Simon Letoprovodnik

Russian Plumber, Semenov day, Semein day ^[2] , New Year ^[5] , Semen day, Semyon, Martha ^[6] , First Falls, Autumn meeting ^[7] , Apiary day, Lukov day, Vologda. Sitting out, End of summer, Beginning of autumn, Last sowing, bonfire. Semyon's birthday, bonfire., Nizhny. Semen-Stolpnik, drill. Seeds Autumn, Kursk. Semenov day - New Year, prikam. Semen-Guseprovod, bonfire. Mýkhov day ^[8] ; Belor. Zen of Syamyon Stabbun ^[9] , Syamyon ^[2] ; Ukrainian Ves_lya svіchki ^[10] - “The Wedding of the Candle”, Holy baubles ^[10] - “The Holiday of the Candle”; bulg. Simeonovden ^[11] , Smeon Zheebelni ^[12] , Letni Simeonovden, Nova Godina ^[2] ; Serb. Simeon the pillar ^[2] ; church. Simeon the Pillar .

A day before the move, a rooster and a cat were let into the house. They dominated and drove out all evil spirits from the house ^[13] .

In Ukraine, the "street" ends with Semen and the outbursts begin, that is, work in the huts under fire ^[14] .

Before the first autumn ripples with a smoldering smut in the field (“to stand up”) they go, they light a cornfield in protection from all permissions, “from dashing , pritke and prizor ” ^[15] .

Earlier, peasants called Fire “God,” “Holy Fire”; when blowing fire, prayers were read. In some Belarusian villages, a new, lively fire , produced by friction, was lit and it was carried to all yards. Many ceremonies are associated with the furnace , with the barn and with the sun . In Polesie, there was a rite associated with the first lighting of light (fire) for the meeting of the fall, which was called “The marriage of a comin” ( Belorussian genomic comic, genocide ray, genocide pasvet ). Under the “komin” (a large chimney pipe attached to the ceiling in the house, woven from a vine or made of burlap and coated with clay) hung a pasture (archer) - an ordinary frying pan or a metal grate. On it lit a splinter that illuminated the house. "Komin" was whitewashed, twined with ripe hops, flowers lit in the church on Ivan Kupala , ribbons. “Celebrated” the fire on the passvet with vodka, threw pieces of bacon, grain, nuts and sweets. Those present expressed wishes for well-being in the family and the household so that work would be smooth. Women sang the wedding song “to the groom” ^[16] :

Oh, I’ve got a night stay
Fellowship to us, cominu belenky.
Well, we are talking about Kvetkami ўbіralі,
To the little tombs, rutai aperzalі ...

It follows from the song that the young ones are “Komіn i Praca” (Chimney and Work) (“Our Praca - dzўka garnenka, Palyubіtsі Komіna radzenka”). The song expressed a request that the chimney would wake everyone up early, give light for homework, and also “twirl, twist and drill pragany, smoke and soot carried to the enemies ...” ^[16] .

Singing, girls with invited guys started daring dancing, among which stood out Tsyareshka ^{[17] [18]} . This dance consists in the fact that girls and boys are divided into pairs and stand in two rows opposite each other. The first couple, that is, the guy with the girl, “the bulls are dancing”, then they say goodbye to each other and the girl leaves the guy who after that rushes to catch her and, having caught, again becomes in a row with her. All other couples do the same. During this dance, ancient refrains are sung (also see The Marriage of Tsiareshki ) ^[19] . The ceremony was held twice a year: on Simon (in individual villages a little earlier or later), when daylight hours were decreasing and it began to get dark early, and in spring on Fomina week , when the main peasant work was in the field ^[16] .

In Ukraine, celebrated the "Wedding candles" ( Ukrainian Svichchine Vesіllya ). In Kiev, on the night of September 1 to 2 (according to the old style), Christmas trees were placed in the bazaars and decorated with the fruits of a new crop: fruits, berries, etc. Also put drinks and dishes. The festival lasted all night. Near the town of Lubny , near the sacred krinitsa (source), at the end of the fair, visitors lit many candles at night ^[20] . There was a saying among Kiev artisans: “Marry Semyon”, which meant starting to work by candlelight from the evening of Semyon Day ^[21] .

