The Ascension of the Lord is a holiday, the date of which depends on the date of Easter, and it, as you know, is celebrated every year on different days.
Date of the Ascension of the Lord 2018
The Ascension of the Lord is celebrated in different dates, depending on what date Easter falls on. It is celebrated on the 40th day after Happy Resurrection Christ's. The holiday always falls on Thursday. Ascension of the Lord in 2018 falls on May 17. According to Holy Scripture, after His Resurrection, Jesus Christ was with His earthly disciples for another 40 days, and only then went to Heaven, to His Father. He taught His apostles how to convert people to Christianity and serve Him.
About the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord
Despite the separation, Jesus did not leave people, He is always close to those who believe Him, responds to their prayers, and helps them.
This holiday is one of the most significant for believers - on this day the Son of God completed his mission on Earth, gave people knowledge and hope.
The Ascension of the Lord is the feast of open Heaven, the home of Jesus Christ, where He went to His Father. Open Heaven symbolizes people's hope for redemption from sin. Thanks to this event, people realized that the death of human flesh is not a reason for sadness, but only the transition of a sinless soul to another world, where the Lord awaits it, delivering it from vices and temptations.
Celebrating the Ascension of the Lord - traditions and customs
On Wednesday, on the eve of the Ascension of the Lord, churches celebrate the ritual of “giving away” the Bright Resurrection of Christ.
The Feast of the Ascension begins for people with a visit to the temple, where priests in white festive clothes perform a solemn liturgy. Parts of Holy Scripture dedicated to the Ascension of the Son of God are read to the ringing of church bells. The holiday ends on Friday, which is accompanied by a service and the reading of prayers that were read on Thursday.
People bring baked pies filled with green onions, bread called “ladders”. It is baked with seven steps (the dough is formed into strips and laid out at the top of the product), symbolizing the seven heavens of the apocalypse, and it has an oblong shape. “Ladders” bake for Christ “for the journey.” Some of them are left in the temple after consecration. It is customary to treat guests who come to the house of beggars with bread. People visit each other, bring treats, and taste dishes prepared by the owners.
From Easter to Ascension, people try to please the poor, feed them, and welcome them. It is believed that Jesus Christ, disguised as a poor man, can come and ask for help. For the same reason, people are especially careful about keeping the streets clean so that the Son of God can walk on them. For all forty days, His foot steps on the Earth, causing nature to come to life, plants to bloom, grass to turn green. This explains that everything around is green for the holiday.
- The edges of the fields are decorated with specially dug birch trees. They stay there until the stubble is over. During the celebration, they have fun around them, asking for rye so that it will grow well.
- Among the people, this day is a day of remembrance of deceased ancestors. For their funeral, pancakes and scrambled eggs were prepared, and the prepared dishes were eaten in their home or in the fields.
- There is a belief that during the period between Easter and Ascension, the Lord allows the righteous and sinners to meet.
- On this holiday you cannot work, including cleaning. It is customary to gather with family members and spend this day together. It is considered the beginning of the blossoming of spring, symbolizing the approaching summer.
- If the weather is warm on this day, people go swimming in ponds. It is believed that after swimming no illness will occur.
- On the eve of the holiday, the nightingale's song sounds louder. The night before the holiday is called the nightingale, but you cannot catch these birds on the holiday - this is a great sin. It is believed that the trills of a nightingale herald the Ascension of the Lord.
- On the holiday, morning dew is collected. These are the tears of the earth for Christ, who leaves her. She gives dew special healing properties. You need to drink it and wash it to attract beauty and health.
- On the morning of the holiday, herbalists collect medicinal plants that have unusual properties.
Signs and beliefs on the Ascension of the Lord
At all times, people believed that everything that was asked of God on this day would be fulfilled. You cannot ask for wealth or prosperity. You can only ask for money if you need it for the treatment of a sick person. The Lord will send as much money as he needs.
- Since the Ascension of the Lord, the weather ceases to be changeable and gives only warm, sunny days.
- Rains on this day foreshadow a poor harvest and diseases of livestock. But if the rains do not stop for several days after the Ascension, one can hope that there will be no serious damage.
- On the Feast of the Ascension, even chickens do not lay eggs. But if a chicken lays an egg, it means that happiness, great joy awaits its owners. A laid egg cannot be eaten; it is spoken for good luck and taken to the attic. It will protect the house from harm, family members from illness. Even if someone decides to cause damage, contact a sorcerer or grandmother, the evil eye will not stick.
