One of the most revered holidays in Christianity is the Nativity of Christ. Christmas time begins and will last until January 18th. During this period, people tried to have fun, held celebrations, and celebrated weddings. Also, according to beliefs and signs, it is on January 7 that the real Christmas frosts begin.
On Christmas Day, January 7, all believers remember the greatest miracle - the birth of Jesus Christ. They gather in churches where festive services are held. Also on January 7, everyone tried to visit relatives and friends to share food with them. There is even a tradition of visiting. It is a good sign if two men enter the house first. This means that there will be no quarrels in the family during the year. If a woman enters the house first, then this omen is not encouraging: it is believed that this is a sign of misfortune and illness.
- If there is a thaw at Christmas, then you need to wait for a warm and early spring.
- If frost hits on Christmas Day, January 7, then it will be just as cold on Epiphany. There may even be a strong snowstorm
- If Christmas falls on a Friday, it means that the winter this year will be long, and the summer, on the contrary, short.
- If Christmas falls on Sunday, expect good luck in all matters
- A person born on Christmas will be happy. He is recommended to wear jasper as a talisman.
- If a cat breaks the walls on Christmas Day, it means that the weather will turn bad very soon. If the cat is curled up into a ball, you need to wait for severe frosts.
- High snowdrifts on January 7 foreshadow a prosperous year
- A thaw on Christmas Day foreshadows an early and warm spring
- Clear moon in the sky on January 7 - expect severe frosts
- Good weather on Felitsata, according to signs, portends a rich harvest
- It is known that, whatever the weather is like after the Nativity of Christ, this will be the case for the entire period after Peter’s Day (July 12)
- If the housewife breaks dishes or spills something on this day, this will lead to a quarrel
- You can’t take quarrels out of the hut until the Old New Year - it is considered to be bad luck
- Get married on January 7 - happily married
- If there is a snowstorm outside, it will be early spring
- You can't drink alcohol at Christmas - you'll drink the entire summer harvest
- The head of the family must stay at home on this day so that the herd does not get lost
- If on Christmas day, looking at the sky, you pray and make a wish, it will definitely come true
- If Christmas falls on a new moon, it promises a bad harvest. The starry sky, on the contrary, promises a good harvest of legumes.
- On this day you cannot go fishing or into the forest, so as not to disturb the mermaids, mermaids and goblins celebrating the holiday.
- On January 7, you can’t swear, work, move to a new place, slaughter livestock or think about something bad.
Christmas has been celebrated as a separate holiday among Orthodox Christians since the 4th century. Of course, over the centuries, numerous traditions have appeared in different countries of the world to celebrate the great day of Jesus’ coming into this world. If you look a little more closely, you can clearly see that almost all cultural and historical eras are reflected in Christmas customs, like in a mirror. Each generation, starting from the traditions bequeathed by their ancestors, brought to the celebration of the Nativity of Christ something new, special, characteristic of the historical period in which it lived and the national customs of its own people.
The Hidden Meaning of Christmas Traditions and Customs
But, without a doubt, the main traditions of celebrating Christmas were formed in ancient times. Moreover, many of them are deeply rooted in paganism, in the times of worship of the Sun and the powerful forces of nature. Our ancestors (unlike us) always remembered that man is an integral spiritual component of nature. That is why the vast majority of Christmas traditions, customs, and rituals are directly related to natural phenomena and spiritual cleansing. The purer the soul, the less negative energy is “thrown out” into this world, the fewer natural disasters and catastrophes, the more harmonious a person exists with the nature around him.
The main traditions of Orthodox Christmas
Judging from this point of view, the tradition of observing Lent before the Nativity of Christ looks completely different. By limiting oneself in food for forty days, and especially on Christmas Eve, a person is cleansed both physically and mentally and is reborn, like Jesus, in order to continue his life on a new, better level.
Also, other Christmas traditions take on a completely different meaning from this point of view. For example, in the old days there was a very strange custom for modern people. On Christmas Eve it was forbidden to wash or go to the bathhouse. Some historians argue that such a tradition was connected exclusively with the great hassle of preparing for the “water procedures”: chopping wood and heating a bathhouse really took a lot of time in the old days. In fact, water has the ability to “wash away” all accumulated information from a person and, accordingly, cleanse him of sins. Our ancestors faced a very difficult task - to cleanse themselves without this powerful aid, only through abstinence and prayer.
