Top of summer: signs and traditions of July

Everyone suffers!

“A woman would dance, but the crown of summer has come!” – my favorite saying about July. There is also a male version: “The peasant’s arrogance (one of the old names for July) was shot down by a peasant, that there was no time to lie on the stove.”

In general, July is a difficult month. This is the holiday season for us, modern townspeople, but in the old days, and even now in the villages, it was the time of the July harvest. That is harvest and hard work. By the way, it was from the word “strada” that the verb “suffer” arose. In Old Russian – “try”, “achieve”.

Our ancestors spent whole days in the garden and in the field: they mowed, weeded, gathered crops and herbs that arrived in time. Back in July, the “old women-healers”, who were engaged in healing, collected “big dews” in order to get rid of the “full-time prisor”, that is, the evil eye and damage, with this water.

The only day in July when all work was suspended was Ilyin. It was forbidden to work in order to pay tribute to Elijah the prophet and not to anger the lord of rain and thunder, which I will tell you about next month, since in the modern church calendar the day of his veneration falls on August.

In July, there was also an important ritual holiday associated with the first harvest – Zazhinki. People walked into the field and turned to God with pitiful songs, talking about their hard work, and thanked Mother Earth for the harvest. The tradition of zazhinok stretches from the time of paganism.

July haze? People’s talk!

In the difficult July time, “clean-up” saved us: help “from the whole world”, when everyone gathered for big work – both relatives and neighbors. Vzdymki (to make a clearing for a new house and raise a log house), a dung beetle (to take manure into the field), cabbages (to prepare sauerkraut for the winter) – all these big deeds united the village community.

As a child, I found this custom: my grandmother and grandfather always helped both relatives and neighbors in such work. Another cleanup was organized to help widows, orphans and horseless peasants. They did it voluntarily and for free. They went to the cleanup as if it were a holiday, and then they organized festivities. It looks like modern subbotniks, doesn’t it?

Boiling and bathing

Ivan Kupala, which falls on July 7: this holiday, like no other, reflects the dual faith inherent in our people, syncretism. Who is Ivan? Why should you swim? How about jumping over fires? Let’s figure it out.

Before Christianity came to us, our ancestors – usually at the end of June, on the day of the summer solstice – honored a pagan deity named Kupalo (Kupala). The flowering of nature at this time reaches its peak, and the sun passes an important turning point. And the image of Kupala symbolized the fertile forces of the earth, the energy of the sun as a source of life.

The name “Kupala” is not associated with either water or bathing. On the contrary, it has the energy of fire, solar energy. Etymologically, the name of the deity goes back to the ancient verb “boil, boil, longingly desire.” Therefore, on the Kupala night, bonfires are burned. It was believed that the higher you jump over the fire, the richer the harvest of wheat and flax.

But not only for this they burned bonfires. The fire helped drive away evil spirits, which, as in the period of winter Christmas time, when the sun also passes a turning point in its circle, was especially active.

Where, then, did the tradition of bathing come from? She came with a new religion. The Christian holiday of the Nativity of John the Baptist (July 7) coincided with the Kupala holiday, and gradually the two traditions merged into one.

John the Baptist is associated with the rite of baptism and triple immersion in water. Having united with pagan rituals, the feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist became the day of Ivan Kupala, and the name “Kupala” gradually began to mean for a Russian person not “boiling”, but “bathing”. Here is the answer.

Wet T-shirt Contest

Emphasized eroticism, violent and free behavior of young people on the feast of Ivan Kupala deserves a separate discussion. In short, in the old days people felt closely connected with nature and tried to bring into their lives what was happening around. Nature in bloom? You need to pay attention to your “performance”. Here they turned.

Although there were quite “decent” (but still aimed at performance) games. For example, “playing in the water”: on the Kupala night, the guys chased the girls with water, and whoever they managed to pour over, she would be his wife. It appears to have been a lot of fun. And, it seems, in those days, the game was a great addition to life.

I think we miss jumping over bonfires, and dousing with water, and a sense of unity with nature. But this can always be changed. Moreover, folk holidays are often celebrated in all sorts of art estates near big cities. And when, if not in the summer, to master new routes? After all, we, unlike our ancestors, are not bound by suffering and hard physical labor. I suggest you take advantage of this!