If the child was born in Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday. Birthday on Easter or Holy Week: what does it mean and is it possible to celebrate a birthday on Holy Saturday

The last Friday before Easter is called Holy Friday because it was on this day that the traitors crucified Jesus Christ. Of course, all Christians treat this memorable date with great respect and even trepidation.

Signs, customs and beliefs on Good Friday before Easter

Over the centuries, Good Friday has acquired quite a few interesting folk signs and beliefs. They are remembered today and used before Easter so that the whole next year will be happy and satisfying. Let us remind you that in 2018 Good Friday is celebrated on April 6th.

Folk signs and beliefs

As for the popular signs of Good Friday, they have even survived to this day:

1. If you bake a loaf of bread (including Easter cake) on this day, it will not mold for many days. And besides, it can also charge a person with healing energy that saves from various diseases.
2. If you go to church on Good Friday and bless a silver ring, it will serve as an amulet against accidents and help protect your health.
3. On this day you should not pierce the ground with iron (shovel, pitchfork, etc.) - it is believed that this is a great sin and a bad sign. Those who take such risks may incur adverse consequences (including wounds and blood).
4. On this day, it is better for women to postpone some household chores. So, you don’t need to sew, knit, clean the house, or do laundry. It is also better to refrain from cutting hair and beauty.
5. If the baby is already approaching the age when it is customary to wean, it is necessary to do this on Good Friday. Then the child will grow up strong and healthy.
6. There is also an interesting observation: if on Friday night it is so clear that you can see the entire starry sky, then this year’s harvest will be good and the wheat will be grainy.
7. A dream from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday predicts the future. Usually such a dream is filled with accurate predictions.
8. On Good Friday, after the church service, you need to bring home 12 burning candles, which are not allowed to burn out completely. According to legend, such Friday candles bring prosperity and happiness to the house where they are kept.

Conspiracies for Good Friday

On the special day of Good Friday, a special spell is read to improve the health of those suffering from depression. To do this, you need to take three Easter colored eggs and put them in water. At this time you need to read a special spell:

Strengthen my faithful words, Lord, strengthen, Christ, the servant of God (name). Just as people rejoice at the bright Easter, so may the servant of God (name) be rejoice in life. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Amen.

The patient must then wash himself with this enchanted water.

It is also believed that during Holy Week, rituals can be performed to get rid of drunkenness and alcoholism. It is on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday that they have special power.

So what you need to do:

• Ashes are taken from the oven on Good Friday.
• the ash is taken out of the house and dumped at an intersection where there are no cars..
• At the same time, the plot is read three times:

Just as this ash will not sprout, and the sprouts will not produce petals, and the petals will not produce fruit, so the slave (name) will not take wine into his mouth: neither on Sunday, nor on Saturday, nor on Friday, nor on Thursday, nor on Wednesday, nor on Tuesday, and not on Monday. Amen. Just as this ash does not fill with a spring, does not sing like a nightingale, so the slave (name) will not drink green wine. Amen.

Just as this ash will not farrow or whelp, so the slave (name) will say goodbye to wine forever. He will not drink: neither on Sunday, nor on Saturday, nor on Friday, nor on Thursday, nor on Wednesday, nor on Tuesday, nor on Monday, nor on weekdays, nor on Holy Days. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Amen.

On Good Friday, it will be useful for women and girls to learn about a special ritual and conspiracy to strengthen peace and harmony in the family. What you need to do for this:

• On Good Friday you need to bake a small loaf of bread.
• Say the words of the spell over the bread (read below).
• Then divide the bread in half. One half must be eaten by the one who performs the ritual.
• The other half of the kolobok should be kept behind the icons all year round.

Lord, save, preserve, defend. Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Birthday on Good Friday - signs

Sometimes parents worry: what fate awaits a child born during Holy Week, and especially on Good Friday?

• In the old days it was believed that if a child was born on Good Friday, then he certainly had to be taken to his grandmother - so that she would reprimand him from future troubles and from a difficult fate.
• There is no need to worry about this today: the tragedy of this day will in no way affect the fate of the baby.
• By the way, church representatives have their own opinion on this matter. The troubles that will happen in the life of a child born on Good Friday will ultimately turn into great joy.
• But if your birthday falls on Good Friday, then it is better to postpone the lavish celebrations and congratulations, or celebrate as modestly as possible.

