Passion Week for believing Christians is a special period, not only the most difficult for the body, but also the brightest for the soul. Translated from the Church Slavonic language, "passions" mean "trials and sufferings." Passion Week is dedicated to events in the dying days of Christ's earthly life: the Last Supper, betrayal, suffering, crucifixion, burial and resurrection. The Holy Week before Easter is popularly called Red and Pure Week.
Days of Passion Week
Each day of Holy Week begins with the name "Great", has its own grandeur and significance.
Holy Monday reminds us of the Old Testament Patriarch Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, as a prototype of the suffering of Jesus Christ. The curse of a barren fig tree is also recalled, symbolically showing the soul of a person without the fruits of faith, repentance and works of mercy.
On Great Tuesday, parables are read about the denunciation of the Pharisees and scribes, uttered by Jesus in the Jerusalem temple.
On Great Wednesday, the church remembers the betrayal of Jesus by his disciple Judas for 30 pieces of silver. Even on this day, a story is read about a sinner who prepared Jesus for burial, washing him with her tears and precious peace.
On Maundy Thursday, a passage from the Bible is read in churches about the Last Supper, how the Savior washed the feet of the apostles.
Good Friday speaks of the torment and death of Christ on the cross.
On Great Saturday, the service speaks of the presence of Christ in the tomb, the consecration of Easter food is underway. On Saturday, an amazing and inexplicable phenomenon takes place in Jerusalem - the convergence of the blessed fire.
Benefits of fasting
The observance of the Orthodox fast gives a very great benefit to the human body. Some perceive it as a diet and suggest that it is only useful for people who are overweight. This is wrong. This post is helpful for everyone. mainly consists of cereals, fruits and vegetables containing a lot of fiber. Such food, like a universal cleaner, rids the body of toxins and toxins, normalizes weight and makes the body healthier. And well strengthen the body. Reducing the volume of the stomach during fasting reduces the need for food, especially since fasting food is very healthy and nutritious. Fasting is good for the sick and the healthy, the thin and the fat. There is an opinion that Orthodox fasts are difficult to observe, many expect hunger pangs. This is wrong. Those who try to fast are often surprised by the feeling of fullness without meat products. No pills will help cleanse and heal the body like fasting. Nowadays, it is easy to diversify fast food with a variety of recipes. Therefore, the question of what to eat on Holy Week does not cause a problem.
Features of fasting days in Holy Week
Especially strict fast days pass before Easter. After a long forty day fast, they are a great test. But the sweeter the holiday for those who were able to curb their womb. The Holy Week before Easter urges us to adhere to the fast of the second degree - dry eating. At the same time, the usual rules include: the rejection of meat and vegetable oil, cooking is added without any heat treatment (boiling or frying), and on Friday and Saturday, complete abstinence from any food is prescribed. However, this is a prescription of a strict monastic order. Orthodox Christians take a blessing for this from a priest. Fasting days should be spent according to strength and health. This process can be of different degrees:
- refusal of meat;
- plus the rejection of dairy products, including cheeses and butter;
- plus the rejection of eggs and all dishes with their participation;
- plus the rejection of fish, etc.
In addition, during fasting, it is necessary to reduce the volume of dishes, and especially during Holy Week.
Holy Week Menu
The modern church charter is based on the rules for monks. For the fasting laity, there is a charter - the ancient Russian Typik, which has been used since the 12th century. It spells out what to eat on Holy Week, because the laity need to act "according to their strength" - in accordance with different life situations. There are concessions for the elderly, the sick, pregnant and lactating women, children, etc.
You should strive to take food once a day. Food should consist of raw vegetables with bread and water. Even with such strict rules, under which Holy Week takes place, the menu can be quite varied.
On Holy Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, dry food is prescribed - cold food without vegetable oil, unheated drink.
Breakfast: vegetable or fruit salads, such as cabbage-prune or apple-cabbage with orange sauce, or sprinkled with coconut-orange ambrosia.
Lunch: beet or carrot salad, potatoes with mushrooms or grated carrots with oranges.
Dinner: spicy carrots, pickles, carrot-nut salad.
If you cook the proposed dishes, or cook something of your own, keep in mind that if oil is present in the recipe, simply exclude it.
