Feast of the Holy Trinity: history, meaning, traditions, signs and customs. The Trinity holiday has an interesting history and is of great importance in the life of Orthodox Christians.

Trinity: signs, traditions and customs

On June 4, 2017, Orthodox Christians celebrate Holy Trinity Day. This day is very important, since the event that became the reason for the holiday gave a significant impetus to the development of Christianity. To understand how to behave on the Trinity, and what to do, you need to learn a little about the history of the holiday.

Feast of the Holy Trinity - what does it mean

If we turn to the holy books of Christians, we can find out that the Trinity is a holiday associated primarily with Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. The fact is that after the Son of God was resurrected, he ascended to heaven. This happened forty days after Jesus came out of the cave where he was buried. And ten days after the Ascension of Christ, another miracle happened.
Jesus had followers - devoted disciples who often gathered to pray. So it happened this time. The disciples came to a house on Mount Zion. And as soon as they began to pray, loud sounds were heard in the room where they were, reminiscent of the hum of the wind. Immediately, the whole chamber was engulfed in flames, but the tongues of fire did not burn anyone from those present. And then the disciples of Jesus heard the voice of the Lord. He told them to go and preach Christianity throughout the world. And then all the apostles spoke in different languages.
People also ran to the noise, the crowd gathered in front of the house, and when the apostles reported what had happened, three thousand people decided to be baptized on the same day. Soon the first Christian church was built, and the apostles began to preach religion in different countries.

The holiday is called the Day of the Holy Trinity for the reason that the trinity of God (God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit) was revealed to the apostles. This day also has a second name - Pentecost. It indicates the time when believers celebrate the holiday. The apostles heard the voice 50 days after the Resurrection of Christ. That is, the Trinity is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter.

What kind of holiday is the Trinity: signs, traditions and customs

The importance of this day prompts people to have questions regarding what can and cannot be done on Trinity. Basically, all prohibitions are exactly the same as on other Christian holidays. On this day, you should not do physical work (wash floors, make repairs, sew, clean up). And besides this, earthworks are also prohibited, such as weeding the garden, mowing grass, planting flowers.
Previously, people believed that if these rules were violated, then some kind of misfortune would happen, for example, for those who sew or knit, sheep, the source of yarn, would stray or die, and for those who were engaged in crops, hail would destroy the entire crop.
It is also better not to cook for the Trinity. Mistresses used to prepare everything for the holiday in advance, for example, on Friday or Saturday. Food can be warmed up, but you should not spend all day at the stove. As a rule, pies are baked on Trinity. And you can also cook any meat and fish dishes using as many greens as possible. In some parts of the country, there is another tradition that refers to Easter - people dye eggs green.

The best thing to do is to start the day with a visit to the temple. Churches are very beautifully decorated for the holiday - everywhere there are fresh flowers, tree branches, green bedspreads and whole carpets of grass. Such decoration symbolizes the beginning of life. People can also decorate their houses, it used to be believed that such a ceremony protects the home from evil spirits, for example, from mermaids who could drag someone under water.

Every year an increasing number of Russians call themselves believers - these are the results of many years of observations and studies of various sociological institutes, foundations and other similar organizations. However, the interest of the population in the church is clearly visible to the naked eye: in television and newspaper news, they talk in detail about the holidays or other outstanding events of Orthodoxy.

The history of one of the main holidays in Russia

However, even here there were skeptics who doubted the true faith of all those who, on the eve of Easter, besiege churches in order to consecrate Easter cakes and eggs, and if holy relics or a myrrh-streaming icon arrive in any city from afar, they stand in queues for many days, so that with their own eyes see the shrine. The inquisitive minds of our time, with their usual incredulity, turned to the same sociologists and with their help found out something. As it turned out, a considerable number of Russians who wear a cross and regularly keep Great Lent cannot tell about the history of the emergence of the most important ones, such as the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Ascension, the Annunciation and the Trinity. The history of the holiday, whatever it may be, should be known to those who celebrate it. Otherwise, one has to doubt: is it not a simple tribute to fashion, all that is given out by many Russians for religiosity?

History of the Holy Trinity

Despite the long-suffering biography of our country, Russians have preserved many religious and other traditions forever. One of the most significant calendar - the Trinity. The history of the holiday and its origins were somewhat unexpected. Few people know that this holiday "stepped" into Orthodoxy ... from ancient religions! And not only Slavic, but also Hebrew!