Having freed ourselves before Christmas from all the bad things that had accumulated over the year, it was necessary to “sow” the soul with new, energetically pure seeds of good luck and prosperity. This is precisely what another Christmas tradition, “sowing,” is connected with. Therefore, on the morning of January 7, they always carol, scattering grains of rice, wheat, and millet in the corners of the room. At the same time, the “sowers” always wish the owners of the house happiness, prosperity and health.
Traditionally, a sumptuous table was set for Christmas. But this was connected not only with the love of our ancestors for delicious food. Beautiful dishes attracted good spirits, who that night spent a lot of energy fighting all evil spirits. Of course, they needed to eat well in order to protect the owners of the house from various adversities.
What not to do at Christmas?
Christmas also had its own prohibitions. Moreover, there is a whole list of things that should not be done on Christmas. For example, doing household chores, sewing and knitting. And the men had to forget about hunting for a while: on Christmas night, the souls of dead people inhabit the animals! Unmarried girls were not allowed to make fortunes at Christmas - all fortune-telling for the betrothed is best done during the 12 days of Christmastide, right up to Epiphany.
There are many signs and customs associated with Christmas - they were given special attention. It was believed that as Christmas went, so would the year.
The Nativity of Christ occupies an important place in the lives of many people; it is a holiday of love, warmth, faith, goodness and happiness.
January 7 is the best time to visit and receive guests. It is important that you should communicate better at Christmas only with those people who can bring happiness to you - happy families, or those families who are expecting an addition, or a new family member has already been born. As a rule, edible gifts are given at Christmas. Be sure to bring kutya, sweets, jam and pickles. You can also give a toy if it is a child, or some kind of winter accessory.
Nowadays, of course, you can get by with a phone call, the main thing is to let the people you care about know that you remember them and wish them the best. Be sure to congratulate all your friends and family on this holiday; Christmas greetings filled with joy and warmth will help people become brighter, happier and forget about everyday problems and worries.
At Christmas it is customary to light more candles, lights, a fireplace - if you have one. Candles bring warmth and wealth into your home. If you have pets, then at Christmas you need to feed them abundantly - then the whole year will be satisfying and successful financially.
One special candle must be lit for deceased relatives - then they will help you attract good luck and prosperity in the coming year.
Christmas is a great time for shopping, big and small. Buying something good for Christmas is a great omen and a sign that the purchase will serve you faithfully.
From Christmas until Epiphany, throughout all the days of Christmastide, certain prohibitions apply, which are determined by centuries-old ideas about the holiday as a stop of time, a certain temporary pause, during which one cannot engage in productive work and everything that is associated with birth, beginning, development. Therefore, a significant part of the prohibitions concerns crafts related to spinning, sewing, knitting, weaving, braiding, that is, everything related to thread (rope). The thread is a symbol of life and destiny.
On Christmas, you can't do any cleaning or housekeeping chores. This day is created for peace and joy. It’s even better if you don’t clean up until January 14th (the next day of the old New Year). All garbage collected on January 14 should be taken outside and scattered to the wind, or burned. According to signs, after this no evil spirits will bother you for a whole year.
You can't swear on a holy day. He who swears takes away the hope of salvation from his ancestors.
There is a widespread belief associated with the arrival of the first guest. If you are inviting guests over for Christmas, see who enters your home first. If a woman enters first, then the women of your family will be sick all year.
Christmas rules also applied to clothing: on Christmas, another tradition has long been followed: to wear only new clothes. Not clean, washed, but new, not yet worn. And don't sit at the Christmas table dressed in black. Our ancestors believed that such people would face failure in business in the new year.
It is not recommended to guess at Christmas - in order to ask the higher powers what awaits you in the future, there will still be a lot of time: it is best to do this on the so-called Christmastide - from January 8 to Epiphany, it is not for nothing that fortune telling at this time is called that - Christmastide.
You can't drink water on Christmas, so remove all mineral water from the table. There is coffee, tea and other great drinks. To be honest, this sign is a little strange, but it’s better not to drink water than to suffer for an unknown reason all year.
7 The Seven Blessings of Christmas
The number seven is considered sacred. There is a belief that whoever does seven blessings on Orthodox Christmas will live happily all year and even has the right to ask the angels for the fulfillment of their most cherished desire. On this day, it is customary to give seven alms for the sake of happiness in the coming year. Usually these are 7 identical coins, which must be given to someone who arouses sincere sympathy in the soul, accompanying the alms with a silent prayer. You can also give seven useful gifts. As a rule, these were towels, and when giving them, the giver must say the words: “I give towels, I will die well, I will correct evil with good, I will guide my kind (my family) to happiness.” On Christmas we greet each other with the words: “Christ is born!” and we respond to these words: “We praise Him!”