On Maundy Thursday, it is allowed to take boiled vegetables with butter and a little wine.
Breakfast: apple soup with apricot, apple or jam.
Dinner: "Colorful salad", soups from vegetables or dried fruits, sweet pie with berries.
Dinner: vegetable salt or stew with vegetables and rice,
On Friday we try to abstain from food in general. Only at three o'clock in the morning is it allowed to take a little bread and water.
On Saturday, too, if possible, you should abstain from food. If this is difficult for you, you can make a menu like this:
Breakfast: oatmeal soup with quince or cold soups with dried fruits, bread.
Lunch: potato soup, cabbage rolls with prunes and rice.
Dinner: bean soup with sweet pepper or mushroom soup.
When considering soup recipes, vegetable oil is easily excluded if the recommended products are not fried on it, but stewed in water or immediately added to the soup without additional heat treatment.
What not to do during Holy Week
According to the traditions of the Orthodox Church, Christians spent this week in prayer, kept the strictest fast, and tried to attend church every day. There was even a ban on loud conversations, laughter, singing songs and fun. Today, Great Lent, and especially the strict rules of Holy Week, are observed by a few, and even fewer attend church. The Church teaches that refusing to eat certain foods means little without spiritual fasting. It consists of prayers, doing good deeds, good thoughts, and so on. If there is a desire to fast, and you are thinking about what is on Holy Week, remember the words of Theophan the Recluse: “Fasting seems gloomy until they enter its field ...”.
Spiritual fasting has its own “menu”: under it, a person “... evades anger, rage, malice and revenge, evades idle talk, foul language, idle talk, slander, condemnation, flattery, lies and all slander... a real faster is one who flees from all evil... ", the Holy Church commands.
During Great Lent, and especially during Holy Week, sexual activity is also prohibited. Kisses of husband and wife are allowed only in the dark. What is not allowed during Holy Week is to sing, have fun, dance, laugh, attend any entertainment and entertainment events, holidays, birthdays and weddings, and give up extraneous thoughts. According to the monastery charter, it is forbidden to sit down at the table more than once a day, this is allowed only after sunset. On Good Friday, it is also not recommended to do housework and wash.
Therefore, taking part in the preparations for the most important Christian holiday, think not only about what to eat on Holy Week, but also how to fast spiritually.
Easter Week Traditions
This week is full of traditions and rituals for every day, it is customary to start putting things in order not only in the soul, but also in the house. During Holy Week, a thorough general cleaning of the house was carried out - ceilings were whitewashed, walls were painted, rugs were washed, curtains were starched. The most beautiful tablecloths and napkins were taken from chests and chests of drawers.
There is a beautiful tradition on the Annunciation to release birds into the wild. In 2015, this holiday fell on Maundy Tuesday. Today, the clergy symbolically release tame pigeons into the wild. Animal rights activists recommend not buying wild birds from hunters and poachers who are trying to profit from the suffering and death of birds in this way, since birds often die after the stress of captivity.
In Holy Week or Week (April 22-27, 2019), the Orthodox Church is preparing to celebrate the greatest holiday - Easter, the day of the Resurrection of Christ. During these seven days, parishioners read the Gospel, the Bible, pray for the remission of human sins and, as it were, go through the martyrdom of Jesus Christ to Golgotha, who paid with his suffering, pain, and his life for the sins of mankind.
Of course, this week is considered one of the strictest. So, Holy Week, what you can eat by day, customs and rules of conduct on Holy Week - further. You already know the tradition has a clear framework.
On Holy Week they do not perform the sacraments of baptism, weddings, they do not commemorate the dead, they do not celebrate the days of the Great Martyrs, the Saints. The name "Passionate" - from the word "passion", "suffering". Holy Week in the common people is also called - Holy, Red, Great, Pure, Chervonnaya.
All days of Passion Week are called Great or Passion. On Holy Week, the flock holds a particularly strict Fast, scheduled by the Canon for days. And even those who did not observe the previous days of Fasting try to observe all the prescribed rules during Holy Week.
Food Rules for Holy Week
During Lent on Holy Week, food of animal origin is completely excluded from the diet, of course, except for honey.
It is important! It is impossible - jelly and dishes, which include gelatin. Gelatin is made from cartilage extracts.
