Today, January 6, Orthodox Christians celebrate the Eve of the Nativity of Christ, or Christmas Eve. This is the last day of the Nativity Fast and the eve of the Nativity of Christ.

The name Christmas Eve comes from the word “sochivo” (wheat grains soaked in the juice from the seeds). It was customary to treat yourself to Sochivo on Christmas Eve after the appearance of the first star. The tradition of fasting “until the first star” is associated with the legend about the appearance of the Star of Bethlehem, which announced the birth of Christ. On Christmas Eve, at the end of the liturgy and at the evening service, a candle is brought into the center of the church, and the priests sing a troparion to the Nativity of Christ before it.

What is the church service like on this day?

The Christmas all-night vigil (evening church service) lasts approximately three hours. Then the liturgy is served, and after the service the celebration of Christmas begins. People greet each other with "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays."

If Christmas Eve falls on Saturday or Sunday, then the festive all-night vigil is served on Friday. On Christmas Eve itself, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is served, and on Christmas Day, in this case, the Liturgy of Basil the Great is celebrated.

How do you fast on Christmas Eve?

According to the church charter, the Typikon, fasting is prescribed until the end of Vespers. Those who receive communion at the night liturgy, according to church tradition, must abstain from eating for at least six hours before communion.

On Christmas Eve, it is customary to abstain from food until the first star appears. The custom of fasting “until the first star” is associated with the legend about the appearance of the Star of Bethlehem, which announced the birth of Christ. According to the Gospel of Matthew, the star notified the wise men about the birth of the king of the Jews. The star marked the Nativity of Jesus; it is usually called the “star of the Nativity” and Bethlehem - after the place of His birth.

What traditions exist for celebrating Christmas Eve?

According to Russian traditions, on Christmas Eve the whole family fasted, and only with the first star did everyone sit down at the table, on which, among other Lenten dishes, there must be kutia, as well as compote (uzvar) or jelly; In wealthy families, the table was also decorated with figured marmalade.

In some regions, there is a tradition of baking animal figurines for the holiday. In the evening, closer to midnight, caroling began with songs and carols.

What is a nativity scene?

Christmas nativity scene ( original meaning- cave, hidden place) is a representation of the scene of the Nativity of Christ through the means of various arts (sculpture, theater, etc.).

IN Russian Empire, especially in Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus, the “vertep theater” was widespread - a folk puppet theater presenting Christmas scenes, sometimes also with the participation of human actors.

A nativity scene in such a theater was a special box in which a puppet show was shown. Inside the box there was usually a two-tiered scene: in the upper part they showed the worship of the newborn baby Jesus, in the lower part there were episodes with Herod, after whose death the everyday part of the performance followed.

The main decoration of any nativity scene (large or small, with sculptures or actors) is a manger with the baby Jesus, and the main characters are righteous Joseph with a long beard, the Holy Virgin Mary and King Herod. In addition, the nativity scene may contain wise men, angels, shepherds with sheep and various animals (for example, an ox and a donkey, which, according to legend, warmed Jesus with their breath).

Based on materials from the publication "Arguments and Facts". Photo from the site www.aif.ru.

Nika Kravchuk

Christmas Eve: is it necessary not to eat until the first star and cook 12 dishes?

How to spend Christmas Eve? Is it possible to eat food before the first star appears in the sky? What does the tradition of preparing 12 Lenten dishes symbolize and does it justify itself? Why is it so important to prioritize: worship services first, and then cleaning and cooking? Read about all this below.

What does it mean not to eat “until the first star”?

Christmas Eve is the evening before the Nativity of Christ. The word “Christmas Eve” itself comes from the name of the dish that was traditionally eaten that evening - sochiva. Sochivo was prepared from soaked wheat grains with the addition of honey, nuts and dried fruits. This dish is also called kutya.

January 6th for everyone Orthodox Christian a special day, the last opportunity to prepare for Christmas. Believers rush to churches and observe strict fasting: the monastery charter presupposes dry eating with abstinence from boiled food and butter.

