Intercession in the traditions of Ukrainian women

^{Yaroslav Shuraev}

Hi, my dear friends!

I will say right away that I am not a religious person and I do not claim to be a theologian. Nevertheless, there are many, including religious holidays, which closely intersect with folk traditions and rituals and are part of our culture. This is something I am interested in and to which I often turn, following the natural calendar in one way or another. I am also interested, for example, in the traditions of the Wheel of the Year.

A little earlier, when I spoke about the traditions of Mabon, I drew attention to the fact that spring and autumn are naturally the turning points of the year. It is these periods that are considered periods of greatest female power.

I really like the books of the Ukrainian researcher Lada Luzina. Speaking about the days of women's power, she notes:

Autumn and spring, as well as midnight or the crossroads, is a time of transition, the birth of something new, so it is a priori female time. Previously, it was the period of the ancient Kyiv goddess Makosh, as a legacy of her we have a whole scattering of women's holidays: the First Most Pure on August 28, women's summer, the Second Most Pure, the second women's summer, Pokrova, and ahead is Paraskev Friday - the strongest women's day.< br> The less light and the shorter the day - the stronger the magic. On Paraskev Friday, a woman can change her fate... But on Pokrov, we are not talking about fate in general, but only about a woman and a man.

Today I also want to offer you a small fragment from her book about the traditions of Ukrainian women, which is dedicated to the Feast of the Intercession.

Women's holiday of Intercession [in Ukrainian - Pokrova]

October 14 (according to our style) is the Intercession of the Mother of God, almost the most famous and respected day of female power in our country.

Among the people, it was associated not at all with a church legend, but with the veil of the bride (after the wedding, a woman was forbidden to walk [leave the house] with her head uncovered) and the Earth itself, which is covered by yellow leaves, and sometimes the first snow.

"Mother-Pokrov, cover Mother raw Earth and me young [girl]", - sounded the main saying. And the first snow on Pokrov was considered a good sign: there will be many weddings, and many people will find their love.

Time from September 1 to St. Dimitry day and Pylipivsky fast was in Ukraine a time of matchmaking and weddings. And also at the time of bachelorette parties, fortune-telling and spells for the groom with an appeal to all the saints who could provide you with a happy female destiny.

And here we can understand our great-grandmothers! No wonder we used to say: "A girl is cunning before St Dmytro day comes, and after St Dmytro day you can wipe the chimney with her", "A girl is cunning before St Dmytro day, but after is ready to marry even an old man but not to stay [unmarried]". This is because weddings were not not often played after the feast of St. Dmytro Solunsky's day (November 8 according to our style). And every girl who was not proposed to in this autumn season was cruelly teezed, so everyone shuddered at any rustling and knocking - are the long-awaited suitors going to the house? And if they were delayed, and time was already running out, it was a good idea to divine.

^{Danielle Reese}

The lucky "Pokrovsky" snow was also used for divination - it was swept to the threshold so that the groom would come to the house sooner. In the evening on the eve of the Intercession, it was necessary to pour water into a bowl and read a spell over it:

The stars are spinning in the sky

On earth, everyone is in a couple.

God bless me for marriage.

Bless me for the wedding crown.

Put an end to my girlhood.

After that, the girl had to wash herself with this spelled water and wipe her face with her beloved one's shirt or just a clean man's shirt.

Going to bed, the girl had to make a wish that she would dream of her future husband. And she had to say: "Pokriv-father, cover the ground with a snow, and cover me with a groom!", "Saint Pokriv, cover my head."
Although the dream before the Feast of the Intercession was very conditional. Girls who dreamed of a wedding were advised to get up at dawn on October 14, go to church and hang their best (hand-embroidered) towel on the icon of the Intercession. Or put a candle in front of the icon of the Mother of God and ask for her help. It was believed that the one who gets up in the morning before everyone else and be the first who light a candle will have the fastest and most successful marriage. Mother, who wished her daughter happiness, had to open the front door on Pokrov, lay a towel on the threshold and say: "Lie down, sweet road, for the young and the old."

In Kyiv, the icon of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God in the church of Mykola Prytiska (Horyva St., 5A) is considered a very strong icon these days. A whole line of girls with towels is standing right next to her at the Pokrov.

Source: Джерело: Лада Лузіна «Чарівні традиції українок». – Харків «Фоліо» 2018. - С. 47

^Kiyanka