Signs for Holy Saturday before Easter

In fact, Friday smoothly turns into Saturday, and both of these days on the eve of Easter Sunday have a very similar atmosphere. Late on Friday evening, the body of Jesus Christ was taken down from the cross, and throughout Saturday it lay in the tomb. Therefore, this day is also called quiet: of course, it is strictly forbidden to make noise, have fun, and especially conflict.

And most importantly, the people have developed a tradition that is in many ways similar to Forgiveness Sunday (the last day before the onset of Lent). It is customary to simply ask for forgiveness and make peace with those people with whom you may have disagreements.

Let it be a temporary and even a very modest compromise. But any business begins with the first decision, just as a road of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

What not to do on Good Friday and Saturday

Of course, signs before Easter, as well as popular beliefs, call us to take some action or, at a minimum, to observe nature. On the other hand, it is useful for a believer to know what cannot be done on Good Friday, so that a clear picture of the rules can be formed.

Here's what you should pay attention to first:

1. Obviously, on Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Bright Resurrection itself, you shouldn’t get irritated, swear, and therefore don’t need to start a showdown. There are other days for this - why then darken the memory of Christ and the Easter holiday?
2. You should not drink alcohol or take part in feasts or parties.
3. Spouses are advised to refrain from mutual pleasures. There is no strict prohibition on intimate intimacy, but it is intuitively clear that memories of Jesus Christ and participation in his suffering do not imply carnal pleasures and lovemaking.
4. Of course, it is worth excluding any idle talk, gossip, empty news, gossip, lengthy discussions, jokes. It is clear that Good Friday is a day of remembrance and mourning for Jesus. And any lively communication can simply dispel the atmosphere of sacred veneration of the deceased Savior.

Lent on Good Friday: what you can eat

Finally, those who observe Lent know that on Good Friday it is forbidden to consume any food until the removal of the shroud from the temple (this happens around 15:00, i.e. after lunch). And then you can only eat any bread throughout the day (but not sweet pastries) and drink water.

This ban lasts until Sunday night, when after the service the believers joyfully exclaim with the news: “Christ is risen! Truly risen!”

Of course, such a strict ban does not apply to people with poor health, children, the elderly, as well as those who work physically and may simply lose strength from starvation.

Thus, folk signs and the customs on Good Friday and Holy Saturday before Easter are directly related to the events that occurred on these days about two thousand years ago.

Of course, whether to trust these popular ideas or not is a personal matter for everyone. In any case, if a sign helps a person to sincerely believe in a miracle and tune in to a new bright wave of change, this is much better than not believing in anything and expecting nothing.

Based on site materials RosRegistr

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People associate many signs, rituals and predictions with Holy Week. Orthodox man, according to the legend of his ancestors, must certainly listen to them and honor the sacraments that reach them!

It turns out that Holy Week, which takes place before Easter, needs to be “lived” in a certain way, listening to the laws and recommendations of the church. During this period, it is not enough to remember and comply with traditions. In many ways you need to limit yourself, and above all with regard to the human body and soul!

Birthday during Holy Week

For many people, birthdays sometimes fall, to put it mildly, at the wrong time, that is, on dates that are not at all suitable for such light and bright celebrations. So, a birthday falling on one of the days of Holy Week involuntarily makes you think about whether it is possible to celebrate it at all?

Honestly, if you have lived a simple life all your life and have always been far from the church, although it is difficult to call you an atheist, then celebrate your holiday whenever you please. Nevertheless, if you are a believer, even if you do not always observe the laws of God, then under no circumstances celebrate the holiday of your soul - the date of its birth - during Holy Week!

Holy Week has never been famous for good and good, judging by its name. People never had fun during this period and did not attract excessive attention from otherworldly forces of evil to their person! During this period, according to the legends of the Slavic people, evil spirits roam the world, looking for a soul subject to it, which can be lured and destroyed.