People say that on this day you are not supposed to eat food at all until the first star rises in the sky. What does it mean? Are there such instructions in liturgical books? To answer these questions, you need to look at the features of services on Christmas Eve.

On the morning of January 6th at Orthodox churches The Liturgy is served, followed by the Vespers. Then a candle is brought to the center of the church, in front of which the priests sing a troparion for the feast of the Nativity of Christ. The candle burning in the middle of the temple symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem, which showed the Magi the way to the Infant God.

According to the Typicon, believers do not eat food until the end of Vespers - in fact, until they light the star candle and sing the Christmas troparion. It was in this understanding that the expression about not tasting food “until the first star” arose, and in fact - until lunch.

But, as experience shows, there are significantly fewer people who come to church on Christmas Eve than those who take the expression literally. Thus, a tradition arose among the people of not sitting down to the table until the “first star” rose in the sky, reminiscent of an amazing sign for the wise men from the East.

So what should you do: eat food after lunch or wait until the evening? Bishop Jonah Cherepanovsky, rector of the Ionin Monastery in Kyiv, advises his flock: if you were at a service, you can calmly come home and sit down to a meal. If you did not carry out the feat of prayer during divine services and exchanged church services for preparing 12 dishes and a festive table for Christmas, then at least carry out the feat of fasting. There is only one “but”: strict regulations do not apply to patients, children, elderly people and pregnant women.

Why are 12 dishes prepared?

Folk traditions require preparing 12 Lenten dishes on Christmas Eve. There is even a “pious” explanation: according to the number of apostles. This tradition is especially popular in Ukraine: here they always cook kutya, prepare dumplings, cabbage rolls with mushrooms, borscht and other dishes.

In the evening, the whole family sits down at the festive table and has dinner together. On the one hand, this is a good tradition - it unites relatives, gives a festive atmosphere, and reminds them of the upcoming holiday. But on the other hand, it contradicts the regulations on the severity of fasting. In what sense if there is not a single savory dish on the table? Let's try to explain.

On the last day before Christmas, fasting is the strictest.

The last seven days of the Nativity Fast are the strictest. At this time, even on weekends, fishing is prohibited. If you fast according to the rules, then on Christmas Eve you cannot eat fish, oil, or even thermally processed food - after all, it was not for nothing that our ancestors ate soaked wheat, not boiled wheat with honey and dried fruits.

Another important rule fasting - observe the measure so that food does not distract a person from prayer. But what happens if you sit down at the table, and in front of you are 12 lean, but no less tasty and hearty dishes? It's unlikely to work if the measure is followed. Therefore, the believer will go to the night Liturgy not so much in a prayerful mood as with an overloaded stomach.

What to do here: abandon the age-old traditions that the whole family loves so much, or still cook 12 dishes? It's hard to give a definite answer. It is better to choose the lesser of all evils in your case.

What is more important for a believer: a festive table or participation in divine services and communion at the night Liturgy? Do you really want to exchange Christ for everyday chores? Think about this and don’t be upset if you don’t have time to prepare some dishes from the planned menu. Compared to the joy of Christmas, these are only small things.

Take it for yourself and tell your friends!

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Christmas tree trade. G. Manizer. 1870s. Omsk Regional Museum of Fine Arts named after M.A. Vrubel

Why Christians fast until the first star on Christmas Eve, what a nativity scene and carols are, and why they decorate a Christmas tree on the holiday - the site talks about the traditions of Christmas.

Christmas has always been considered one of the most important holidays among Christians of different denominations. They prepared for it thoroughly - for example, the Orthodox fasted for six weeks before Christmas (although not as strictly as before Easter). On Christmas Eve we ate sochivo - boiled wheat with honey. After the first star appeared in the sky, they sat down at the festive table. With the onset of Christmas, festivities, games and round dances were held in the streets.