From ancient times, the “tonsure” rite ( Belorussian haircuts ; Ukrainian haircuts, haircuts ^[22] ) - initiations into the army and peasantry of children who have reached the age of 2-3 years, dealt “from transition from infancy”. A prayer service was served, a boy of triumph was cut out a bun of hair on his head - a “Humen” and put on a horse. It was believed that henceforth his life belongs to his native land. The horse under the bridle when driving around the courtyard was led by the godfather, at the stirrup was a “godmother” with an icon. After the "tonsure" the boy’s upbringing from the female was transferred to the hands of the male half of the house, to his father, to uncles. Don Cossacks "put a horse" back in the 19th century. In this rite, the child was "scourged": symbolically beat with a whip ^[23] .

In the 19th century, according to the testimony of A. N. Trunov, the inhabitants of the Oryol province, a year or two after the birth of the boy, so-called "haircuts" are performed on him. The assembled relatives and friends put the baby on the table, on the pillow. Scissors were placed on a plate to his right; godparents and mother cut the hair of the baby crosswise and put money on the plate, after which they dressed the boy in a new shirt prepared in advance by the godmother ^[24] .

According to A.K. Baiburin, the main actions of the tonsure were to put the child on or near the object, symbolizing the male or female sphere of life (for boys - a horse, ax, plow, harrow, saber, etc., for girls - a spindle, spinning wheel , yarn, tow, etc.); cutting the hair of a boy and braiding a braid to a girl; dressing in clothes appropriate for the gender (for a boy in trousers or a hat, for a girl in a skirt or scarf); treating all the participants of the ceremony ^[22] . For girls, the rite could be called the first braiding of a braid. In the Hutsul region, the girl was braided for the first time when she was five years old. The hair was braided by the invited "sokhtivna zhinka", which braided the braids "at the cross": it was taken from the front, from the back of the head, from the right ear, from the left and tied in the middle. From that day on, the girl was dressed in “women's clothing”. With a similar rite among Belarusians at the age of ten, the girl was pierced with ears and put on earrings ^[25] . The ceremony ended with a ritual treat. in Ukraine, on the occasion of comprehension, they baked a large cake, which was broken above the child’s head with the wish of happiness and share ^[25] .

There was a custom of Semyonov Day - the funeral of flies ^[26] (in some places it was held at the Autumn Pox ^[27] ). The people believed that if "they bury an evil fly in the ground in autumn, they will not bite others." Along with the "funeral of flies," the summer passed. Smart girls made coffins of pumpkins, cucumbers, radishes or turnips, put flies there with a mock scream and carried them to an excavated grave. The funeral was held according to all the canons of this rite ^[28] .

In Tula and Serpukhov, girls buried flies and cockroaches. Serpukhov girls buried flies in carrot and beet coffins. At this time, grooms went out to watch the brides. Tula girls buried flies in gardens in turnip coffins, and cockroaches in chips. This belief is based on the fact that flies and cockroaches die from such a burial. The mothers, inviting the red girls, relatives and neighbors, to have fun with their children, ordered through their entourage to announce to the guests: we, de, have baked cakes and boiled honey. In the old days, wealthy posad people placed tubs with braga and beer at the gates. Round dances approached the gate, where the hosts treated them ^[27] .

The fairy tale motif of how a mosquito and a fly relate the soul of a deceased person to the next world is closely connected with a complex of ideas about the soul in the form of a flying insect among Slavs: a mosquito-squeak and a fly-talk talked to a worker who died during a tree felling and took it to the sky. According to legend, mosquitoes are carried away by the winds to warm seas before autumn and are brought back to Russia in spring ^[29] .

The Eastern Slavs had a tradition that at midnight on Semyon Day the devil measures the sparrows ... “First he will gather all the sparrows in the floor of his scroll, then he will pour them into the fours, after the aspen rod he will cross out those that are higher than his edges, and finally left in the four kills; those sparrows whom the devil will throw off the quadruple fly away safely into the nests and take care of the reproduction of their breed ” ^[30] .

• The first meeting of the fall ^[31] .
• The time from Seeds of the day until Christmas of the Blessed Virgin Mary is called the Indian summer ^{[32] [33]} .
• Flies and cockroaches are buried at Semyon (to disappear) ^[31] .
• The first outbursts - a new fire in the hut ^[15] .
• From Seeds of the day to Guria (November 15/28) - wedding weeks ^[34] .

• Symbolic wedding

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