Food should be taken only once a day, an exception is made for children, patients suffering from ailments that do not allow strict restrictions on food, as well as for the elderly. During the day, non-sweet teas, herbal infusions, and other sugar-free drinks are allowed.
Before eating any products, carefully read the composition and description. Eliminate all types of chewing gum, chocolate, sweets, chips, marshmallows, marshmallows, white bread and other products. Pay attention to what is important to be sure to prepare for the holiday.
On Holy Week (what you can eat on a daily basis), until the removal of the Shroud, the Orthodox adhere to a raw food diet, that is, the products are not subjected to any type of heat treatment.
During Holy Week, it is believed that birds do not sing either. Strict abstinence not only in food, but also in the physical plane, the taming of the flesh, entertainment events should be ignored, profanity should not be used, and it is impossible to scold, judge and condemn at all. The whole week is devoted to prayers, reasoning and understanding of suffering, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the human race, the sinfulness of man and repentance.
Every day of Holy Week and its meaning
Great Monday
Perhaps the most difficult day of Lent. Believers switch to a one-time meal, a raw food diet, devout people, monks completely refrain from food on this day. Laity can eat bread, pickled, pickled, dried vegetables, mushrooms, fruits.
Drinks are cold only. Food is taken once, in the evening, after cleaning the house, yard. The Church commemorates the Old Testament Patriarch Joseph sold by his siblings and the curse of Jesus Christ on the sinful fig tree.
Maundy Tuesday
The day allows you to eat cooked meals without oil, also in one meal, in the evening. In the monastery, only raw vegetables and fruits are eaten, in limited quantities. There is a big wash on Tuesday. They remember the sermons of Christ in the Jerusalem Temple, his denunciations of the scribes and Pharisees.
Great Wednesday
On this day, dry eating continues, true believers abstain from food completely. All rubbish is removed from the house. Preparation of products for Easter begins. The Church remembers Judas and his betrayal. Great Wednesday is the day of confession, for which they prepare in advance, it is on Great Wednesday that the Lord forgives all sins, conceivable and inconceivable. That is, those sins that you remember and those that you forgot about, or did not consider sin out of ignorance.
Maundy Thursday
On Thursday of Holy Week (what you can eat on a daily basis), it is permissible to eat two meals, hot with the addition of vegetable oil, salads seasoned with oil, and you are also allowed to drink a glass of red wine. On Maundy Thursday, they finish cleaning. Rites are performed with the exorcism of evil spirits. From matins, a candle stub is brought into the house.
Small change is thrown into the water for washing windows and doors, so that the year will bring prosperity. On Thursday they paint eggs, bake Easter cakes, and celebrate Easter. They wash, it is believed that on this day the water washes away all sins and diseases. Dress only in clean or new clothes. Cleaning, bathing and other pre-Easter chores must be completed before sunrise. Remember on Pure Thursday about the Last Supper.
This is interesting! Salt for consecration is collected after bathing in a canvas or linen bag. They keep it all year and use it to protect the house from evil spirits. On Maundy Thursday, lost, expensive things can be found.
Good Friday
The day of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the day of deep sorrow. Complete renunciation of food, only children, sick people and the elderly can eat a little after the evening service. Any housework is prohibited. On Good Friday, one should remember the torment and suffering of Christ, his sacrifice in the name of the human race.
Holy Saturday
Eggs, Easter cakes, Easter, salt and other products are consecrated. True believers continue to abstain from food. On Saturday of Holy Week (what can be eaten on a daily basis), it is permissible for the laity to consume bread, some vegetables, fruits, dried fruits, and honey in the evening. Preparations for the holiday, cooking continues. All preparations must be completed before going to the All-Night Service. Great advice about being.
Holy Sunday of Christ. Easter
The most important and bright day in Orthodoxy. Conversation begins with eggs. On this Great holiday, they have fun, walk. The dead are not commemorated, for this is the day of the triumph of life over death.
It is important! After abstaining from food, you should not eat everything at once and a lot. Gradually, little by little - you have the whole day ahead of you.