What did they do at Christmas in Tsarist Russia, why do they tell fortunes on Christmastide, and what changes did the holiday undergo in Soviet times- in the material website.

history of the holiday

According to the events described in the Gospel, the Virgin Mary and her husband Joseph, expecting the birth of a child, lived in Nazareth. They ended up in Bethlehem by order of Caesar Augustus, who was conducting a census. Mary and Joseph could not find a place to stay in the city, because many people had gathered there, and they had to spend the night in a cave that served as a stable for cattle. There Christ was born. His first cradle was a manger - a feeding trough for livestock.

The news of the birth of the Savior was heard by the shepherds guarding the flock; they went to the cave and were the first to bow to the baby. Then the Star of Bethlehem shone in the sky. Following her, the wise men came to the newborn Christ and brought him gold, incense and myrrh. Gold was a tribute to the king, incense was a gift to God, and myrrh was a gift to a person who would have to die (myrrh was anointed with the dead).

The Star of Bethlehem immediately became an important symbol, but the holiday of Christmas itself appeared a little later. Until the 4th century, in Eastern and Western churches, Christmas was combined with the feast of Epiphany and celebrated on January 6th. In 337, Pope Julius I established December 25 as the date of the Nativity of Christ, and representatives of many faiths celebrate it on this day. On December 24, Christmas Eve, Mass is celebrated, and in houses hay is laid out on the floor and under the tablecloth - as a reminder of the stable and manger where Jesus was born.

Russian, Georgian, Serbian, Jerusalem and a number of other churches celebrate Christmas on January 7th.

Christmas tree in Rus' and the USSR

The celebration of Christmas in Rus' was first mentioned in the 10th century, but decorating a Christmas tree (that is, doing something without which holidays are unthinkable - both Christmas and New Year- today) became available only in the 19th century. Although back in 1699, Peter I ordered that pine, spruce and juniper branches be brought into the house for the holiday, that the calendar should be calculated not from the creation of the world, but from the Nativity of Christ, and New Year’s Day, following the example of all Christian peoples, should be celebrated not on September 1, but on January 1. But after the death of the emperor, his recommendations were not followed very carefully: throughout the entire 18th century, before the holiday, with the help coniferous trees and only drinking establishments were decorated with branches (it was easy to identify them by the trees tied to a stake, installed on the roofs or stuck at the gates). No food appeared anywhere else for the holiday. However, the order of Peter I concerned more the decoration of the streets of the capital (then Moscow), and not the interior.

The idea of ​​a decorated Christmas tree came from Germany: at first, fir trees there were decorated with apples, candles and a six-pointed star. Later, artificial decor, sweets and nuts were used for decoration. In the 1830s, Christmas trees appeared in the homes of St. Petersburg Germans, and by 1852 they began to be decorated everywhere.

TO end of the 19th century centuries, Christmas trees became the main decoration of both city and country houses, and by the beginning of the 20th century they became an obligatory attribute of winter holidays.

In 1916, when the First World War, The Holy Synod banned the Christmas tree as an enemy enterprise. And the Bolsheviks, who came to power a little later, extended this ban (as, indeed, on other religious celebrations).

In 1935, the holiday was conditionally rehabilitated, but replaced with a family secular New Year, which retained a number of Christmas attributes: residents Soviet Union they decorated Christmas trees, organized holiday performances (which, of course, did not relate to gospel events), and gave each other gifts. In particular, an article was published in the Pravda newspaper on December 28, 1935, calling for the abandonment of the “bourgeois” interpretation and “wrong condemnation” of tradition, as well as the return of “wonderful entertainment” to children and the organization of “a good Soviet Christmas tree in all cities and collective farms.” "

Christmas traditions

Christmas Eve - Christmas Eve - was celebrated modestly in Russia both in the imperial palaces and in peasant huts. They sat down to the table only in the evening - after the rise of the first star, the symbol of Bethlehem, signifying the birth of Christ.

