2. Each religion has
its own festivals.
Christians
celebrate
Christmas and
Easter, Muslims
celebrate
Ramadan, Jews –
Passover. All these
feasts are well-
known in the
world, in fact.
That’s why, today I
want to tell you
about holidays of
the primal Russian
religion –
paganism.
3. We will start with
Kolyada. Kolyada is
a pre-
Christian Slavic feast,
which is celebrated on
December 21. Kolyada
is associated with the
winter
solstice and new year.
Later it was replaced
with
Christmas and Svyatka.
There are two versions
how Kolyada got its
name. First is that it has
come from the Latin
«calendae», which
means «invoke». Other
version is that it is called
after the Slavic god
Kolyada.
4. The special attributes of the holiday are gifts and a dressing, using animal
skins, masks and horns. On Kolyada people come together to go out and sing traditional songs.
They come to their neighbors to congratulate them and wish all the best.
5. The other feast we’d
like to tell you about is
Maslenitsa, which is
famous all over the
world as a national
Russian holiday.
Maslenitsa is a
mischievous and funny f
arewell to winter and s
pring meeting, which
means the
recovery of nature and
warmth of the sun.
Since olden times, sun
is associated with a new
life. At first, in honor of
the sun unleavened
cakes were
baked, which then had
become pancakes.
6. Maslenitsa lasts a week and each day has the special name:
1. Monday is Greeting.
On this
day
people
start
to bake
pancakes.
2. Tuesday
is Games.
7. 3. Wednesday is Kickshaws, when a son-in-law visits his mother-in-law.
4. Thursday, Wide fling, is the most hilarious day in the Maslenitsa week,
full of funny games and contests.
8. 5. Friday, Mother-in-law’s Evenings, is the day for son-in-law to invite the mother.
6. Saturday is Sister-in-law’s gatherings, when a daughter-in-law hosts the sister and gives her a
present.
9. 7. The last day of the festive week is Forgiving Sunday, when all people make
apologize. The celebrations end with the burning of the Maslenitsa jackstraw.
10. Ivan Kupala’s Day is celebrated in
many countries on 22 of June, the
day of summer solstice. The name
comes from the pagan god
Kupala. This festival is famous
because of the special rites and
rituals, which are observed during
the celebration.
11. The religious practice includes
traditional bathing, jumping over the
fire and various divinations. As a
result, this feast is connected with
different superstitions, which are very
popular with folks.
12. There are a lot of different feasts, which are celebrated in our country and which are
considered to be our national holidays, as they represent our culture. And today I tried to
tell about the most famous and beloved of them.