It is during the period of birth that a person and, accordingly, his soul become most vulnerable to everything unclean and evil. Instead of being swaggering and attracting negative emotions, spend this day quietly and modestly. You will celebrate your name day after the great dates have passed, or even this year you will be left without a birthday, but you will feel calm and at ease all year long.

Child's birthday

Many people, having learned that the date of birth of their child falls on one of the days of Holy Week, begin to think about whether to celebrate it or whether it would be more correct to postpone the holiday, despite the persuasion of those who do not understand anything in Orthodox holidays and customs of the child. Postpone the celebration without hesitation! While he is small, his parents decide everything for him, so do not allow sins to befall his young soul, do not allow evil spirits to destroy your child!

It turns out that when your birthday falls during Holy Week, whether you celebrate it or not is up to you. When Orthodox laws are constantly observed in the family, no questions will arise about moving the day of celebration and no one, if the issue is correctly interpreted, will feel disadvantaged.

If the family is not clear on this issue, then things will become more difficult. It is clear that a compromise cannot be found, and the birthday will have to be celebrated. In this case, try to organize the celebration so that it is not too bright and cheerful, although this is unlikely to happen...

Saturday, which comes during Holy Week before Easter, is a special day. Therefore, people are often interested in the question: what can and cannot be done on the Saturday before Easter?

A detailed response and first-hand comments from the clergy are presented below.

You can start the discussion with what kind of Saturday comes before Easter Sunday. Interestingly, this day has several names:

1. Great.
2. Passionate.
3. Dying.
4. Quiet.

The main name is due to the fact that Saturday represents the last day of Holy Week. These were the last days in the earthly life of Jesus Christ.

On Good Friday the Savior was crucified, and all Saturday his body lay in the tomb. And the grief of loved ones at the tomb of Christ was very difficult, because hardly anyone hoped that he would be resurrected.

This is why Great (Holy) Saturday is a very dramatic day. And therefore it is undesirable:

• arrange any kind of fun,
• attend parties,
• sing, dance,
• organizing some celebrations (wedding, birthday, etc.)
• indulge in carnal pleasures.

In this regard, the Sabbath day is also called quiet - it is really better for believers to refrain from worldly noise.

It is also better to refuse to work in the garden, hunting and fishing.

What not to do on Holy Saturday before Easter

It’s good to get into the atmosphere of Holy Saturday and find out a short history what lies in the traditions of this day and what it means. Then it will become clear what exactly should not be done during such dramatic hours.

First of all, this is a day on which you need to try to restrain all earthly passions. It is unacceptable to swear, much less use foul language and generally get irritated.

This means that it is better to leave all the clarification of the relationship for later. After all, Easter is coming, and it’s time to tune in to the bright waves of the holiday.

If possible, it is better not to devote time to fun parties, and to postpone the celebration of any dates. It is undesirable to do housework and hard work. It is better to plan your time in such a way as to complete routine duties before the hour of sorrow.

Of course, there is no need to laugh and have fun uncontrollably on the Saturday before Easter. After all, we probably wouldn’t do this on the days of remembrance of our loved one. And if we are talking about the fact that a good half of humanity remembers the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, it is clear that this only increases our responsibility.

What can you do on Holy Saturday before Easter?

Since we are talking about the fact that on this day believers especially remember Christ, it is important to pay sufficient attention to your spiritual life. It would be right to visit church service which starts early in the morning and continues throughout the day. Moreover, in the evening it turns into the all-night vigil, and then the Holy Resurrection begins.

And among the people, Saturday is also called Dyeing (or Red), as housewives complete the final preparations for Happy Easter. In the house they paint eggs, bake Easter cakes, and bake boiled pork. Although it is traditional to finish all housework on Saturday (cleaning the house, washing), the church does not prohibit doing business on Saturday.

Of course, on such a day you can read the Bible, say prayers, do good deeds, and help those in need. Here you can focus on your inner voice. Perhaps someone has been in need of your attention for a long time - then it’s worth visiting the person and helping him as much as possible.

It would be a good idea to ask for forgiveness and forgive other people yourself. After all, by doing even the smallest things, we really change the world for the better and fill it with joy.

What can you eat on Holy Saturday during Lent?