- It is believed that those who fast on the Friday before the Ascension are not afraid of drowning.
- For the holiday, the cuckoo stops crowing. Among the people, this is a sign of a growing life.
We honor traditions and observe the signs of the Ascension of the Lord. Revered by all believers Feast of the Ascension of the Lord will be celebrated this year on May 17th. There are special traditions and signs that every Christian must observe in order to avoid various troubles. It will be interesting to get acquainted with them and ordinary people, far from the church.
The very name of the great holiday indicates important event in the life of Christ and his celebration occurs on the fortieth day after. Exactly so many days after his resurrection Jesus Christ left the earth and ascended to heaven, leaving a message to believers about his obligatory return. Before this important day, Christ was with the people, dedicating his disciples and other people to Christianity, instructing them in studying and continuing God's sermons.
Since ancient times, the holiday has been honored among people. There are many signs, customs and traditions associated with it. We will introduce you to some of them.
Main traditions and customs on this holiday
Ascension of the Lord May 17On this day you need to visit the cemetery, since it is believed that on this day the gates of hell and heaven are open. Only on this holiday can sinners meet the righteous, and your deceased relatives can hear your aspirations and help fulfill your requests.
You can't work on the land on this holiday or do housework. Orthodox Church recommends visiting the temple and praying to the Lord God. It is on this holiday that you can ask the Saints in your prayers for the fulfillment of your cherished desires, and your requests will be heard by them.
In order not to have any financial problems this year, On May 17, do not borrow money yourself or lend money to others., otherwise, you can, along with the money, take away the troubles and problems of the one from whom you borrow. By giving your money, you transfer your own happiness to the borrower.
Try to avoid any quarrels and conflicts during the holiday, otherwise you risk attracting troubles to yourself for the whole year. May peace and tranquility reign in your home on this day.
There is no requirement to observe strict fasting on Ascension Day. Against, on this day they organized home-made feasts, preparing meat treats and making pancakes and delicious pies. The custom reigned in families to invite guests to this holiday and spend time in joy. After the festive feast, the fun continued at street festivities.
Not everyone knows that a mandatory dish on festive table in the Ascension there must be bread ladder, consisting of seven crossbars and baked from rye or wheat flour. The seven steps of the ladder represent the seven levels of the Apocalypse.
Ladders There is a belief that on the Feast of the Ascension, Jesus takes the form of a man and descends to earth. Believing in this, many housewives baked special pancakes, popularly called “Christ’s bast shoes,” which were laid out for the Son of God “on the path.”
It is customary on this day to visit your relatives or, if they are far away, to call them. Compliance with this tradition will help avoid discord between relatives.
Young girls and boys, according to a long-standing tradition, went outside to spend the spring. By doing this, they symbolically handed over the reins to summer and opened the season for agricultural work.
Even on this holiday, you cannot refuse to help your loved ones and those in need. Feed a street homeless person or help him with clothes and other things.
Special signs for the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord
There are many signs for this holiday. It is believed that on this day you can only do godly deeds and not commit sins. There is a belief that whoever violates this libel and sins on this day will be personally punished for this by Jesus Christ himself. So we advise you to remember the list of seven deadly sins and not commit them.
There are signs for girls who dream of getting married quickly . Let him prepare several dishes with his own hands on this day and give them to the men to taste. If all the young people like the offered treat, then the girl will have a quick wedding. IN otherwise she won’t be able to wait for matchmakers this year.
Guys in love could also perform a love ritual on Ascension. They will have to collect a bouquet of dandelions and bring it to their beloved’s door. It was believed that, having smelled the bouquet from her secret admirer, she would soon fall in love with him.
Girls who dream of beautiful and thick hair, you need to stand in the spring rain on Ascension with your head uncovered and wait until her hair gets wet.
Young girls could find out whether they would get married this year. To do this, they weave birch branches into their braids. If they wither, then they are not in danger of marriage.
If you want to improve your financial situation and make sure that there is always money in the house, then take the coins and bury them under a young tree. Now watch: the faster your tree grows, the faster you will become rich.
If on the day of the holiday a crow caws under your window, expect trouble. But if a dove lands on your window, it signifies great joy and new love.
If you have a cherished wish, then bake bread to fulfill it, and put a note with the text of your request in the dough. Take the bread you baked to the temple.