On Holy Pascha, the Holy Communion takes place in the Church. After communion, alms are given to the poor. During the entire Holy Week, one should tame the flesh, strengthen the Faith, the Spirit. After abstaining from food, carnal pleasures, time spent in prayer, understanding the sacrifice of Christ, his suffering, a person comes to Holy Pascha cleansed physically and spiritually.
Holy Week is a preparation for the celebration of Easter. This period is also called Holy Week. A week before the holiday, Orthodox people pray for the remission of sins, and also remember the martyrdom of our Savior, who paid for the sins of mankind with his pain and life. That is why the last week of fasting is the most strict. Consider what Holy Week is, what you can eat daily for the laity, as well as the general rules for eating during this period.
General dietary rules for Holy Week
On Holy Week before Easter, any food of animal origin is excluded. The exception is honey, which can be consumed on almost all days of Lent. However, you should pay attention to jelly and jellied vegetables, which are made on the basis of beef cartilage. If you want to include these dishes in your diet, you need to cook them on the basis of agar-agar or other similar substances of plant origin.
During the last week of Lent, food should be taken only once a day. Only children, the elderly, as well as patients who suffer from diseases that involve fractional nutrition can neglect this rule. To relieve the feeling of hunger, you can drink tea, herbal decoctions and other unsweetened drinks throughout the day.
When using store-bought products, you should carefully read their composition. Indeed, some products may contain components of animal origin. During the fasting period, it is better to stop eating sweets, chocolate, marshmallows, chewing gum, white bread and milk marshmallows.
In Holy Week, most people adhere to the principle of a raw food diet. This means that you can only eat foods that have not been subjected to heat treatment. The only product that is allowed to be consumed on all days of Holy Week is bread.
It is believed that during this period even birds do not sing, therefore people should abstain not only from food, but also from life's joys. A week before Easter, it is forbidden to engage in hard physical labor, swearing, attending entertainment events, using profanity, as well as condemning loved ones and quarreling. Holy Week is dedicated to prayers, reflection on the life and suffering of the Savior.
Features of food in Holy Week by day
Each day of the last week before the Bright Holiday has its own characteristics that must be taken into account when compiling the menu.
Great Monday
It is the most difficult day of Lent. It is on this day that the transition to a one-time meal takes place. Monks and other strongly religious people on this day prefer to completely refrain from eating food. Among what the laity can eat on this day, one should highlight bread, dried, pickled or canned vegetables, fresh and dried fruits, and mushrooms. Drinks on this day can only be drunk cold. You can eat only once a day. This should be done in the evening after the house and yard are cleaned.
Maundy Tuesday
On this day, you are allowed to eat only once a day. The monks on this day ate only raw vegetables and fruits. For the laity there is an indulgence. Hot food is allowed. Adding vegetable oil to ready meals or cooking food on them is prohibited. On Tuesday it is customary to do laundry.
Great Wednesday
Strongly believing people and monks on this day completely abstain from food, using only water. For the laity, Wednesday is a day of dry eating. It is allowed to include raw fruits and vegetables, pickled, soaked and pickled mushrooms, fruits and vegetables, as well as bread in the diet. Drinks should be cold and without added sugar.
On Wednesday, it is customary to prepare food for the preparation of Easter dishes. Also on this day, it is customary to take out all the garbage from the house, sort and sort out things that have not been used for a long time. Great Wednesday is the day of confession. Therefore, you need to mentally ask the Lord for forgiveness of sins.
Maundy Thursday
On Thursday, the post will be eased. On this day, it is allowed to eat hot food with the addition of vegetable oil. In addition, you can eat food twice a day, and even drink a glass of dry red wine in the evening. On this day, all work on cleaning the house and yard for Easter was completed, and rituals were also held to exorcise evil spirits.
On Maundy Thursday, it is customary to wash windows, and throw small change into this water so that the year is successful and prosperous. On this day, housewives are engaged in baking Easter cakes, painting eggs, as well as preparations for other Easter dishes.
An important ritual of this day is washing at dawn. Then you need to put on clean or even completely new clothes. This rite symbolizes the cleansing of the body and soul from sins. Also on this day, after bathing, it is necessary to put a bag of salt, which will be lit for Easter. It is customary to keep it in the house throughout the year to protect against diseases and the evil eye.