In both beliefs of our distant ancestors, it was customary to celebrate the end of spring field work. Among the ancient pagan Slavs, this day was called Semik, and among the Jews who worshiped many gods and celebrated the beginning of the harvesting of bread in Palestine, they called it Pentecost. Later, when the Jews believed in one God and became Jews, the feast of Pentecost took on a new meaning - the clergy announced that this day was marked by the handing over of the tablets to Moses, which took place on the famous And the Slavs who became Orthodox began to celebrate the Trinity in memory of the day when, according to According to legend, the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles. Until that moment, the Lord appeared to people only in his two hypostases - father and son. The very name of the Trinity, as you know, is associated with the trinity of the Son and God the Holy Spirit. By the way, the Jewish name of the Trinity - Pentecost - can often be heard in Russia, because the Holy Spirit appeared to the apostles on the 50th day after Easter.

Leave to posterity

People truly caring for their culture and religion strive to provide future generations with all the knowledge that has been accumulated so far. However, modern life, and this should be recognized, leaves less and less time for studying the spiritual heritage of the people. Therefore, historians, culturologists and religious scholars do not consider it possible to let the process of this knowledge run by itself. In school curricula, culture and religion are now given special attention, and caring teachers are trying their best to instill in children an interest in this area of knowledge. And since one of the most important (but not as popular as Christmas and Easter) Orthodox dates is, in particular, the Trinity, the history of the holiday for children is often presented in an entertaining way. So, in some Russian schools, an annual costume performance dedicated to this holy day is practiced. And many parents who are not devoid of spirituality, bringing their children to the Tretyakov Gallery, do not forget to tell that one of the greatest Orthodox canvases - the icon of Andrei Rublev, painted by him in the 15th century - "Trinity".

The history of a holiday, whatever it may be, is always important and interesting, and therefore we urge everyone: when celebrating this or that celebration - church or secular - ask how, when and why humanity began to consider this date a holiday.

A holiday is celebrated in remembrance of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Christ. It consists of two days, the first of which is dedicated to the glorification of the Most Holy Trinity and the memory of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, and therefore is called the Trinity Day (Holy Trinity), and the second day is in honor of the All-Holy Life-Giving Spirit and is called the Spiritual Day (day of the Holy Spirit). On Trinity Day, after the liturgy, vespers are served, at which prayers are read with kneeling that the Lord send us the grace of the Holy Spirit and commemorate all our departed fathers and brothers.

The Holy Spirit descended on the apostles as they all gathered together in the Zion Upper Room in Jerusalem. Suddenly there was a loud noise from the sky, as if from a rushing strong wind, and this noise filled the whole house in which they were. Then they all saw, as it were, tongues of fire separating, and one fiery tongue rested on each of the apostles. The Holy Spirit descended from heaven gave the apostles the grace of the priesthood for the organization of the Church on earth, strength and intelligence for preaching the Word of God throughout the world. This day is considered the birthday of the New Testament Church and has been solemnly celebrated since ancient times. It was on this day that God showed man the path he should follow. God revealed to people his plan for man and revealed his commandments.
Pentecost is a holiday of nature, a holiday of a joyful future, and what happened on this day speaks of the peace of God and the revelation of the will of God, of man. Victory of good over evil. The descent of the Holy Spirit on the three disciples of Christ marks the day of the establishment of the Church of Christ.

Day of the Holy Trinity. Pentecost. The holiday is called the Day of the Holy Trinity, since, according to Christian doctrine, from the moment the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles, the third Hypostasis (Person) of the Triune God opened up and the participation of the Three Persons of the Godhead - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the salvation of man began in full. Even in apostolic times, the celebration of the Day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit was established, but the holiday officially entered the Christian calendar only at the end of the fourth century, when the Church adopted the dogma of the Trinity at the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in 381.

The holiday in remembrance of the great event of the descent of the Holy Spirit was established by the apostles. After the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit, they began to celebrate the Day of Pentecost every year and commanded all Christians to remember this event (1 Cor. 16:8; Acts 20:16). In the Apostolic decrees it is commanded to celebrate Pentecost: “Ten days after the Ascension, there is the fiftieth day from the first day of the Lord (Easter); this day shall be a great feast. For at the third hour of this day the Lord sent the gift of the Holy Spirit.” And the feast of Pentecost, called the Day of the Holy Spirit, was solemnly celebrated by the Church from the earliest times. A special triumph was attached to it by the custom of the ancient Church to perform the baptism of the catechumens on this day (hence the singing at the liturgy of the feast of “Elitsy baptized into Christ”). In the 4th century, Saint Basil the Great composed kneeling prayers, which are read to this day at the festive vespers. In the 8th century, Saints John of Damascus and Cosmas of Maium composed many hymns in honor of the feast, which the Church still uses today. In Christian history, the event that took place on the feast of Pentecost was seen as the birth of the church, which is understood as a gathering of people chosen by God, called to keep His word, do His will and do His work in the world and in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The holiday in honor of the Trinity, legalized by the church in the 4th century, was not widespread in ancient Rus' for a long time. In the 14-16 centuries, the cult of the Trinity becomes extremely popular in the Russian lands, and this is due to the activities of Sergius of Radonezh, the most revered saint among the people. He chose the Trinity as his life service, so that by contemplating it "the fear of the hated strife of this world would be overcome." In honor of the Holy Trinity, the Monk Sergius in 1345 consecrated the monastery, founded by him for the monks-schema, who usually lived in seclusion. Starting with the monastery of Sergius of Radonezh, the veneration of the Holy Trinity quickly spread throughout Rus'. From the middle of the 14th century, the feast of Pentecost was more often called the Trinity Day.