Childless spouses Those who dream of a long-awaited child must visit the temple on this day, stand until the end of the morning service and go home, without engaging in conversation with anyone along the way.
Mothers who want to marry off their daughters who have spent too much time in marriage must bake bread for the holiday, go out into the street with it and scatter pieces of bread on different sides. Then, according to legend, suitors will woo from all sides.
Water on holiday also has healing properties, so be sure to wash your face with it. This way you will ensure your health.
A happy omen in the family is the birth of a child on Ascension. Such a newborn will always be healthy and happy.
"The Ascension of the Lord." Painting by Rembrandt Van Rijn. / Photo from open sources
After this day, people boldly went to swim in reservoirs, without fear of getting sick. Moreover, people believed that if you swim in the river on Ascension, your health will be good.
Weather signs for Ascension:
- If the weather is good on Ascension, it will last until St. Michael's Day (November 21);
- If the day turns out to be rainy, there will be many diseases in livestock and crop failure.
There are also a number beliefs associated with birds. For example, it was believed that if a chicken laid an egg on this day, it should be hung under the roof of the house so that it would protect the inhabitants from troubles and misfortunes. Hearing the croaking of a crow on this day is simply a good sign, and the chirping of a magpie is a sign of money, but you need to cast a special spell so that it brings good things to the house (“A magpie hovered over the forests and fields, collected jewelry and goods, but did not take them to its nest , and she brought it to me. The barns are full of grain, the barns are full of goodness!”).
How to celebrate the Ascension of the Lord
This is a day of reconciliation: it is worth asking for forgiveness from everyone with whom a person is in a quarrel. At the same time, on the Ascension of the Lord, every believer can turn to the Lord with prayerful words, repent of their unseemly actions and ask for help from the Higher Powers.
By folk beliefs, on this day they washed themselves with dew: it was believed that on Ascension it became healing. Medicinal properties herbs also intensified on this day, remaining until Ivan Kupala (the night of July 6-7).
In the evening on Ascension, a fire was lit as a symbol of the onset of passage and the flowering of nature. During the festivities there were round dances or “spikelets”, the first “cumulations” on the green Christmastide.
On Ascension there is a custom of “going to the crossroads,” that is, visiting relatives and friends. At the same time, it is customary for owners to give “ladders” baked from wheat dough with honey and with sugar patterns. Such “ladders” symbolize the path to heaven. In some regions, housewives treat this day to homemade flatbreads filled with cottage cheese, the edges of which were curved in the form of steps.
And in the old days, special pancakes were baked for Ascension. They were called “God’s wrap”, “Christ’s bast shoes”, “granddaughters”.
Commemoration of deceased relatives is carried out within the family circle.
Ascension of the Lord: what not to do
Ascension of the Lord. Icon / Photo from open sources
There are a number of prohibitions for this day:
- you cannot greet people with the words “Christ is risen!”, since the Easter period ends the day before, and on this day the Shroud is already taken out of the temple;
- It is not recommended to do housework, since physical labor during the day distracts from spiritual thoughts about God;
- On this day, funeral services are not performed for the deceased, and memorial services are not held in churches and temples;
- You can’t quarrel and make trouble;
- excessive gluttony and fun are not encouraged;
- you can’t drink alcohol;
- you can't have sex;
- It is forbidden to throw garbage and spit on the street, because “you can get into Christ, who comes to houses in the guise of beggars.”
Ascension: fortune telling
To find out the fate of a sick person, birch branches were woven on Ascension. Several of them were braided into a braid, and if 10 days before Trinity the branches did not wither, then the mysterious person would recover; if not, it was worth preparing for the worst.
Similarly, the girls wondered about their future marriage.
The Christian holiday of the Ascension of the Lord was celebrated in 2017 on May 25. It falls on the 40th day after the Resurrection of Christ (Easter) and with it ends the whole cycle of spring church holidays. There is no specific date for the Ascension - forty days after Easter fall on different days in May or June. Forty days in this case is not a random time period. After this period after birth, the parents had to carry the child to the temple - this is the law and commandment of Moses.
Despite the fact that the holiday is absolutely Christian, it, like some others, is intertwined pagan traditions and the beliefs of our Slavic ancestors, which came from the times of worship of Yaril the Sun.