Christmastide began on Christmas and lasted until Epiphany. People called them holy times: it was believed that on these days one could see prophetic dreams or otherwise obtain predictions of the future. That is why they are associated with fortune-telling (at other times Christians do not welcome this kind of entertainment, but on Christmastide it is not forbidden).

On holy days bad omen an empty table was considered, so in every house there was a ritual kalach on it, which was treated to those who came to carol. Carols are a pre-Christian tradition, when people believed that with the help of a ransom they could drive away evil spirits from their homes. In winter, the Slavs celebrated the holiday of Kolyada, associated with the winter solstice, but later it was timed to coincide with Christmas and the beginning of Christmastide. Pagan carols were accompanied by carnival elements - dressing up using skins, masks and horns, songs, dances, fair performances and games.

The holiday was celebrated especially joyfully in the villages. The role of evil spirits was played by girls and boys who sang carols, organized dances and games under the windows of neighbors and begged for treats. This pagan custom, similar in some details to glorification, for a long time strongly associated with Christmas.

Glorification is a completely Christian tradition, which originated in the 4th century, under the Roman ruler Constantine the Great. In Russia, with the first sounds of the gospel, a procession headed by the patriarch followed to the palace to glorify Christ and congratulate the sovereign and members royal family Merry Christmas. In the villages, clergy went from house to house with prayers and singing. Often ordinary people also took part in the glorification ritual; they were called glorifiers.

In the 17th century, an innovation was added to the traditional rite of glorification - a nativity scene (from the Old Slavic “nativity scene” - cave). He represented portable box, decorated with spinning flat dolls and stars, in which Christmas events were reproduced.

Later, the nativity scene could be a puppet, it could be live, with the participation of actors, or it could be a static composition using figures from different materials. The latter appeared, for example, on the streets and squares. The law of the genre prohibited depicting the Mother of God and Christ in the form of dolls; they could be replaced with an icon, but both dolls and actors could act in the role of wise men, shepherds and other characters.

Christmas treats

Among Christmas traditions and customs, much attention was paid to the feast. Meat was considered the main dish for the holiday: for Christmas, ham was salted, ham was smoked, and sausage was stuffed. After lenten soups, cabbage soup with lamb and beef was prepared.

On Christmas Eve they broke their fast with kutya, and after that they ate roast goose or pig's head. Pancakes were baked from oatmeal - oats were considered a symbol of Christmas celebrations. The pancakes were prepared with pryazenina, a thick meat gravy. At Christmas they made roe gingerbread. They were sculpted by hand in the form of cows, sheep, goats and deer.

We washed down the dishes and snacks with traditional sbiten. For children it was made non-alcoholic, while adults were offered sbiten with beer, brandy, vodka or wine.

On January 7, the Nativity Fast ends for Orthodox Christians around the world. It ends with great joy - on this day in the city of Bethlehem the Savior of the world Jesus Christ was born. Traditionally Orthodox, unlike representatives catholic church, greater value They pay more attention to inner peace and spiritual contemplation of the joy of the holiday than to its external attributes, but Orthodox Christmas is also imbued with its own beautiful traditions.

40-day Nativity fast, intense prayer brought closer Orthodox people to the great celebration. However, the ancient Christians did not know it; for them, the Resurrection of Christ overshadowed Christmas. At the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 4th centuries, Christians began to celebrate Christmas and the Baptism of the Savior on the same day - January 6 according to the Julian calendar. By the way, this tradition is preserved by the Armenian Apostolic Church. And only in the middle of the 4th century the holiday of Christmas was separated from Epiphany and began to be celebrated by the Roman Church on December 25 according to the Julian calendar. According to references in the chronicles, Rus' first began to celebrate the Nativity of Christ in the 10th century.

Currently, together with the Russian Orthodox Church, Christmas is celebrated on the night of January 6-7 by the Jerusalem, Serbian and Georgian Orthodox churches, as well as Mount Athos monasteries, Catholics of the Eastern rite (in particular, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) and some Protestants living according to the Julian calendar. All the other 11 Local Orthodox Churches of the world celebrate the Nativity of Christ, like Catholics, on the night of December 24-25, since they use the so-called “New Julian” calendar, which so far coincides with Gregorian calendar, used by Catholics.