Ritual
At Christmas, many different rituals have long been performed, but in order not to be accused of obscurantism at all, do the nicest ones that are not tied to magic - it doesn’t matter whether it is black or white. For example, starting from January 7, for forty (!) days (this period is called peace - our ancestors believed that during this time angels help people in all matters), every morning, when you wake up, make a new wish - imagine how much good will come into your life!
Signs and superstitions
At Christmas, folk signs and superstitions acquire special power, as if nature itself and every object are trying to tell us something: how to live, what to fear. Here are just a few of them.
A sign of prosperity. If you lose any item at Christmas, this means that you may face losses next year. But if you find a thing and some other piece of jewelry, then the money is already rushing to you in full sail!
A sign for good luck. If you accidentally spilled tea or coffee at the Christmas table (this does not apply to alcohol), then this is good news and great success for all your endeavors.
Money signs for Christmas
On Christmas Eve (January 7 to 19), look at nature. If the sky is most often strewn with stars, or it snows often, or there is a lot of frost on the trees, the year will be rich, satisfying, and profitable. If it snows on Christmas Day itself, this is a very good omen and promises a successful year.
If there is a new moon in the sky on Christmas Day, the year will be extremely unlucky financially.
The most monetary sign of Christmas is also a tradition. A coin is baked into the pie - and whoever gets a piece with a coin will have great financial luck in the New Year.
May the coin end up in your piece of Christmas pie!
A joyful mood, sparkling snow, the smell of pine needles and incense - what could be kinder than the atmosphere of the bright holiday of the Nativity of Christ? It is not surprising that magical folk signs at Christmas for marriage, pregnancy, health, luck, money always come true on this magical day, and young girls can find out on January 6-7 whether they are destined to meet their betrothed.
Folk signs for Christmas for marriage
Since ancient times, young girls have believed in the magical power of the Christmas holiday, carefully observing the signs and omens for marriage.
What Christmas signs exist for marriage on January 6-7?
- Losing a comb means a whirlwind romance and marriage.
- Young women should dress nicely before it gets dark outside. It is believed that those girls who did not have time to dress up will not get married successfully, and those who are already married will lose their spouse’s favor.
- Before the holiday they bring home a rooster. If the bird runs to the table, the girl will soon get married, if to the door, she will be unmarried.
Rituals and signs for Christmas during pregnancy
An important place is occupied by customs on Christmas and Christmas Eve associated with the conception of a child. Many people believe in the magical power of the holiday, observing rituals and signs for Christmas during pregnancy.
Christmas signs and rituals for getting pregnant
- If you ask the Virgin Mary for a child, then conception will definitely occur. It is advisable to light a candle that will burn all night. After prayer, you should feed the dog bread.
- In order for pregnancy to occur, you need to eat eggs or grains in an amount that is a multiple of the woman’s age. You can use an egg.
- You need to survive the entire service. Then, if you sincerely pray, pregnancy will occur.
- An already pregnant woman should wash herself with holy water and wash her stomach with it. Then holy powers will protect the fetus from the evil eye and bad energy.
- You can’t knit on this day - the pregnant woman’s baby will be wrapped in the umbilical cord.
- A pregnant woman should not cut her hair - the child will be born mentally retarded.
- If it is a leap year, you cannot talk about your plans for the birth of a baby - dark forces may overhear.
- In order for the desired news to reach your family as quickly as possible, you need to feed stray animals on the street on Christmas Day. If one of them follows you, feed it constantly or give it shelter. This can attract pregnancy.
Customs and signs at Christmas for health
In ancient times, there were no such effective medicines as there are now. Therefore, people believed in predictions and superstitions, which often came true, and followed customs and signs for health at Christmas.
What signs on January 6-7 foretell health?
- A lot of attention needs to be paid to collecting clean water. It’s good if it comes from healing sources. This water should be used to wash everyone in the house, and you can also use the water to prepare Christmas dishes. It can bring health to everyone who drinks it.
- If a sick person sneezes on Christmas Eve, this means recovery and a long life.
- In order for the whole year to bring only health, it is necessary that all family members dance around the Christmas tree at Christmas.
- If a wild animal has become attached to you, be sure to feed it. This is a sign that you will be healthy all year.
- On Christmas, you cannot sew, knit or darn things - this could lead to blindness for you or someone in your family.
- It is advisable for a man to enter your house first. If a woman comes in, it means illness for the owner of the house for a year.
- If you stumbled on the way to church, you need to say: “Not to the Devil, but to God, he will save me.” This ritual will protect you from illness after twelve years.