Good Friday
A day of deep sorrow for every Orthodox person. On this day, it is recommended to completely refuse food. Relief is allowed only for children, the sick and the elderly. For those who cannot completely go without food throughout the day, you can eat some bread after the evening service.
Holy Saturday
On this day, you must continue to abstain from food. You can eat some bread, raw fruits and vegetables. On Saturday, work continues to prepare for the great holiday. After that, people go to the All-Night Service.
Easter
On this day, questions about what you can eat and drink, and what you can’t, no longer arise. On this day, you can not deny yourself any food. However, the first thing you need to try eggs and Easter cakes. This is a bright holiday, so it is customary to walk, have fun, visit guests and host relatives.
In this article, we looked at what the laity can eat on Holy Week. Do not forget that each person should adhere to fasting to the best of their ability and health. After all, the main thing is prayers, the rejection of fun and carnal pleasures.
What Holy Week is, what you can eat by day, is described in more detail in the Typikon, an Orthodox liturgical source. In no case should alcohol be consumed on Holy Week, any entertainment events are prohibited. A strict veto is also placed on food of animal origin, such as eggs, milk, meat, vegetable oil and salt.
It is also undesirable to eat chocolate. Baking can only be eaten that is prepared without the use of vegetable oil.
The Typicon does not impose a strict limit on the amount of food consumed on all days except Friday and Saturday, but believers are encouraged to adhere to self-restraint, and get up from the table a little hungry. At the same time, it is advisable to eat 1 time per day after 19-00 pm.
A strict diet during the week leading up to Easter should be observed by believing Christians. However, children, sick people, pregnant women and nursing mothers are exempt from strict fasting.
The traditional spring Orthodox holiday for most believers is Easter. The date of this holiday changes from year to year. In the 21st century, the earliest Easter was on April 4th and the latest on May 5th.
Holy Week is the last week of Lent before Easter. It is during this period that particularly strict restrictions on the diet are imposed. On Holy Week, it is also forbidden to marry, baptize children, and commemorate deceased relatives. These days should be spent in prayer, taking special care of your spiritual and physical purity.
In 2017, Holy Week runs from April 10, Monday to April 15, Saturday. Holy Week ends on Sunday, the feast of Easter.
Diet by day of the week
On the 43rd day of Great Lent, in Clean Monday dry eating is recommended. On this day, you can eat raw, boiled, pickled vegetables and bread. All food should be cooked without vegetable oil. You can also eat nuts, berries, dried fruits. Sati is allowed, which is natural honey dissolved in a glass of water.
IN Maundy Tuesday, 44th day of Lent should also adhere to dry eating. However, according to the Typicon, boiled porridge and dried fruit compote are also allowed on this day instead of full.
Great Wednesday The 45th day of Lent also dictates its own traditions. On this day, you can eat only boiled and fresh vegetables, bread, light soups prepared without vegetable oil and meat, and also drink full.
46th day of Lent Clean Thursday. On this day, for the laity and believers, a slight indulgence is given. On Thursday, you can cook food using vegetable oil. Hot soups, salads with vegetable oil are allowed. All kinds of cereals, dried fruit compotes are excluded from the strict taboo.
A slight indulgence in food, given on Thursday, is replaced by a complete refusal to eat on Good Friday, also called Passionate. On this day, according to Christian canons, it is worth completely abandoning food. For old people, people suffering from certain ailments, the Typicon gives a slight indulgence. These Christians can eat about 200 grams of bread with water. Lay people who cannot completely refuse to eat food are advised to adhere to dry eating.
IN Great Saturday lay people should also adhere to dry eating. And devout people and monks are still allowed to eat only a few slices of bread and water or refuse to eat at all.
A more strict diet, which true believers and monks must adhere to, is as follows: on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday - a complete fast, only in the evening you can drink a glass of warm water. On Wednesday and Thursday you can drink a full glass, eat a few spoonfuls of raisins and about 200 grams of bread.
The strict fast, which lasted 48 days, ends on Sunday. This day of the week marks the end of Lent. On Easter, all prohibitions on modest food of animal origin are lifted. On the Great Sunday of Christ, the breaking of the fast takes place, you can eat eggs painted in advance, as well as Easter cakes. The fast is over, and now you can eat meat, fish, dairy products, cheeses, butter again.