The end of Christ's ministry on earth
As Scripture says, the resurrected Christ gathered his disciples on the 40th day after Easter and led them to the Mount of Olives, where he ascended. But he first warned the disciples that within ten days the Spirit of God would descend on them and they would become incredibly strong to preach and bring the truth to the world. At the same time, he rose into the sky, where he was picked up by a cloud. This is what the disciples said, realizing that this was the completion of Christ’s ministry on Earth. But, according to believers, there is no sadness in this holiday - the Son of God remains with them. He, in human form, gave them hope of resurrection after death. But for this, the church calls for repentance.
The holiday, which should have become sad, is perceived as joy from the feeling of the presence of a higher power in everything - in every dawn and chirping of birds, in blooming flowers and the laughter of a child. For Russia, this holiday is significant for another event - back in 1799, it was on this day that Pushkin was born. Then it was Thursday and the ringing of bells was heard throughout the country, and the Orthodox rejoiced.
How is the Ascension of the Lord celebrated?
In the evening before the holiday, an all-night vigil service is held in churches. The next day there is a solemn liturgy, which ends with the removal of the Shroud from the temple. On the Feast of the Ascension itself, it is customary to remember deceased relatives. For this, housewives baked rectangular pies stuffed with onions. They were decorated with rungs made of dough - such a ladder was considered the road to Christ. They commemorated the dead with eggs or cooked fried eggs.
It was believed that requests addressed to God on this day would be heard. It was impossible to ask for material values. The exception was pleas for money for the treatment of a seriously ill person.
The youth led round dances - boys and girls stood in two circles, face to face. They took each other's hands - this created a living bridge, along which a girl walked with a wreath of wildflowers on her head. Then another girl replaced her and also walked along the “living bridge.” So this round dance moved from the outskirts to the field.
What is forbidden to do on the Ascension of the Lord
On this day, by Orthodox traditions, it is not recommended to clean the house or do other “menial” jobs. Greet each other with the words “Christ is Risen!” from this day forward, too. It is important to try not to think about the bad and set yourself in a positive mood.
By this holiday, sowing work in the fields was usually completed and preparations for Trinity began. It is better to spend this holiday with family and loved ones, to remember the dead. It was believed that on this day the doors of hell and heaven were open - the righteous, together with sinners, would be able to rejoice in the Ascension of the Lord.
Signs and fortune telling for the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord
From that day on, people were allowed to swim in reservoirs without fear. If it rained on Ascension, it was believed that the year would be a lean year. If it rains three days after the holiday, then the losses from crop failure will not be so large-scale.
Fortune telling on a birch tree was popular - young unmarried girls They braided birch branches into braids and observed how they would behave in this state. If you wait until Trinity, it’s too early to get married. Such fortune telling with birch branches was carried out to find out whether a seriously ill person would survive.
Housewives baked ladders from flour - they had 7 rungs. Such ladders were consecrated in the temple and kept dried in the house whole year so that all household members are alive and healthy. And with the help of such a ladder they used to tell fortunes - they threw it off the roof and looked: if it broke and crumbled, then there would be no luck; if it remained intact, such a person was considered almost a saint. Children took such ladder breads to the graveyard for remembrance or to the field so that the harvest would be better.
Another sign of the Ascension holiday is that if a chicken laid an egg on this day, it was not eaten. Any conspiracy from ill-wishers was read over him. Then this egg was hidden in the attic so that it would protect the house and its inhabitants from slander and the evil eye, and various troubles.
It was considered lucky to hear the chatter of a magpie or the cawing of a crow on this day. It was necessary to have time to pronounce the plot and wait for luck.
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On the fortieth day after Easter, the church celebrated the “ascension” of Christ into heaven. In the folk calendar, this holiday was also filled with an agrarian meaning. Ascension was understood quite specifically as “growth”, “rise”, “ascension”.
According to the folk calendar. The peasants wanted to celebrate the Savior’s ascension to heaven with the help of some tangible ritual sign, like Easter cakes, cheese and eggs, etc.
An old Devonshire belief, for example, states that on this day the figure of a lamb appears in the clouds in the east.
If an egg laid on Ascension Day is hung under the roof, it will protect your house from any harm. (At the beginning of the XYI century it was widespread throughout Britain).
Heavy rain on Ascension foretells crop failure and illness, especially among livestock. If this sign is destined to come true, then after the Ascension good weather will set in and will last until the day of St. Michael.