- A baby who starts walking on a holiday will be healthy and lucky.
- If a seriously ill person talks about pancakes and horses on Christmas Day, this is a bad sign, it foretells death.
- If guests come to you three days after Christmas, you cannot open it right away - you can attract diseases into the house. You have to wait until they call again.
Folk omens for good luck on Christmas Day
Luck and luck in life are the most desirable phenomena for any Russian person. People have long believed in observing Christmas rituals to attract success and listen to folk signs at Christmas for good luck.
Rituals and signs for good luck on Christmas and Christmas Eve
- A bunch of straw brought into the house on Christmas Day will definitely attract good luck.
- Candles, wreaths, bells and other decorations are sure to bring success to the house.
- If you spill tea or coffee, success in business and new projects awaits you.
- If you saw a hunchback, you are very lucky. It will be especially lucky to touch his hump, then you will be successful all year.
- Meeting a big dog also brings good luck.
- If you find pieces of ice in well water, you will be successful.
- If you light a candle in honor of deceased relatives on a festive evening, they will help attract good luck and prosperity to the family.
- For good luck, the following ritual is performed: a well-washed coin is placed in the Christmas cake. Nuts, raisins, and dried fruit are also suitable. The family member who is lucky enough to receive a surprise piece at the table will be happy all year.
- Seeing a man in a dream on the night before Christmas means being successful and happy all year.
Signs for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on January 6-7 for money
By listening to signs and beliefs, many people are able to attract wealth and abundance into their home, creating the right energy at Christmas. It is enough to know some signs of Christmas Eve and Christmas to attract money.
What Christmas signs will bring money?
- To make the whole year abundant, you need to invite your closest and dearest people home to Christmas and treat them generously.
- For financial well-being this year, you need to congratulate yourself and give a gift.
- If you have stepped into manure, rejoice, this will bring you prosperity.
- Pets should be generously fed - the whole year will be generous to you financially.
- On a holiday, you need to run out into the street naked in the cold and say: “There are so many pimples on my skin, so that I have so much money too.”
- Losing or stealing money on Christmas means hopelessness, but finding money, on the contrary, means profit.
- If you see a mouse on a festive evening, this means financial losses.
- On Christmas you cannot take out a loan, borrow money, and you should not lend anything from your home. This way you give everything from your own hands.
- Finding a piece of jewelry is a sign of financial success.
- You should not wear old things on holiday, as this leads to financial losses and poverty.
- On Christmas you need to light as much fire as possible - candles, fireplaces, lamps. This will attract wealth to the house.
- Snow on the morning of January seventh - in financial well-being and abundance.
Signs on Christmas night January 6-7 for unmarried girls
Unmarried girls have long believed in the power of Christmas night from January 6 to 7, predicting fate. There are many rituals and signs for young women who are able to predict a meeting with their betrothed.
Rituals for young girls to get married
- Unmarried girls and young women should pay attention to a passing man. At dusk they go outside. If a man comes from the north, the girl will get married within a year. If from the south, then he will remain a girl.
- If you ask a passerby the name of your betrothed, your husband will have the same name.
- When everyone sits down to dinner, a girl dreaming of marriage or an unmarried man, taking the first small piece from the table into his mouth, must go outside without swallowing it. The name that he or she accidentally hears from passers-by will be the name of the bride or groom.
Signs January 6-7 for Christmas Eve and Christmas
From ancient times, Christmas signs and predictions have come down to us on Christmas Eve and on the night of January 6-7 about productivity, happiness and good news.
Signs of Christmas night and Christmas Eve
- It is believed that the summer will be unusually fruitful if Christmas falls on a Sunday.
- There is a snowstorm and frost on Christmas - spring will come early.
- Frost on the ground and trees - to a rich harvest of wheat.
- A large number of stars in the sky means a harvest of buckwheat and peas.
- A thaw at Christmas means a cold spring. But if it’s frosty and snowy on Holy Evening, then spring will come early and be warm.
- If a large object falls in the house - a painting, a clock or a shelf - this portends good news.
- If a clock that has been standing for a long time suddenly goes on Christmas Day, this is a sign of travel and pleasant entertainment.
- If, while preparing the Christmas table, the housewife's food falls, then this means a good harvest.
- It is believed that the year will be lucky if a man enters the house first on Christmas Day.
- When baking Christmas bread, the housewife should not talk. She needs to touch the icons, trees and plants in the garden with hands smeared in dough. Then there will be a harvest in the year.