The term Holy Week, what you can eat every day during this period of time - all these nuances were consecrated in the above article. Summing up, it should be said that Holy Week is the most difficult period of Great Lent, during which the most restrictions are imposed.
However, before deciding whether to completely refuse food or not, you should pay attention to the state of your health. After all, even church literature recommends that only healthy people adhere to strict fasting. Elderly people, as well as those who suffer from this or that illness, are allowed to fast less strictly.
Immediately after Palm Sunday, before Easter, the most strict six days of fasting begin, called Holy Week, Holy Week, Holy Week. In 2018 Holy Week begins on April 2nd. Often, even those who did not keep a strict fast all the days join fasting these days, to the great sacrament of purification of the soul, mind and body, in order to unite in a common outburst of gratitude and get closer to the great mystery of the Faith.
This week brings even greater strength and desire to share the hardships that the Lord endured before His Resurrection. This strict time requires even more abstinence and even more strict behavior.
First of all, these days we should complete our spiritual cleansing, from everything that torments the heart, that torments the soul, through prayers, communion and confession, we work out, let go and prepare for the Bright Day of the Resurrection of Christ.
For believers, all the rules have long become common truth, for people who are a little far from faith and the church and who want communion, let's talk about this topic.
Holy Week: what to do
On Holy Week, one should especially refrain from unrighteous deeds, bad deeds and thoughts, not to allow envy, heartlessness and malice. At this time, it is not advisable to arrange noisy entertainments, holidays, laugh out loud, rejoice - this is a period of great sorrow. Help the needy, take care of the sick, time for good deeds.
Continuing to cleanse the soul, this week they are preparing their home for the holiday, renewing and transforming it.
We prepare in advance products for the festive table, eggs for dyeing, carefully think over the details of the festive decoration.
During Lent, foods that contain meat, fish, poultry, and eggs are strictly prohibited. You can not eat dairy products, as well as chocolate, pasta, white bread, pickles, spices and alcohol.
Holy Monday
Holy Week begins on Holy Monday. Earlier on this day, they usually put their yard in order, shoveled, cleaned, repaired the outside. The weather does not always allow this, and there are fewer and fewer yards, so we immediately begin preparing for the holiday right from the home.
On this day begins a big tidy. The house is cleared of old, bulky things.
On Monday, you can eat raw vegetables and fruits, as well as bread, honey and nuts. It is recommended to eat once a day - in the evening.
Good Tuesday
Buying food for Easter. Women prepare medicinal infusions. Men should not even touch herbs, tinctures, powders.
As on the previous day, raw fruits and vegetables, honey, nuts and bread are allowed. It is advisable to eat only in the evening.
Passion Wednesday
This is the day of washing and all sorts of rubbing. On Wednesday, it is advisable to thoroughly wash, scrape the floors, knock out the carpets. On Wednesday during Holy Week, a special rite was commemorated against any bodily infirmity. It was necessary to scoop up a mug of water from a well or from a barrel on the street or draw water from a river. Having crossed themselves three times, they covered the mug with a clean or new towel, and at 2 o'clock in the morning, having crossed themselves again three times, they poured this water over, leaving a little in the mug. After that, they put on clothes on a wet body, without wiping themselves, and the water that remained in the mug was poured up to 3 hours on a bush or flowers. It is said that a body washed in this way is reborn.
You can also eat bread, vegetables and fruits, cold raw food without oil.
Clean Thursday
A special day this week is Thursday, called Maundy Thursday.
From early morning it is important for everyone to take a shower, a bath, in this morning water has a special gift of purification, gives health and brings good luck for the whole year. We put on clean clothes.
Finishing cleaning our house. After a clean Thursday, we no longer clean the house until next week.
It is also important to remember: since Thursday, nothing has been given out of the house, starting with small things like salt to money in debt.
It is believed that water on this day has special properties, is able to heal, make lotions and can be used in conspiracies and rituals. It can be collected in a container and used throughout the year when you or someone in your household gets sick. For healing, Thursday water can be drunk or applied to a sore spot in the form of a compress.
Preparing Thursday salt is useful for those who perform rituals and conspiracies: all family members throw a pinch of salt into a common bag, mix it and remove it. Such salt keeps the special energy of this day and the whole family. It is desirable to consecrate this salt in the Temple.
