October 14 is the main autumn day of Ukrainians: three holidays and above all – the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Every year on October 14, we celebrate the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God. The people call the holiday the Third Holy Day and celebrate it as a great religious, national and family holiday. On this day, religious services are held with special solemnity in temples dedicated to this event.
In Ukraine, interesting customs and omens are associated with this day. The Feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God opened the period of weddings in Ukrainian villages. It is also interesting that the Intercession in Ukraine is at the same time a holiday of the Cossacks. Glorious warriors of our land believed that the protection of the Mother of God protected them from all kinds of troubles and deaths and especially respected their patroness. The traditions of our courageous ancestors are being revived in our time.
According to legends, the history of the Intercession begins with stories about miracles performed thanks to the intercession of the Mother of God, who spread her wonderful veil over the faithful.
Interesting traditions of Pokrovy. What should be done on this day?
Intercession is a favorite national holiday. Just before it, the agricultural work cycle ends and all the wealth of the harvest is carefully prepared for the winter. Since the main works were finished, the season of weddings began with the Intercession.
• Girls who wanted to get married had to attend a prayer service and ask: “Holy Mother, Protect me, cover my head: that I may be a woman, that I may live happily, with a young husband, with a cheerful baby”, “Mother-Protector, cover the Mother raw Earth and me young”, “Holy Mother, Intercessor, cover my head, even with a rag, so that I do not remain a virgin”.
• Families also ask for the mercy and intercession of the Mother of God.
• In the morning, housewives bake pancakes to keep the house warm in winter, and in the evening they arrange family feasts.
• And you also need to give gifts to the poor and orphans, donations, and also fumigate the house with smoke from burnt apple or cherry branches – for well-being and luck.
Ancestors believed that the Feast of the Intercession brings with it peace, kindness, love and trust, so on this day you can see a large number of weddings. People get married and believe that their marriage will now always be under the protection of the Virgin Mary.
Young girls were waiting for the Intercession with special joy. After all, evening parties began in that period. Unmarried girls approached the icons and said: “Saint Pokrivonka, cover my head.”
This holiday was always greeted in a good mood. It was believed that one should not be sad, one should have fun, visit and wait for guests at home.
Once while cooking, housewives threw cherry or apple twigs into the oven. It was considered a symbol of a good harvest and well-being.
On this day, for the celebratory dinner, a loaf of bread was necessarily baked, which was treated to neighbors, friends and relatives. If there were leftovers from the loaf, they were dried and stored until the beginning of Great Lent.
Thus, the Veil had a significant poetic color: due to the fact that even the first snow could fall on this day, it was compared to a wedding veil, and since the feast of the Most Holy Theotokos is also celebrated at this time, these comparisons also apply to her.
Before the holiday, various travelers from all over the world returned home, completed their journeys and journeys.
And the so-called “strakachi” – wage earners, hirelings who worked for richer owners all summer, returned to their lands with modest hospitality for their relatives. And the beekeepers brought their hives into the warmth.
Livestock were also not driven out to pasture after the Intercession. And on this day they fed well so that she would have something to eat all winter.
The fields had to be plowed and sown at this time. “He who sows after the Protection – he will not have a cow either”, “After the Protection, the sowing is a widow’s and an orphan’s”, – said the people.