- Dreams from the sixth to the seventh of January are prophetic. Therefore, they must be remembered and deciphered. To do this, you can put a dream book at the head of the bed and light a candle. The next morning, while the dream is fresh in the memory, it can be solved.
- Children born on Christmas bring only happiness to the house.
- At midnight, you must open the window to let Christmas into the house. It is advisable that this is done by the head of the family.
- For well-being and happiness throughout the year, prepare twelve fasting dishes on Christmas Eve, and the next morning, January 7th, there should be twelve fasting dishes on the table.
- Under no circumstances should you go hunting on Holy Evening and until Epiphany, as this is a great sin that brings grief.
We wish you that the frosty holy holiday of Christmas brings health, luck, money and prosperity. Let the flames of candles envelop your home with their magical warmth, and let the signs for Christmas make the most cherished dreams of unmarried girls about marriage and pregnancy come true.
Christmas is one of the most important Christian holidays; in Russia it is always celebrated on January 7 according to the new style. What are the traditions, customs and signs of the holiday in Rus'.
January 7, 2018. Christmas worship came to Rus' in the 10th century, after the official introduction of Christianity. Almost 200 years after this, before the holiday itself, or was established.
Even the ancient Christians established the pious custom of fasting before important holidays. The need to feel the greatness of the event was reflected in the desire to limit the most natural human needs. A strict one-day fast is still maintained on the eve of Christmas and Epiphany and is called Christmas Eve or Evening, from the custom of eating in the evening of this day (after the first star) sochivo-cooked cereals with honey.
Strictly speaking, the symbol of the first star is a candle, which is taken out on Christmas Eve at Vespers, which is served immediately after the liturgy, so you can eat after the end of the morning service. However, a stable tradition has developed of a single meal on Christmas Eve at nightfall, when the first star can be seen in the sky. After all, on the eve of Christmas, you want everything to remind you of the upcoming celebration.
Christmas - folk traditions, customs and signs of the holiday
At the end of December and beginning of January, the pagan Slavs celebrated the pagan holiday of the “solstice”. The sun turns to summer, and winter to frost, they used to say in Rus'. Probably because the sun was considered weak at that time, just beginning its path to summer, and the custom of dressing up—hiding one’s face under a mask—was strengthened in order to hide from unkind spirits seeking to destroy the origin of life. In addition, during these days the pagans held games, fortune telling, there were many rituals and signs, all of this was associated with the cult of fertility - the desire to appease the natural gods and not allow them to destroy the emerging new life.
All these festivities were called caroling. There are several opinions about the origin of this word. Most likely, it has the same basis as the word “wheel” - the root “colo”. Many scientists associate the “wheel” with the word “good”, that is, “sunny” (the solar circle rolls across the sky like a wheel), which again draws our attention to the holidays of the solar cycle.
Christmas - folk traditions, customs and signs of the holiday
After the adoption of Christianity, in Rus' they preferred not to suppress by force the remnants of paganism, as in Western Europe, but to fill the established form with new content. Therefore, the Church never put pressure on people’s consciousness by external force and did not cancel caroling these days. Old traditions gradually degenerated into new ones. Carols became a ritual of going from house to house with the Christmas star and nativity scene to glorify the born Savior and to ask for God's grace to the houses where carolers were received.
The Church made sure that during the celebration of the Nativity of Christ the line between Christianity and paganism was not crossed, although sometimes it was very thin. If the glorification of the born God-Child as the giver of every good for people was in the foreground, then the Church was with those who found Christ.
Christmas - folk traditions, customs and signs of the holiday
However, fortune telling at Christmas time has never been welcomed by the Orthodox Church. A kind of fortune-telling also includes many signs when well-being is associated with doing or not doing something, some special clothing and chance encounters. This has nothing to do with the holiday of the Nativity of Christ. It should be noted that work on Holy Days, which can be postponed, does not have any consequences for a person. But they are not blessed by the priesthood - on such a great holiday as the coming into the world of the Savior of all people, one must celebrate, rejoice and glorify God, putting aside all earthly affairs and worries.
Christmas - folk traditions, customs and signs of the holiday
But weather signs, based on many years of observations of nature, were in no way denied by the Church.
Clear weather and starry skies at Christmas foreshadowed the birth of livestock and a good harvest of vegetables and mushrooms next summer and autumn.
Heavy snow on Christmas Day indicates that a good wheat harvest should be expected. In addition, this is a good sign for the beekeeper - the bees will safely overwinter and hatch.
But if there is a thaw on the holiday, then you have to wait for a cold spring and, therefore, a poor harvest of vegetables.
