If there is no river nearby, then the ritual is performed at a spring or well. People call the holidays of Epiphany and Midsummer “Voditsa” because of the connection with water. This day also marks the birthday of the great son of the Bulgarian people, Hristo Botev, whose short but bright life played a huge role not only in the struggle of the Bulgarian people for freedom, but also in Bulgarian literature, history, culture.

Turitsy

Dedicated to Tur - one of the oldest totem animals revered among the Slavs, in which the union of Veles and Perun is embodied for the glory and prosperity of the Slavic Family.

The son of Veles and Mokosha, Tur, like the Greek Pan, patronizes shepherds, guslars and buffoons, valiant prowess, games, dances and fun, as well as groves and forest animals. In the North, Tur appears as a proud deer, and in the taiga forests as an elk. On this day they guess for the whole next year, since the holiday closes the winter holidays. The 12th day of Christmastide corresponds to the 12th month of the year. Fortune telling occurs in the evening, with the onset of darkness. They collect snow to bleach the canvas. Snow collected this evening and thrown into a well can store water for the whole year.

The Slavs saw in the holiday of Tours the most ancient rite of youthful initiation into men, when, incarnating as a wolf, the young man had to show hunting abilities and military courage and kill his first tour. The ancient Slavs took their example from these formidable animals, who did not take care of themselves in order to protect the herd. They tried to teach the younger generation to attack and defend, to show resourcefulness and perseverance, endurance, courage, the ability to unite to repel enemies, to protect the weak and to find the enemy’s weak point.

For many years, aurochs, wild bulls, served people as a symbol of honor and courage. Cups and horns were made from turk horns, which were blown invitingly during military campaigns, and even bows were made from especially large horns. But Turitsa is also a shepherd’s holiday, at this time the community invites a shepherd for the next season, negotiates with him about work, entrusting him with a precious herd for long time. The shepherd, the servant of the Veles, puts intoxicating drinks on the common table, and the community - food, and celebrate their agreement with a holiday.

From that moment on, he takes care of the herd and its health, and Tur helps him in this matter, protecting young heifers and cows preparing for calving in February from all sorts of misfortunes and diseases.

Christmas Eve (Badnidan, Badnyak)

Christmas Eve, January 6, is called “Badnidan” in Serbian countries: Serbia proper, Montenegro and Republika Srpska within Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On this day, before sunrise, the head of the family and his sons or grandsons (necessarily one of the younger ones) announce with a shot from a gun in front of the house that they are going into the forest for “badnyak”. At dawn, the remaining family members in the house light a fire and begin to roast on a spit a specially fattened pig for Christmas - the “pechenitsa”; the women prepare Christmas pie, cakes and other dishes:

rataritsy - kneaded from leaven dough in the form of balls, with the largest one being made for the owner, the smallest one for the youngest child;

braiders - kneaded from sour dough in the form of a braid, with the largest one being made for the housewife, the smallest one for the youngest daughter (granddaughter);

pie for the right ox - made from bread flour in the form of a flat cake with a hole in the middle and put on the horn of the right ox in the harness on Christmas morning;

cow pie - prepared in some villages in southern Serbia, decorated with various symbols of kotina, domestic animals, hay, etc.

Badnjak is a log of felled young oak that every Serbian family must have in their home during the Christmas holidays. The log is chosen of such a size and weight that the head of the family can carry it into the house on his shoulders. According to tradition, it should burn in the family hearth during all three days of the holiday. As soon as the owner of the house finds a suitable oak tree, he turns to face the east, crosses himself three times, remembering the Lord God, his Glory (the patron saint of the family) and tomorrow's holiday, greets the badnyak, and then cuts down the tree with three blows (the first blow is applied from the east, the latter is usually from the west, so that the tree falls to the east on the shoulders of the owner). If the tree cannot be cut down with three blows, it is torn from the base without the help of an ax. In this case it Bottom part called a beard.

The chips that fly away from the tree are called “iver”; one such chip must be brought from the forest to the owner of the house. Sometimes they try to catch the iver while still in the air. It is placed either between the troughs so that the cream on the milk is all year round fatty, either between the hives to protect themselves from evil, or into the water, which is then considered healing. A badnyak brought from the forest, sometimes dressed in a shirt, is left leaning against the outer eastern side of the house until the evening. Symbolically, the badnyak personifies the log that the shepherds brought with them as a gift to the righteous Joseph, so that he would light it in the cold manger where the Savior was born. Badnyak is also a symbol of the cross on which Christ was crucified. Throughout this day, the house is festively decorated.

In the evening before dinner, the owner brings the badnyak into the house along with straw, the hostess sprinkles it with wheat, and the owner puts it near the fire. First, the badnyak is kissed and smeared with honey, then they begin to burn it.

Like many other Christian customs, burning badnjak has pagan roots. According to one theory, badnjak personifies a deity who, when burned, gains new life. According to another, families use it to call upon the dead. According to the third, badnyak is a kind of fire protection. In any case, badnyak is associated with solar cycle and is part of the sun cult. From the fire, when burning oak - a sacred tree - a new sun was born.