In the church calendar, the feast of the Trinity is considered great, it is inextricably linked with the Ecumenical Saturday (Trinity Saturday), celebrated the day before, and with the following Monday - the day of the Holy Spirit. In significance and solemnity, the celebration of the Trinity was second only to.

The Trinity was revered by the people for a great holiday, they carefully prepared for it: they washed and cleaned houses, prepared dishes for the festive table, and harvested greens. Since ancient times, the custom has been preserved on the feast of Pentecost to decorate temples and dwellings with tree branches, plants and flowers. This custom was observed even in the Old Testament Church on the feast of Pentecost (Lev. 23:10-17). Obviously, the Zion Upper Room was also removed in this way, where the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles on the day of Pentecost. From the apostles and Christians decorate their temples and houses with green tree branches and flowers. The decoration of temples and houses with green branches also reminds of the sacred oak forest of Mamre, where Patriarch Abraham was honored to receive the Triune God under the guise of three wanderers. The trees and flowers of the renewing spring on this day of Divine grace point to the mysterious renewal of our souls by the power of the Holy Spirit and serve as a call to the spiritual renewal of our whole life in Christ the Lord and Savior. The Church believes that the green branch is a symbol of renewed spring and, at the same time, a symbol of the renewal of people by the power of the descending Holy Spirit. In honor of this holiday, priests often dress in green phelonions, and church utensils are decorated with light green fabrics and ribbons. On the Trinity, as well as on Christmas, Candlemas, Easter, candles are made and consecrated in the church.

Today is an Orthodox church holiday:

Tomorrow is a holiday:

Holidays expected:
03.03.2019 -
04.03.2019 -
05.03.2019 -

It happened on the tenth day after the Ascension of Jesus Christ. Jerusalem was festively decorated, many guests from all over the world flocked to the big Jewish holiday. The city rejoiced. Only the disciples of Christ kept to themselves: they prayed to God. On the morning of that day, a strange sound was heard in the house where they were praying, resembling the noise of a strong wind, and after a while, flames appeared over the heads of those present. Frightened and weak a moment ago, they gained wisdom and strength in the blink of an eye. The disciples of Christ also received the opportunity to openly glorify God in all languages that they still did not understand. They received the gift to perform miracles and heal the sick with God's help. And they received all this from the Holy Spirit that descended on them on that great day.

A crowd gathered around the disciples of Jesus, and they - the apostles (that is, ambassadors, messengers) preached the teachings of the Son of God and glorified Jesus. Many then believed in Christ as in God, and were baptized. From that day - the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit - the Christian faith began to spread rapidly throughout the world, the apostles preached the Teachings of Christ throughout the earth and told about his sufferings for people and the resurrection from the dead.

The descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles is celebrated by the Orthodox as the day of the Holy Trinity. It is one of the most important Christian holidays, one of the twelve. The very concept of the Trinity embodies the image of God, one in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. The second name of the holiday is Pentecost, due to the fact that it occurs on the fiftieth day after Easter.

Interestingly, this beautiful Orthodox holiday in Rus' began to be celebrated only three hundred years after the rite of baptism, which led the country to Orthodoxy.

The history of the Trinity holiday before Christianity

As often happened in history, the new religion did not reject the old customs, but attracted the old rites to its side, "dressing them in new clothes." It is known that in pre-Christian Rus', the Slavs celebrated the arrival of summer with the pagan holiday Triglav or Semik. And here there was a "trinity". According to pagan Slavic beliefs, everything (and everyone) on Earth was ruled by three gods: Svyatovit - the god of gods, the keeper of light, the god of war and victory; Svarog - the creator of the Universe; Perun is a warrior and defender of truth.

The Holy Trinity is one of the most important Christian holidays. It marks not only the miracle of the appearance of the Holy Spirit, but also the emergence of the Christian church as such. In Russia, the Trinity is especially revered; it falls on the fiftieth day after Easter, just at the time when nature enters its summer cycle and everything rejoices in renewal and new life.