It is believed that it is on the night before Christmas that two forces dominate: good and evil. Whichever person he joined, she worked miracles with him. One called for caroling and glorification of the birth of Christ at the festive table, and the other gathered witches for the Sabbath. In the evening, kolyada (wicket) - disguised guys in torn fur coats and with animal masks on their faces - walked from house to house in the villages. They honored the owners without sparing generous words. Signs: “If the weather is snowy on Christmas Eve, there will be a harvest for bread.” It was believed that on this day, the last before Christmas, snowfall is a sure sign of economic prosperity in the new year. And if there is frost on this day, there will be advice and love in the family. Of course, these signs and prejudices are just an “echo” of pagan celebrations and traditions that have nothing to do with the essence of the great Christian holiday.

“The holiday of the Nativity of Christ is one of the days when we experience our meeting with God with the greatest depth and joy. Before this solemn and wondrous day, the world and God were separated by sin, and man, no matter how eager he was to meet God, could not achieve it on his own, without Him. And God, in His immeasurable love, in His mercy, became man, He crossed the line that separated fallen man from eternal life and from eternal joy,” Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh said in one of his sermons. Christmas Eve begins on Christmas Eve - two weeks of winter holidays that continue until Epiphany, which is celebrated Orthodox Church January 19.

The day of intensive preparation for the holiday of the Nativity of Christ is considered to be Christmas Eve - the eve of the great holiday, which occurs on January 7 for Orthodox Christians. According to strict rules, believers are advised to refuse food until the first star. Only when the first star appears - the symbol of the Star of Bethlehem - can you taste sochivo (a Lenten dish, which is most often prepared from wheat or rice with honey and fruit). Hence the name of this day - Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve was quietly celebrated with family at a pre-holiday dinner by candlelight. Twelve dishes were always served on the table, and people sat at the table in even numbers. If there was an odd number of guests, then one free cutlery was set on the table. Before sitting down to the table, it was sprinkled with hay - in memory of the den and manger in which Christ was born. The name Christmas Eve comes from the custom of preparing the so-called sochivo - “wheat grains soaked in water.” It was also customary to call any lean food Sochivo.

The holiday continued the next morning - with folk festivities with songs, dances and round dances. The whole country took part in the “Yuletide Games” - from the common people to the court nobles.

Let us note that for a long time in Rus' there was still some mixture of Christianity and paganism that came from Byzantium. Therefore, in those years, fortune telling was especially common at Christmas. Mainly, young girls told fortunes about their grooms. Fortune telling with a boot consisted of taking off the boot from the left foot and throwing it over the fence. Then they looked in which direction the toe of the boot was pointing, and looked for the groom in that direction. If the boot fell with its nose towards its own fence, this meant that there would be no groom in sight in the coming year. At the same time, the tradition of fortune telling with wax arose. IN large capacity Melted wax was dripped with water and the future was determined by the figures in the reflection.

Other fortune-telling rituals that existed in those years: by ashes, by a shoe, by a mirror, by candles, by a ring, by a key and a book, by snow, by a towel, by a comb, by an onion, by the barking of a dog and even by a horse.
Ordinary peasants also had a ritual of “sowing”: shepherds went around the houses, congratulated everyone on the holiday and threw a handful of oats into each house, saying: “For the living, for the fruitful and for health” or “I sow and sow with spring wheat, oats, buckwheat on calves, on lambs and on all peasants!
The ritual of caroling also originated in Rus'. The young people dressed up and walked around neighboring houses, singing Christmas carols. In every home, such guests were greeted with festive treats and gifts. The theme of the birth of Jesus Christ prevailed in the texts of the carols. Others were associated with biblical stories, while others praised the owner of the house and his household. In the old days, it was customary to wish for a prosperous harvest next year.