Serbs often incorrectly believe that badnjak is exclusively their custom. It is known that the Celts burned oak in anticipation of the new summer. This custom lingered for a long time in the British Isles, and is also known among many other European nations. Serbs and “Rusyns” are burning badnyak; Russians and Bulgarians used spruce, and when they burned oak (the Bulgarians called it “badnik”). In Vojvodina, the Bunevites also bring badnyak into the house. The French use cherries as badnjak, and the Belgians preserved badnjak in the form of stylized cakes covered in cream.

The Russian scientist S.V. tried to explain the origin of this custom from a philological point of view. Toporov. He connected the ancient Greek dragon Python, the ancient Indian character of the serpentine nature Ahi Budhnyu (serpent of the depth) and the Serbian character Badnjak into a single mythological chain. All these myths talk about the struggle against destruction: Python (dungeon, darkness) tried to destroy the entire world until Apollo (Sun) killed him. The Vedic “ahi” is related to the ancient Greek “ekhis” - snake - and the Old Slavonic “ozh” (cf. Serbian “azhda” - snake, dragon). The Vedic “budhn” has an analogue in Old German - “bodam” (German “Boden”), and the Old Slavic “dubhn” means the same thing - “depth”. According to this interpretation, the root of badnyak is in the lower, gloomy world, and when it is burned, the sun is called upon and he is helped to defeat his eternal enemy - darkness.

Christmas in Armenia

Until the 5th century everything Christian churches celebrated the holiday of the Nativity of Christ and Epiphany on January 6. Subsequently, some churches began to celebrate Holy Christmas on December 25, so that people would forget the pagan holiday celebrated on this day.

The Armenian Church remained faithful to the old order and celebrates the birthday of Christ on January 6. On this day, the Armenian Church also celebrates the day of the Baptism of Christ.

On the eve of the Holy Nativity, in the evening a liturgy is served, which is called the Liturgy of Christmas Eve. On this day, believers light a candle in church and take it home to illuminate the house and prepare for the holiday of the Nativity of Christ.

The next day, January 6, the Christmas liturgy is served in the morning. Next, the feast of the baptism of Christ is celebrated with the ceremony of blessing the water.

Maroon Day in Jamaica

This holiday is celebrated on the birthday of Captain Kujoe. Captain Cujoe was a Maroon (Maroons were freedom fighters who fought off British colonial forces). He defeated the English army.

After this, through his mediation, a peace treaty was concluded with Britain in 1738. This treaty guaranteed freedom to slaves and significant land holdings.

On this day, descendants of former slaves pay tribute to the Maroons. Jamaicans do not forget that thanks to the Maroons, many of their ancestors were freed and were able to hide in Jamaica.

On January 6, festivals are held in honor of this day, the integral attributes of which are traditional dancing, singing and rituals.

Turitsy

This holiday is dedicated to the tur, the most famous and highly revered animal among the Slavs, which has magical powers. The Slavs believed that the tour for the glory of the Slavic Family and for its prosperity embodied the union of Perun and Veles.

Religious holiday

Holy Nativity or Epiphany

The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the feast of Epiphany or the Nativity of Jesus Christ on January 6. These holidays are established in honor of the event of the Birth of Jesus Christ and his Baptism.

Epiphany

The Feast of Epiphany or Epiphany in the Roman Catholic Church is celebrated on a par with the great holiday of Easter and is the oldest Christian holiday.
This holiday commemorates the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.
Epiphany, or as it is also called - Jordanovden or simply Epiphany - the day when the Lord Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan River is one of the most important and revered holidays in Bulgaria. This holiday is the third Christian holiday of the year.
Baptism or Epiphany in Greece is literally called “lights” - or Theophany. Residents of Greece celebrate it on the same day as the Christmas Eve of Eastern Christians.
In Cyprus, the day of the Epiphany of Christ is called the day of St. Epiphanius or Phot. In Greek phot means light. On Epiphany night, since ancient times in Cyprus, people have been traditionally baptized, that is, they are enlightened spiritually.
Maroon Day - In Jamaica, January 6 is celebrated as the Day of the Maroons - freedom fighters who repelled the attack of British colonial troops. The Maroon Festival is dedicated to the birthday of the main Maroon, Captain Kujoe.

The beginning of Masopust or Maslenitsa

In the Czech Republic, Maslenitsa is called Masopust. Translated, it sounds simple: fasting from meat. Czech Maslenitsa begins immediately after the famous holiday - Epiphany or Three Kings Day, as it is also called among the Czech people.

Unusual holidays

Second wind day for new year celebrations
Artist's Day with yellow paint on the snow
The day when students need to nerd again
A day when it's cold outside, but cozy and warm inside
Day of committing rash acts
Hrum-Hrum day

January 6 in history

1813 - Alexander I signed a manifesto on the end of the Patriotic War Patriotic War.
1834 - The Russian National Anthem “God Save the Tsar!” is adopted.
1884 - Paul Nipkow filed a patent application for the invention of an electric telescope, which became the basis for mechanical television.
1943 - shoulder straps for personnel were introduced in the USSR Soviet army.

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