You can also take care of tomorrow’s celebrations - traditionally, housewives begin collecting Easter baskets to bless the holiday food in church. In this regard, the question arises: what do they eat on the Saturday before Easter?

In fact, this is the last day of Lent, so it is better to try to stick to the restrictions. Besides, you don’t have long to endure – tomorrow you will be able to eat any dishes.

And on Saturday itself you can be content with only this menu:

• bread (not rich);
• fruits and vegetables in any form;
• water.

Holy Saturday is the last day of Lent, and it is very strict (bread and water). And if we talk about when the Saturday meal before Easter is allowed, then only after the end of the all-night vigil in the church. In fact, Lent ends on Sunday: after the service, believers solemnly say: “Christ is risen! Truly risen!”

And then you can already taste pasochki, eggs and other food. After which the parishioners go home, rest and go to bed. But the real Easter holiday comes a few hours after Easter night - and it lasts at least a week.

Folk signs and beliefs on Holy Saturday

As we know, this is a particularly dramatic day: the body of the Savior has already been taken from the cross and placed in the tomb. Of course, on such a day you should refrain from any quarrels, and even irritation is better left for later. And you also need to pay attention to the following folk signs and beliefs:

1. It is better not to plan any noisy parties on Holy Saturday. Even if it’s a birthday, you should celebrate it as modestly as possible. But if you throw a feast for the whole world, then this is an unkind sign: the year may not turn out as successfully as you planned.
2. It is also popularly believed that on Saturday there is no need to take out the trash or anything at all (any item) from the house, including lending. Wait until Sunday - because if you disobey, it can cause minor troubles, failures and harm you.
3. If Easter cakes turned out great on Holy Saturday, this is a very good symbol: the year will work out and will delight loved ones with pleasant events.
4. If you wake up exactly during the Easter dawn and see it, a new bright streak will come in your affairs.
5. If you dreamed about a deceased relative on Easter night, this is a very good sign. There is a belief that then in the coming year all family members will be healthy, and no misfortunes will affect them.
6. It is better to try not to oversleep the morning service and generally get up early. Being late for church is a bad sign.
7. It is interesting that even hunters have a unique system of Easter symbols and signs. If you described all their signs, you would need a whole book. But the most important rule is that on such a day it is strictly forbidden to shed the blood of animals, this is considered a great sin. Therefore, you need to postpone hunting (and fishing).
8. If it was clear and warm on the Saturday before Easter, then the whole summer will be clear and sunny. And if the weather is cloudy, it will be a cold and rainy summer.

Well, are you going to celebrate your daughter’s birthday on Friday? I was extremely surprised to hear my colleague’s question. After all, my girl’s second birthday fell on Good Friday. The colleague was not the only one among numerous Orthodox acquaintances who, having learned about the postponement of the family holiday, sternly lectured us that we were depriving the child of his childhood, that he still did not understand anything about “church affairs.”

In general, it turned out that the theme “Family holidays during Holy Week” has a place to be. It is about her that I had a conversation with Archpriest Fyodor Krechetov, rector of the Church of the Great Martyr. St. George the Victorious Patriarchal Metochion in Gruziny.

- What to do if some important family holidays fall during Holy Week?

If the spouses in the family are believers, there is agreement and understanding between them, such a question simply does not arise. Since childhood, I myself have become accustomed to the fact that any family celebrations that fall during Lent are moved to the next Sunday or Easter, or even to a time after Easter. It was natural and it simply could not have occurred to anyone that, say, a birthday could be celebrated on one of the Holy Days. And no one felt disadvantaged if his personal celebration was postponed...

The question becomes relevant in those families where one of the spouses is an unbeliever or simply takes a “liberal” view of issues of church life. Then it can be difficult to reach agreement, and sometimes you just need to make a reasonable compromise: at least not touch the second half of the week: Thursday, Friday, Saturday... Because this special days, and carry them out Orthodox Christian, if possible, still preferably in a temple.

I have heard such objections: why deprive a small child of a holiday if he is not yet able to understand what kind of Events we remember during Holy Week...

