Part 6 (1/2)
On Christmas Eve it is customary for the people to fast until after the first service in church. They pray before their respective icons, or sacred pictures, recite psalms, and then all start for the church, where the service is, in most respects, the same as in the Roman Catholic Church. There are many denominations besides the established church of the country that hold services on Christmas Eve; but to whichever one goes, it is wise to hasten home and to get to bed in season to have a pleasant Christmas Eve dream, as such is sure to come true, according to Russian authority.
On _Welikikdenj_--Christmas--the people partake of an early meal. In some parts of the country it is customary to send extremely formal invitations in the name of the host to the guests who are expected to arrive that day. These are delivered by a special messenger and read somewhat as follows:
”My master and mistress beg you to consider, Father Artanon Triphonowitsch, and you, Mother Agaphia Nelidowna, that for thousands of years it has been thus; with us it has not commenced, with us it will not end. Do not, therefore, disturb the festival; do not bring the good people to despair. Without you there will be no pleasure at Philimon Spicidonowitsch's, without you there will be no maiden festival at Anna Karpowna's.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: A CHRISTMAS BONFIRE IN RUSSIA.]
Who could absent himself after such an invitation as this? The place of meeting has been decided upon weeks earlier, for it must be with a well-to-do family possessing a large home to accommodate the guests that usually a.s.semble at Christmas. The ”fair maidens,” each with her mother and retinue, arrive first on the scene, bringing cake and sweetmeats and gifts for the servants. They would sooner freeze in their sledges before the gate than be guilty of alighting without first receiving the greeting of their host and hostess. Having been welcomed, they next pray before the icon, and then are ready for the pleasures arranged for them.
One peculiar phase of these house-parties is the selecting of partners for the maidens, which is done by the hostess, the ”elected” sometimes proving satisfactory and sometimes not. They feast, play games, go s...o...b..lling, and guess riddles, always having a jolly good time.
Reciters of _builinas_ (poems) are often present to sing and recite the whole night through, for of song and poetry the Russian never tires.
A pretty custom very generally observed is the blessing of the house and household. The priest visits each home in his district, accompanied by boys bearing a vessel of holy water; the priest sprinkles each room with the water, each person present kissing the cross he carries and receiving his benediction as he proceeds from room to room. Thus each home is sanctified for the ensuing year.
The familiar greeting of ”Merry Christmas” is not heard in Russia unless among foreigners, the usual salutation on this day being ”Greetings for the Lord's birth,” to which the one addressed replies, ”G.o.d be with you.”
The observance of New Year on January first, according to the Gregorian Calendar, was inst.i.tuted by Peter the Great in 1700. The previous evening is known as St. Sylvester's Eve, and is the time of great fun and enjoyment. According to the poet, Vasili Andreivich Zhukivski:
”St. Sylvester's evening hour, Calls the maidens round; Shoes to throw behind the door, Delve the snowy ground.
Peep behind the window there, Burning wax to pour; And the corn for chanticleer, Reckon three times o'er.
In the water-fountain fling Solemnly the golden ring Earrings, too, of gold; Kerchief white must cover them While we're chanting over them Magic songs of old.”
Ovsen, a mythological being peculiar to the season, is supposed to make his entry about this time, riding a boar (another indication of Aryan descent), and no Christmas or New Year's dinner is considered complete without pork served in some form. The name of Ovsen, being so like the French word for oats, suggests the possibility of this ancient G.o.d's supposed influence over the harvests, and the honor paid him at the ingathering feasts in Roman times. He is the G.o.d of fruitfulness, and on New Year's Eve Russian boys go from house to house scattering oats and other grain while they sing:
”In the forest, in the pine forest, There stood a pine tree, Green and s.h.a.ggy.
O Ovsen! Ovsen!
The Boyars came, Cut down the pine, Sawed it into planks, Built a bridge, Covered it with cloth, Fastened it with nails, O Ovsen! O Ovsen!
Who, who will go Along that bridge?
Ovsen will go there, And the New Year, O Ovsen! O Ovsen!”
With this song the young folks endeavor to encourage the people who are about to cross the gulf between the known and the unknown, the Past and the Future Year; at the same time they scatter good seed for them to reap a bountiful harvest. Often the boys sing the following Kolyadki:
”Afield, afield, out in the open field!
There a golden plough goes ploughing, And behind that plough is the Lord Himself.
Holy Peter helps Him to drive, And the Mother of G.o.d carries the seed corn, Carries the seed corn, prays to the Lord G.o.d, Make, O Lord, the strong wheat to grow, The strong wheat and the vigorous corn!
The stalks there shall be like reeds!
The ears shall be (plentiful) as blades of gra.s.s!
The sheaves shall be (in number) like the stars!
The stacks shall be like hills, The loads shall be gathered together like black clouds.”
How singularly appropriate it seems that boys, hungry at all times, should be the ones to implore the G.o.d of fruitfulness to bestow upon their people an abundant harvest during the coming year!