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Those who have never heard of such a holiday as the Osenins will probably guess that this celebration is somehow connected with the arrival of autumn. Indeed, this is a national holiday of farewell to summer.
In general, Osenin has many names. This is also the Harvest Festival, because it was at the beginning of autumn that all the barns, cellars and pantries were always filled with supplies for the winter, and the tables were bursting with treats.
In addition, this celebration is known as Pasekin Day or Onion Day (Day of the Onion Tear). This is explained by the fact that autumn work in apiaries (preparation of hives for wintering) and the collection of onions from the garden symbolized the final completion of summer work. Osenins are also called the Nativity of the Virgin.
What date
Autumns in 2022 are celebrated on September 21 and are associated with the day of the autumnal equinox, which, as you know, falls exactly on the last ten days of September and to which people have attached great importance since ancient times. It has always been believed that on this day autumn finally comes into its own.
History
Autumn began to be celebrated in ancient Our Country. On this day, our ancestors said goodbye to summer and cheerfully met autumn. The fact is that the autumn time has always been the most joyful time of the year for the Slavs, since work in the field finally ended and our ancestors began a kind of “vacation time”.
And after the baptism of Our Country, the Osenins, together with the day of the autumn equinox, were replaced by the Christian holiday of the Nativity of the Virgin. Which is not surprising, because at that time almost all pagan celebrations had an Orthodox component.
Traditions
One of the main traditions of Osenin was the renewal of fire. Meeting autumn, the Slavs usually extinguished all the old fire in the house and lit a new one. Moreover, a new source of heat and light was always obtained by hitting flint or rubbing wood. Our ancestors believed that the fire lit on this autumn holiday has its own special energy.
Women in Oseniny had their own important “mission”. Early in the morning they, taking with them oatmeal bread and jelly, went to the reservoirs. There, the eldest of the participants in the ceremony stood with the brought dishes and read a prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos, and all the rest danced around her and sang songs. After that, the bread was divided equally among all those present, and when she came home, the hostess fed livestock with it. According to our forefathers, this was to ensure that the animals would have offspring.
It was also customary to visit the newlyweds in Oseniny. On a holiday, the young people invited all their relatives to their house, and at the same time all their acquaintances. According to tradition, the hostess fed all the guests with dinner and showed them her household. The guests, it was believed, were to admire the woman, but also not to forget to teach her mind. The duty of the owner was to show the relatives the barn with supplies for the winter and the sheds with the harness. In addition, the man treated everyone to beer in the garden.
In addition, a rural brotherhood was arranged in Oseniny – a feast in which all the inhabitants of the village took part. Moreover, the richer the recently harvested crop was, the more riotous and plentiful the celebration was. It is worth noting that kutya from cereals and honey was always present at the festive table to commemorate the dead.
After the adoption of Christianity, new traditions appeared. So it became customary to pray to the Mother of God on this day. Usually people asked her about health and family happiness. And newly married couples prayed for the birth of a child. Moreover, women who hoped to conceive a child before the next Osenins, as a rule, laid a rich table for the poor and asked their guests to pray for the health of their future children.