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The Day of Peter and Fevronia of Murom is often called our answer to Valentine’s Day. It is no coincidence that the All- celebration was timed to coincide with it – the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity. How the church date of commemoration of the saints became an official secular holiday, we tell in our material.
When is the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity in 2022
The date of the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity is fixed and will not change in 2022. The holiday is celebrated every year July 8, as well as the Day of Peter and Fevronia of Murom. And in 2022, the holiday was recognized as official.
history of the holiday
The history of the Day of family, love and fidelity goes back to the Orthodox day of memory of Peter and Fevronia. In the 1990s, the veneration of these saints was resumed in Murom, and in the 2000s, the celebration of the City Day was even postponed to this date. It was in Murom that the administration first decided to present the Day of Peter and Fevronia as an alternative to Valentine’s Day.
In 2006, the city authorities took the initiative to establish the All- Day of Conjugal Love and Family Happiness in memory of the noble princes Peter and Fevronia of Murom. It was also supported by the Orthodox Church and the Federal Assembly. For the first time, the All- Day of Family, Love and Fidelity was celebrated on July 8, 2008.
Holiday traditions
Traditionally, Moore becomes the center of the celebration. It is there, on the Oka embankment, that the largest folk festivals and concerts are held, trade and craft fairs are organized. If the date falls on a weekday, the celebration is moved to the next weekend.
The day of family, love and fidelity has its own symbol – chamomile. On this day, weave wreaths of daisies, give bouquets and postcards with the image of daisies – they are called “fevronki”.
Chamomile is depicted on the reverse of the medal “For Love and Loyalty”, and its obverse is decorated with the faces of Peter and Fevronia and the motto “For Love and Loyalty to the Family”. This award was established by the Organizing Committee for the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity in the Federation. It is awarded to couples who have been married for more than 25 years, “who gained fame among fellow citizens for the strength of family foundations” and “who raised their children as worthy members of society.”
Marriage ceremonies are also popular on this day, despite the fact that in Orthodoxy this date falls on Peter’s fast, during which it is not customary to play weddings.
Related Holidays
- February 14 – Valentine’s Day
- May 15 – Day of families
The legend of Peter and Fevronia
Almost everyone knows the love story of those same Peter and Fevronia. But we still remember. It is told in the ancient story of the same name of the XNUMXth century, despite the fact that the events described take place three hundred years before that. In other chronicles, no Murom prince Peter is mentioned. A number of researchers believe that under these names, Prince David Yuryevich appears in the legend, who ruled just at the beginning of the XNUMXth century and later took the name of Peter in monasticism, and his wife, information about which has not been preserved.
Be that as it may, here is the legend itself. Prince Peter of Murom was struck by the terrible disease of leprosy. His whole body was covered with scabs, and there was no escape from them. No drugs and efforts of doctors called to the halls could help the prince, and he became worse day by day. But once Peter had a dream that the daughter of the beekeeper Fevronia from the village of Laskovo, near Ryazan, could save him from the disease. The desperate prince went to the Ryazan lands. Fevronia, who knew healing herbs, agreed to cure Peter, and in return she took a promise that he would marry her as soon as he recovered. And the disease receded – the scabs passed, the prince recovered. But he changed his mind about marrying a simple peasant woman. He left for his Murom, but he forgot to think about the vow given to Fevronia. But the deceiver did not have time to drive halfway, as the ulcers again began to appear on his body. Peter rushed back to his healer, fell at her feet and asked for forgiveness. She again cured the prince, and this time he kept his promise and got married.
Well, then, as expected, they lived happily ever after, and being already advanced in years, they took tonsure and each retired to his own monastery.
The spouses bequeathed to bury themselves in one coffin with a thin partition. Peter and Fevronia died on the same day and hour in their cells. But their last will was violated, considering the joint burial inconsistent with the monastic rank. However, the next day, as legend has it, the bodies of the prince and princess were still found lying together. Then the husband and wife were nevertheless buried in the same coffin. The relics of Peter and Fevronia today rest in the Holy Trinity Convent in Murom.
Peter and Fevronia were canonized in 1547. Immediately after that, the monk Yermolai-Erasmus wrote the same story about the spouses from Murom, which, by the way, was quite popular reading for several centuries.