Feast of God's Body in the Slavic tradition

The feast of the Body of the Lord is a feast introduced into the everyday life of the Catholic Church from the 13th century in memory of the establishment by Jesus Christ of the sacrament of the Eucharist (communion); celebrated on the ninth Thursday after Easter . The first mention of church processions on this day has been known in Poland since 1347, however, they have become popular and ubiquitous among the Slavic Catholics from the 15th-16th centuries.

In many areas of Poland, by the 19th century, the feast of God's Body was considered no less significant than Easter. It was celebrated during the week, and mass processions were held on the first day and then on the last, eighth day, called the “Octave of the Body of God” ( Polish Oktawy Bożego Ciała ). It was on this last day of the festivities that specially made wreaths were consecrated in the church, which they kept for a year as a magical and healing remedy.

On the eve or early morning of Thursday, herbs and flowers gathered for weaving small wreaths, bouquets, garlands, chopped branches of birches, maples, linden, acacia, chopped trees, and harvested long trunks. Usually they wove an unpaired number of wreaths - 5, 7, 9. In some places, wreaths were woven from a strictly defined type of plant or from an unpaired number of plants (Pol. Pomerania , eastern Poland). To decorate courtyards and streets, as well as to arrange green altars in the open, grasses and branches of felled trees were prepared. Slovenes and Croats used high (up to 30 m and above) poles and trees, which were installed along the road along the path of the procession.

Religious processions were made from the church in the village, they were required to go around the fields, the priests performed a service near the constructed green altars and in the four corners of the sown field. Men carried banners, women and children - wreaths, branches and bouquets of greenery. In the XVIII century. there was a custom to shoot from rifles during the procession movement (cf .: the East Slavs fired from rifles at Velikden ). The Western Slavs rewrote the beginnings of the four Gospels and buried pieces of paper in the four corners of the living field “from the hail”. In Belaya Krajna ( Slovenia ), home-woven white clothes were worn to participate in the procession. The women of Carinthia at the very beginning of the procession stuck several stalks of cereals in their belts so that the lower back would not hurt all year. Greenery was given a magical meaning. Everywhere they stocked up with greens used in the ritual procession: on the go they broke off branches from the altars, plucked flowers from garlands and decorations, picked up and took with them bouquets, which showered the procession, etc. ^[2]

After the procession, greens were used similarly to the Trinity and Kupala greens. First of all, it was used to protect from hail clouds, thunderstorms, lightning, fire, from evil spirits; for driving away caterpillars, worms, rodents from fields and gardens; for harvest, for the treatment of diseases, spoilage, evil eye. In addition, milk was filtered through a wreath consecrated on the day of God’s body so that the witch wouldn’t spoil it, dragged the hatched goslings for good growth, flowers from such wreaths were sprinkled in an oil churn so that the butter would go well, in milk for a successful starter culture, etc. n. In Slovenia, men were the first to grab the tree trunks from which altars were arranged, and made handles for shovels, rakes, and braids from them.

Like the Trinity and Kupala periods, the Day of God's Body was considered dangerous, associated with the harmfulness of witches who could “take” milk from cows and send damage to people and livestock. To protect themselves from evil spells, on this day they tried not to drive cattle to pasture, drew garlic crosses on the stable’s doors, attached ceremonial greens to the horns of cows, etc. It was believed that if you look at the moving procession through the hole in the board from the old coffin, you can see all the rural witches.

On this day, and in some places the next day, they did not work outside the house (in the field, garden, forest). In Styria, Friday was called "smoky Friday" ( Slovenian. Posmojeni petek ); on this day no one was digging in the corn so that it would not burn. In Rzeszow Voivodeship (now Subcarpathian Voivodeship ) it was forbidden to use rollers on the day of God’s body when washing clothes; refrained from working in the field, “so that the storm did not destroy the bread”, and from working in the forest, “so that people would not be maimed” ^[2] .

Hebrew - the national name of the holiday on Thursday in the ninth week of Easter. On this day, they did not work in the field, fearing thunder. The holiday arose at the end of the 19th century in connection with the transition of Belarusian Uniates to the fold of the Orthodox Church. Belarusian Catholics and Uniates continued to celebrate it as a festival of God's Body ^[3] .

In Belarus, in many places (for example, in the Dobrush region ), they believe that the Nineteen, as well as the Tenth, is a Belarusian holiday "from the storm." In others (for example, in the Lelchitsky district ) they say that “Dzyavyatukha is then Polish svyaty, and Dzyatyatukha is ours”.

In drawing songs near the Decenter, the Ninth is one of the stages of rye growth:

Memorial Chicken
Pa mezhakh hadzila, life of Abzira,
Zhyttso abzіrala da y ў ў navala ...

Sometimes the holidays did not differ ^[4] .

It is believed among Slovenes that the good weather of this day promises warm summers or steady weather for the period of haymaking; rainy day bodes rainy haymaking and rotten summer ^[2] .

• Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ
• Ash Wednesday in Slavic tradition

• God's Body / Vinogradova L. H., Kabakova G. I. // Slavic antiquities : Ethnolinguistic dictionary: in 5 volumes / under the general. ed. N. I. Tolstoy ; Institute of Slavic Studies RAS . - M .: Int. Relations , 1995. - T. 1: A (August) - G (Goose). - S. 219–220. - ISBN 5-7133-0704-2 .
• Cherven ( unopened ) (inaccessible link) . Cabinet Museum of Belarusian Culture of Philology of the Faculty of BDU . Faculty of Philology of BDU . - Belarusian folk kalyandar . Archived February 13, 2016. (belor.)

• "Nine" - a forgotten holiday (pushgory.net)
• Wreath and its ancient meaning (inaccessible link) (zh-akvareli.ru)
• Polish holidays - traditions and customs
• Jaki dzień jest w Boże Ciało, takich dniem potem niemało - Muzeum Wsi Radomskiej w Radomiu (Polish)