With pure thoughts and a cleaned house, a sacred action begins on this day - baking Easter cakes and coloring eggs.
Thursday - on Maundy Thursday, it was advised to cut the hair of a one-year-old child for the first time (up to a year it was considered a sin to cut it), and for girls - the tips of the braids so that they grew longer and thicker. All livestock were also advised to cut a tuft of wool for health and well-being.
There are many traditions associated with this day. On Maundy Thursday, they cleaned the houses, washed and cleaned everything. It was customary to collect and burn juniper branches to fumigate dwellings and stables. It is believed that the healing juniper smoke protects the person and the "animal" from evil spirits and diseases.
There was also such a belief that eggs laid on Good Thursday, eaten at Easter, protect against illness, and egg shells buried in the ground in a pasture reliably protect livestock from the evil eye.
Starting from Maundy Thursday, they prepared for the festive table, painted and painted eggs. According to ancient tradition, colored eggs were laid on the sprouted greens of oats and wheat.
On Thursday morning they started baking Easter cakes, women, small products made from wheat flour with the image of crosses, lambs, doves, larks, as well as honey gingerbread. Easter was being prepared in the evening.
Everyone in the family should take a handful of salt and pour it into one bag. This salt is removed and stored, and it is called "Thursday salt", i.e. Great Thursday. You can treat yourself with it, as well as your family and friends. This salt is used to make amulets for the family, livestock, garden, home, etc.
On Holy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, it was customary to wash all domestic animals - from cows to chickens - with water melted from snow and burn the salt in the oven, which, according to popular belief, acquired healing properties from this. In some villages, at midnight on Maundy Thursday, women were also instructed to douse themselves with water to protect themselves from disease.
If before dawn you wash your face on Maundy (Clean) Thursday, you need to say at the same time: “I wash off what they let loose on me, then what the soul and body toils with, everything is removed on Pure Thursday.”
On Easter morning, they wash themselves with water left from Maundy Thursday. It is good to put a silver little thing or a spoon in it, you can use a coin. Wash for beauty and wealth. If a girl cannot get married, you need to give the towel with which she wiped herself on Maundy Thursday to people for Easter, those who beg for alms, along with krashenka and Easter cake. After that, they soon get married.
There was also a custom to burn crosses on doors and ceilings with a candle to protect the house from the invasion of evil spirits. Passionate candles were given into the hands of seriously ill or suffering from difficult childbirth, they have healing power. From Maundy Thursday it was forbidden to sweep the floor in the house until Easter itself.
On this day, it is allowed to eat hot vegetable food with vegetable oil twice a day.
Good Friday
Good Friday is a special day of compassion, on this day Jesus Christ was betrayed and crucified on the cross at Mount Calvary. The Savior of the human race accepted martyrdom, thus atoning for human sins. This day of special sorrow, it is not customary to work, you should devote the day to prayer.
There is a sign that any disease that happens on this day will be quickly cured.
Any problem that arose on this day will soon be well resolved.
Cooking on this day is argued. They continued to bake and prepare for the celebration of Easter. “Angels help,” say pious people. On Friday they sweep the corners with a rag, this rag will help get rid of lower back pain if you tie yourself with it. The same rag is used to wipe the feet in the bath after washing, so that the feet do not hurt. Ash, taken on Friday before Easter, will help to recover from alcoholism, black shaking, from the evil eye and from mortal anguish.
On Good Friday, generally refrain from eating.
Holy Saturday
Last (quiet) tidy. You can also dye eggs. On this day, common festive dishes are prepared. On Saturday, they brought painted eggs, Easter cakes, Easter cakes and other products to the church to consecrate. And before going to the service on Easter night, they left refreshments on the table so that later they could break the fast. True, they ate little by little - only symbolically, after which they went to sleep. But late Sunday morning, a real feast began, which lasted all week.
Of course, all the preparatory work: cooking, painting eggs must be completed before Bright Sunday.
On Saturday, you can eat hot vegetable food once a day, but without oil.
Saturday is the end of preparations for Easter. We paint eggs, bake Easter cakes, if this could not be done on a clean Thursday.