Semik (Green Christmastide) (09/06)

Semik (Green Christmastide) was the main border between spring and summer. In the folk calendar, with the adoption of Christianity, the holiday of the Trinity was timed to coincide with these days. In the rituals of the Green Christmastide, summer and the beginning of summer field work were welcomed.

The cycle of Green Christmastide consisted of several rituals: bringing birch trees into the village, curling wreaths, kumlenya, and a cuckoo funeral (Kostroma or mermaid). The birch tree was a symbol of inexhaustible vitality. As during winter Christmastide — carols, mummers took part in all rituals, depicting animals, devils and mermaids. In the songs performed during the Green Christmastide, two main themes can be distinguished: love and work. Imitation of work activity was considered to ensure the well-being of future field work.

During the performance of the song «You succeed, succeed, my len» girls showed the process of sowing flax, weeding it, cleaning, carding and spinning. Singing the song «We sowed millet» was accompanied by movements in which participants reproduced the processes of sowing, collecting, threshing, and pouring millet into the cellar.

In ancient times, both songs were performed in the margins and performed a magical function. Later, the ritual meaning was lost, and they began to be sung in places of festivities.

It was customary to bring birch branches and bouquets of first flowers into the house. They were dried and stored in a secluded place all year. After the harvest began, the plants were placed in a breadbasket or mixed with fresh hay. Wreaths were made from tree leaves collected during the holiday and placed in pots where cabbage seedlings were planted. Trinity plants were believed to have magical powers.

To ensure a high harvest, sometimes a special prayer service was served. It is associated with the custom of « crying for flowers» — dropping tears on turf or a bunch of flowers.

After completing special prayers, all participants went to the cemetery, where they decorated the graves with birch branches and arranged a treat. Having remembered the dead, they went home, leaving food in the cemetery.

Green Christmastide ended with a funeral or farewell ceremony for Kostroma. The image of Kostroma is associated with the completion of green Christmastide; rituals and rituals often took the form of ritual funerals.

Kostroma could be depicted by a beautiful girl or a young woman dressed in white, with oak branches in her hands. She was chosen from those participating in the ritual, surrounded by a girl’s round dance, after which they began to bow and show signs of respect. «The deceased Kostroma» was placed on boards, and the procession moved to the river, where «Kostroma was awakened», and the celebration ended with swimming.

In addition, the funeral ceremony of Kostroma could be carried out with a stuffed straw. Accompanied by a round dance, the effigy was carried around the village and then buried in the ground, burned at the stake or thrown into the river. It was believed that next year Kostroma would rise again and come to earth again, bringing fertility to fields and plants.

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