Gradually, with the rooting of Christianity in Rus', the traditions of dressing up, telling fortunes and congratulating everyone they met on the summer solstice sank into the summer, giving way to simple congratulations and festive songs. In many villages in the Russian provinces, the tradition of singing carols has been preserved to this day.

In general, Christmas is celebrated for three days: January 7, 8, and 9. Our ancestors celebrated them like this: on the first day, housewives - wives stay at home, and men go from house to house and congratulate their loved ones and acquaintances. Tables are set everywhere all day. Everything that is lean (not lean) is already on the table. Usually this is: herring for a snack, then soup, chicken, ham, potatoes, salads, vodka, wine, etc. For dessert, kutia, strudel, cake, compote and tea or coffee. The guests and the hostess sit down at the table for half an hour, eat a little something and then say goodbye and the guest goes to other friends. You definitely need to visit all your relatives, then good friends, especially older and elderly people. No gifts are brought these days. On the second day of Christmas, it is expected that wives go out to visit guests, and husbands stay at home, however, in pre-revolutionary times this was not particularly practiced. Everyone visited each other's families. However, this tradition has been preserved even now. You just need to take gifts with you and exclaim when visiting: Merry Christmas!

Based on materials from the sites For-ua.com, Sus@nin, Orthodoxy in the Holy Land.

Hearing the words: “So it’s fasting, mother. You can't reach the first star. We’re waiting, sir,” many will still remember the continuation today advertising slogan of a defunct bank. For religious people, this phrase is filled with a completely different meaning - the expectation of the appearance in the sky of the Star of Bethlehem, which, according to legend, announced the birth of Christ to the Magi.

Astronomers have their own explanation for this celestial phenomenon and consider the appearance of a “star in the east” to be a consequence of the coincidence of rare astronomical and astrological events. The prophetic star left a mark in material culture: interiors were decorated with images of stars; the tops of New Year trees are still decorated with stars; women knit and embroider eight-pointed stars in the ornaments of their handicrafts. It is believed that the star brings prosperity and happiness and establishes a connection between the spiritual and material world.

Lenten traditions

Today is Christmas Eve, the day before the Nativity of Christ. On this day, the four-week Christmas fast ends, and religious traditions prohibit believers from eating before dark and the appearance of the first star. Many traditions and special rituals have long been associated with this day.

The name “Christmas Eve” was given to the day before Christmas by a special food - sochivo - rice or wheat porridge with honey, nuts and raisins. It was the first obligatory dish of dinner on the eve of the holiday. Sochivo is a grain of bread soaked in water, honey, broth or gravy; it symbolized germination, the beginning of life. U Eastern Slavs Until the end of the 19th century, this grain was rye, later - wheat, and for wealthy people - rice.

Sochivo from wheat. How to cook?

Ingredients: you will need 1 cup of wheat grains, 100 g of poppy seeds, 2-3 tablespoons of poppy seeds, 140 g of walnut kernels.

Cooking method: Sort the wheat, rinse thoroughly. Soak the grain for two to three hours in cold water. Then drain in a colander or cheesecloth, drain the water and transfer the wheat to a saucepan. Fill clean water in a ratio of 1:3, lightly salt, cook over low heat for two hours or put in the oven, where it simmers at 180`C until soft. While the wheat is cooking, pour boiling water over the poppy seeds. Drain the wheat from the water in which it was boiled. Save a little broth and dilute honey in it. Pour honey water over the wheat.

Drain the water from the poppy seeds, grind the swollen poppy seeds in a mortar or grind through a meat grinder with a fine grid several times. Chop the nuts and fry in a dry frying pan. Mix wheat, poppy seeds and nuts, let it brew for a while. Sochivo ready.

Also obligatory dishes at the Christmas Eve ritual feast are baked fish and a thick broth made from whole or halved fruits. The broth differs from compote in its richer concentration and symbolizes the full maturation of life and its end. Sochivo and vzvar or jelly are symbols of birth and death.