In fact, the child absorbs and remembers the general mood of his loved ones. But as for celebrating the birthday of a small child, there is no point in insisting on a specific date: when the adults give him a holiday, then he will be happy. And in the future, when he becomes older, it will not even occur to him to expect fun for himself on tense and sorrowful days for every Christian. If, of course, he has the example of his elders before him.

Patriarch Alexy II, I remember, postponed the celebration of his Angel Day because it fell on the First Week of Great Lent. This is an example to all of us that for the sake of church-wide events we can move our own, even such significant ones as Angel Day.

Why do you think, why do people today even think that family celebrations and Holy Week are completely compatible?

It’s just that now more and more people are becoming fixated on their own “I”, on its significance. And yet - this is the result of a lack of sense of proportion, a fall into certain extremes. One extreme usually occurs at the beginning of turning to God, the so-called spirit of neophyte, when people do not yet know how to calculate their strength and usually try to act according to the letter, for example, fasting very strictly, although there are neither the strength nor the conditions for this.

The other extreme usually happens later, when people have already gained experience and, realizing that spiritual life is not built according to the letter, they decide that they will not “blindly obey the letter,” because the main thing is the spirit. And they begin too easily and imprudently to deny rules, traditions, and often, as a result, church life itself, arbitrarily adjusting it to their personal desires and requirements.

If it seems simpler and easier to us, why not do it that way? After all, the main thing is that “everything is real in the soul.” How “real is in the soul” with priorities set in this way is not worth saying.

If I consider myself a church person, then I must always subordinate my personal life to the life of the church. There should be no arbitrariness of people's own will.

- Isn’t there a risk in this case of going into the formal implementation of certain rules and regulations?

A person should always look for his measure, based on the awareness of what he is ready to sacrifice for the sake of God. And this feeling makes it clear what is acceptable and what is not. And just today we often observe a loss of a sense of proportion... It occurs most often in the case when a person has externally accepted Orthodoxy, he is captured by the novelty of sensations, he tries to live a church life, but it does not become deeply close to him, remaining something formal.

And church life should not be formal. It was often like this, say, in pre-revolutionary times, when many people perceived everything related to faith as a custom. The loss of reverence, and ultimately the meaning itself, led to the fact that later all customs were easily lost. Or they have transformed, sometimes so meaninglessly that people do not know why they perform certain actions.

Previously, after Easter, on Radunitsa, people, having prayed in the temple, went to cemeteries, to their departed loved ones and laid Easter cakes and eggs on the graves, so that the beggars would then go and pick up this offering as alms and commemorate the deceased, whose name is indicated on the cross . And now it has turned into some kind of obligatory burden: citizens en masse go to the cemetery on Easter, but they themselves don’t know why. But it’s necessary - it’s supposed to: everyone does it. There was just a loss of meaning.

The same thing applies to family holidays on Holy Day. A person says to himself: “The main thing is that I - internally - believe. Why should I follow customs then? And I don’t need the memories that the Church talks about. I already remember everything.” A person insists on some kind of personal faith. The balance between personal faith and church consciousness is not just disrupted, but completely lost.

- What is the cost of loss?

As a result, the living sensation, the living presence of Christ in life is lost. Holy Week is a time when a person visibly and vividly feels the convergence of time, world history, at one point. And he feels involved in this. Through prayers, through the whole mood of the services of Holy Week, we are transported, outside of time and space, to what happened more than 2000 years ago and at the same time - happening now, we empathize and participate in those Events, because every day of Holy Week corresponds to the day of the earthly life of the Savior. Through this we come into contact with Eternity.

And if this is not close to a person, he does not want to be transported anywhere, services for him simply turn into being inside the temple, where they stand for a long time and read something. Of course, this is painful and a person reassures himself: “God doesn’t need this tedious standing. God needs me to love Him. And why then postpone the birthday of a person dear to me in order to spend several hours on my feet in a stuffy temple? There is a loss of feeling, but at the same time the person continues to call himself Orthodox.

The division of consciousness takes place. It wouldn’t occur to a normal person to organize a holiday or have fun when someone close to him has just died. But due to the loss of sensitivity, a living sense of presence, Gospel Events begin to be perceived as something abstract. Which leads to questions like the one we just discussed.