Church. Start

On one of the hot days, after the Ascension of Christ, the apostles gathered in one of the upper rooms of Jerusalem. That day became significant not only for them, but for all subsequent Christian culture and tradition. On this day, the apostles were initiated by the Holy Spirit “Suddenly there was a noise from heaven, as if from a rushing strong wind, and filled the whole house where they were. And divided tongues appeared to them, as if of fire, and rested one on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:2-4). Thus, on this day in the Zion chamber, the triune God appeared in his third incarnation - the Holy Spirit, hence the name - the Feast of the Holy Trinity.

Pentecost in the Old Testament

Why is the second name of the holiday - Pentecost? The thing is that it was on the 50th day after Easter that the apostles gathered in the same house on Mount Zion where the Last Supper was held. They did not meet there by chance. There was Pentecost, only not yet Christian, but Old Testament. This day was the 50th day of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt, when Moses received the tablets of commandments. Most of the apostles were in Jerusalem, as they say, not local, but according to the covenant of Christ, they could not leave the city. The fact that the rite of initiation of the apostles of Christ took place on this very day is deeply symbolic. This is how the Father-Son-Spirit trinity was formed, which became for any Christian the same Holy Trinity.

Non-working Monday

Before the Revolution of Spirits, the day following Trinity, which fell on Sunday, was a non-working day. The patriarchal peasantry believed that the earth is consecrated on Spirits Day, and therefore it is not necessary to dig it up especially, it is better to work on the earth tomorrow, on the 3rd day of the Trinity. Instead, they went to the temple, because there they could experience the manifestation of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Thus, it was a non-working Monday, which in our time seems to be an oxymoron, and this could not but cause additional respect for the working population for the Christian holiday.

Flowers and colors

Trinity is an incredibly beautiful holiday. On this day, churches are decorated in a special way. Parishioners come to the temple with flowers. Interestingly, bouquets of flowers also carry the symbolism of the Trinity: white as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, red - a symbol of the blood of Christ, blue - a symbol of the Heavenly Father. Green, which is the dominant color of the Trinity, symbolizes life and prosperity.

Trinity and Semik

In Russia, the feast of the Holy Trinity has merged with the Slavic folk holiday Semik, absorbing many pagan rites, mainly associated with the veneration of the spirits of herbs, trees and flowers. Therefore, on the Trinity it was customary to decorate houses with greenery, to dance around a birch.
On Thursday before Trinity, they baked pies, flat cakes, kurniki, scrambled eggs, noodles, cooked poultry stew. Then they went to the forest with these dishes, spread tablecloths under the trees, ate and drank beer. Choosing a branchy birch, the youth divided into pairs and curled wreaths without breaking off branches from the tree. On Trinity Day, they again went into the forest to develop wreaths. Each couple, finding their wreath, judged their future happiness, which depended on whether the wreath withered or not, faded or still green. The overlapping traditions of paganism and Christianity make Trinity a very special holiday.

Walking among the people

Trinity is a holiday celebrated by the whole world. Before the revolution, the Trinity was the day of "the king's going to the people." The sovereign was walking in royal attire: he was wearing the “royal dress” (purple), the royal “stand caftan”, a crown, barmas, a pectoral cross and a sash; in the hand - the royal staff; on his feet - shoes, strung with pearls and stones. The crowned pilgrim was supported under the arms by two stewards. They were surrounded by a brilliant retinue of boyars dressed in golden feryazi. The procession entered the Assumption Cathedral. Ahead of the procession, the attendants carried a bunch of flowers (“broom”) and a “leaf” (woody, without stems) on the carpet. The royal exit was announced by a booming ringing from Ivan the Great; the ringing stopped when the sovereign took his royal place. The festive service began. The women's part of the court on the Trinity week joined the folk traditions. Princesses with hawthorns had fun in the palace with round dance games. Special spacious halls were set aside for games. Here were also the “foolish tricksters”, bahari, domrachei and goose with buffoons assigned to the princesses, all who were supposed to deliver “fun” and “fun ideas”. The princesses were amused by the hay girls, the "igresses", who - probably - "played" the same songs that were heard at that time under the birch trees over the water throughout Rus'.

Not about life

According to popular tradition, no physical labor can be done on the Holy Trinity, with the exception of some household work. You can feed and water domestic animals, livestock and poultry. However, it is impossible to clean, comb and clean, that is, to do "dirty" work.
Also, you can not sew, wash, cut, cut your hair, clean the house, dig the ground, plant plants. In no case can not mow the grass, cut down trees. Trinity is a special holiday. During the days of the Trinity week, our connection with the heavenly world is unusually thin, both Orthodoxy and the pre-Christian Slavic tradition speak of this. This is the time when we are given a chance. For Christians - a chance of the grace of the Holy Spirit.