The menu can be supplemented with dishes made from vegetables and legumes. The number of dishes for the pre-Christmas dinner can be up to twelve. Together they serve as a reminder of the grains and fruits brought to Christ by the Magi on his birthday.

Believers begin dinner after the evening service and the appearance of the first star. Before this, no food or drink is consumed throughout the day. Meat dishes appear on the table of fasting people only after the solemn liturgy on the Day of the Nativity of Christ.

The table for the meal was prepared in a special way - it was lined with straw and covered with a bleached tablecloth. This referred believers to the legend that Christ was born in a sheep stable on straw. Christmas Eve dinner for believers is a quiet family meal, without long gatherings and empty table conversations.

Game rituals

Another Christmas tradition is carols. From a small box - a nativity scene - an impromptu puppet theater was set up, in which Christmas-themed actions were performed. We walked around the village with the nativity scene in the evening, congratulating our neighbors.

Young people “dressed up” - they put on sheepskin coats with the fur facing out, hid their faces under animal masks and sang Christmas carols.

Virgin Mary

Nativity of Christ - An angel has arrived.

He flew across the sky and sang songs to people:

All people rejoice, rejoice this day

Today is Christmas!

I am flying from God, I brought you joy,

That Christ was born in a poor den.

Hurry up, hurry up

Meet the Newborn Baby.

The shepherds from the East came before everyone else,

The baby was found in a manger on straw.

They stood, wept, and glorified Christ

And His Holy Mother.

And the wise men, seeing a bright star,

They came to worship God and the King.

They bowed to God, they gave gifts to the Tsar:

Gold, myrrh and Lebanon.

And the rebellious Herod learned about Christ,

He sent warriors to kill all the babies.

Babies were killed, swords were dulled,

And Christ was in Egypt.

We have sinned a lot, O Savior before You.

We are all sinful people, You alone are Holy.

Forgive our sins, give us forgiveness.

Today is Christmas!

It was believed that on Christmas night the forces of good and evil meet. Good forces invited people to sing carols or treat the artists to sweets, and to glorify the birth of Christ at the Lenten evening table. Evil forces gathered a coven of witches, raging in their powerlessness, and drew people to fortune telling.

Fortune telling rituals with the rooting of Christianity lost their relevance, but in various ways Many people know how to look into the future. It happens that even today, fortune telling by a shoe, a mirror, ashes, a ring, an onion or a dog’s bark makes fortune tellers hold their breath. It is believed that wishes made on the night before Christmas have many chances of coming true.

Christmas fortune telling by candles are done as follows:

you need to take the remaining wax or paraffin from the candles white, multi-colored and holiday candles will not work. Place the wax in metal utensils, melt over high heat and quickly pour into cold water. A figure that is formed from frozen wax and tells about the future.

Interpretation of figures:

if drops of wax harden in the shape of a house, this means that in the near future you will have a new household, and the girl will have a fiance;

if the figure is shapeless, then the future promises trouble;

if you see a tree, then pay attention to the direction of its branches: if they stretch upward - joy is close, if they lean towards the bottom - there will be boredom, melancholy and sadness;

a candle or ring predicts an imminent wedding;

If a pancake falls to the bottom, then the girl’s girlhood will be prolonged.

After Christmas Eve until the holiday of Epiphany, which is celebrated on January 19, the holiday weeks continue. Greed and stinginess are absolutely not for this time - this is the time of preparing gifts and purchases.

Signs for Christmas

Our ancestors did not welcome fortune telling, but they observed the signs. It was believed that a snowstorm on Christmas Eve meant early foliage, and snow on Christmas Eve meant a grain harvest in the new year.

On Christmas Eve, peasant children climbed under the table and “chuckled” like chickens - so that the chickens would lay eggs well.

Starting on Christmas Eve, winter turns to frost, and sun turns to summer.

Weather this year folk signs follows. Whether you decide to join folk traditions or not, we wish you happiness, health, prosperity and bright stars on your journey!