On the Feast of the Ascension, they baked pies with green onions, and most importantly, bread “ladders” (in the Yaroslavl province). Such stairs were always made with seven crossbars, like steps, according to the number of the seven heavens of the apocalypse. Previously, these pies and ladders were blessed in the church, taken to the bell tower and thrown down to the ground. At the same time, of course, they wondered which of the seven heavens the fortuneteller was destined to go to. When all seven steps remained intact, this indicated to the fortuneteller the direct path to heaven, and vice versa: if the ladder was broken into small pieces, it thereby revealed a terrible sinner who was not fit for any of heaven. Later, fortune telling was simplified to the point that the ladders were thrown directly onto the floor, near the oven in which they were baked.
But usually after lunch the men, women and girls went to the field. There, everyone at his field, having prayed in all four directions, threw the ladder up, saying: “So that my rye grows just as high.” After this, the ladders were eaten.
In the Vologda province, along with the “ladders,” they also baked special cookies - sochni with oatmeal, called Christ’s okutki (that’s what peasant shoes were called).
In Yaroslavl villages, “young people carried out and placed decorated birch trees at the edges of the fields, where they stood until the end of the harvest. They were having fun around them, throwing boiled eggs, rode around and said: “Be ugly, rye, clean and tall!”
Girls and teenage girls of the Kaluga province went in a crowd to the field with food supplies and there they cooked scrambled eggs in the rye; when they ate it, they threw spoons into the air, saying: “As high as the spoon flies, so high would the rye be.”
In the Yaroslavl province, girls with ready-made scrambled eggs tied in a scarf walked around all the village fields (guys were under no circumstances allowed). When they ate the votive food, the girls began to roll on the grass and say: “Grow, grass, to the forest, and rye to the barn.”
Near Moscow, young people went to the field with eggs and pancakes; Each one looked for his stripe, tossed the egg three times, then broke it, took a bite out of the egg and the pancake, and buried the rest in the stripe, saying at the same time: “Christ, you will fly to heaven, pull our horn by the ears.”
Baptism and funeral of the cuckoo
Some signs and rituals associated with the cuckoo were timed to coincide with the Ascension. As a rule, on the eve of the Ascension, the corn begins to spike and the cuckoo falls silent, which is why people said:
“The cuckoo choked on a grain of wheat”;
“And spring in Rus' would be glad to last forever, but Ascension Day will come, it will crow like a cuckoo, it will become like a nightingale, and by summer it will be hidden in its bosom.”
On Ascension, the ritual of “baptism and funeral of the cuckoo” was performed, which lasted from one to three days. This was a purely girlish rite; none of the outsiders was supposed to know the place of the cuckoo’s “baptism” and burial. They made a cuckoo from a bunch of cuckoo tears grass, giving it a humanoid appearance, sometimes for this purpose they simply took a branch, a bouquet, a wreath, sometimes they sewed a rag doll. A cuckoo doll made of rags or grass was dressed up in a girl’s outfit (sundress, shirt, scarf), decorated with ribbons, colored rags, and beads.
The “baptism” of the cuckoo took place under a birch tree; the doll was planted on a branch or placed under a tree, covered with a scarf and crossed three times. The girls kissed, exchanged crosses, drills, scarves, then ate eggs, and hung the shells on the branches of trees and bushes. The so-called kumite was accompanied by special “kumite songs.”
The cuckoo was buried either on the same day after the funeral, or the next day, or even every other day. If a grass cuckoo was buried in the ground, then one or two girls did it in a secret place; if the cuckoo was left on a tree, then here all the participants in the ritual held a common feast, sang funny songs, and then went home.
In the folk calendar, the day of the Ascension of the Lord was a day of remembrance of deceased parents and ancestors. In order to appease them, as well as the field spirits, believers baked pancakes, boiled eggs, fried eggs and ate all this at home and in the field, in between work, since the Feast of the Ascension coincides with the height of field work.
In memory of the Ascension of the Lord, large oblong pies were baked, the top crust of which was laid across crossbars (no more than seven, since it was believed that there were seven heavens). These pies were brought to the church, and prayers were performed over them, after which one part of them was given to the parable, and the other to the poor. These pies were called ladders, ladders, ladders.
The Ascension of the Lord is considered the last spring holiday. “Spring ascends to heaven about the Ascension - it asks to rest in the blessed paradise!” In 2013, the Ascension of the Lord is celebrated on June 13.
