Let's find out! What date is Honey Spas? What date and month did the honey save?

A major church holiday is approaching, celebrated annually in August. Do you know what date the Honey Savior is in 2018, what customs and traditions this event is associated with? Do you know how it was customary for our ancestors to celebrate Makovei? This article will answer all your questions!

According to the Gregorian calendar August 14, 2018 On Tuesday the Orthodox world celebrates Honey Spas. If you are wondering what date this event took place before, then know that Macovei was celebrated on August 1st. Since ancient times, it has been believed that this date represents a certain milestone, after which honey can no longer be collected. Therefore, on this day there is an intensive collection of the most delicious and healthy sweets on Earth.

Beekeepers diligently pump more honey from the hives, which, it is believed, becomes especially tasty and healthy on Honey Day. You can eat the sweet delicacy only after consecration in the temple.

How to celebrate Honey Spas in 2018

This event is a great occasion to give your loved ones a glass “barrel” with a delicious delicacy. Our ancestors brewed mead - a weak alcoholic drink based on natural honey. The tradition of baking honey cakes and gingerbreads, which can then be served, has not been forgotten.

What date is Honey Spas in 2018 (the holiday falls on August 14)

As in the old days, in 2018 honey is consecrated in churches - liquid and in honeycombs. The custom of making honey offerings for the elderly and children, as well as everyone who asks for alms, has been preserved. A proverb has reached our times that says that on this blessed day “even a beggar will certainly eat honey.”

According to a long-standing Christian tradition, the Assumption Fast begins on August 14th. This means that there should be no meat or fish dishes on the holiday table of believers. Only vegetable oil is added to the butter dough, not “small” butter.

Rituals of the Savior on Water

The ancient church holiday has a second name: Savior on Water. The fact is that the clergy conduct a ceremony of blessing the waters of the surrounding lakes. Some parishioners specifically for these purposes are interested in the date of the Honey Savior in 2018, and then prepare wells.

There is a belief that touching dew drops on the first Savior brings health and longevity, relieves mental and physical pain, fills the body with positive energy, and relieves the burden of sins. You need to keep in mind that after Wet Spas it is not recommended to swim in rivers and lakes - the water no longer absorbs the sun’s heat, becomes cooler and blooms in places.

Only in First Spas you can carry out the following healing procedure without harm and with health benefits: eat a spoonful of honey and wash it down with three sips of ice-cold water from a spring. A person who does this is guaranteed vigor and an extraordinary surge of strength. On ordinary days, such a ritual can lead to a cold.

Since ancient times, the most numerous rituals have been performed on this day near the beehives. Early in the morning, beekeepers inspected the bee houses and noted those that were more filled with honey than others. From such “rich” hives, honeycombs were selected and taken to the temple to be blessed. Using this “lucky” honey, all other honey in the apiary was blessed and a festive dinner was prepared. The peasants gave part of the holy lunch to the poor, who came to them with congratulations.

Makovey - prosperity and well-being in the home

In addition to fragrant honey, poppy seeds became an indispensable attribute of the festival. For this reason, the third name of the Honey Savior is Makovei. On the table, next to the dishes from the “gifts of the bees,” there are delicacies with poppy seeds: bagels, buns, rolls, various salads and hot dishes using poppy seeds.

Our ancestors held millet porridge in high esteem, to which they added raisins, honey, nuts and, of course, poppy seeds. This kind of eating is called “sochivo”. Along with honey, it was customary to illuminate poppy seeds. Having found out what date the Honey Savior was, people used the chance to protect their homes from the evil eye and damage, to attract prosperity and happiness to the house. To do this, you need to scatter poppy seeds, previously consecrated in the church, around the perimeter of the home.

Folk signs on Honey Spas

There are many beliefs and superstitions that have developed over the past centuries. Some of them have lost their significance, while others remained relevant for Honey Spas in August 2018:

• If clouds roll in and precipitation falls on the day of the holiday, don’t expect fires. Or there will be very few of them.
• The first Savior saved the harvest. Winter crops need to be sown only from the day of Makovei, it is impossible earlier - there will be no harvest.
• With the first spoon of blessed honey, you can make a wish - it will certainly come true.
• To completely heal the body and attract good luck into your life, you should drink a spoonful of honey with three sips of water from a spring or well.

The Dormition Fast is a tradition that was established already in the first centuries of Christianity and was already recognized. This time, like other annual long fasts, is blessed by the Church to prepare for the great holiday spiritually and physically. During the Dormition Fast we honor the Most Holy Theotokos. At this time there are a number of holidays that are designed to emphasize the meaning of fasting and recall important events in the history of the Church.

Holiday in Lent

Many church holidays have become truly popular, signs have been associated with them, people have begun to bring certain seasonal fruits for consecration, that is, God’s blessing in the church, and to pray for certain things related to the holiday.

Unlike Great Lent and Peter's Lent, Uspensky Lent has immutable, fixed dates. According to the new style, it begins on August 14 and lasts only 2 weeks, ending on the 28th of the same month with the Feast of the Assumption (the last day of fasting is August 27).

The time of the Dormition Fast is marked by three Lord's (in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ) holidays, which have become both church and folk ritual: the Origin of the Honest Trees of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, the middle - the Transfiguration of the Lord, and ends with the memory of the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands.

August 19 - Transfiguration of the Lord, Apple Savior. This is the most important holiday of the Lord, one of the annual twelve great holidays of the Church. On this day, Jesus Christ was transformed and shone before the disciples, so Christians often put the image of the “Savior in Powers,” where the Lord is depicted in shining robes, in the main place in the house and in the temple in the absence of a festive icon of the Transfiguration. During the Liturgy on this day, apples are blessed (according to Russian tradition, grapes were originally blessed in Byzantium), which is why the holiday has such a name.

August 29 is the Third, Bread or Nut Savior, the day of remembrance of the transfer of the Image of Christ Not Made by Hands from Edessa to Constantinople. On this day, the harvest of grain was completed and the nuts were ripened, for the collection of which the peasants received a blessing. After the Liturgy, homemade bread and pies baked from flour of the new harvest were blessed.

Honey or Wet Spas

August 14 - Finding and honoring (in Cernovo-Slavic - Origin) of the Tree of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. This holiday is celebrated on the first day of the Dormition Lent. It is also called Honey Spas. By August 14, in the territory of Slavic countries, honeycombs are usually filled with honey and its collection begins, for which they are blessed with a special prayer. The first cut honeycombs were brought in a beautiful, clean container to the temple after the morning service - the Liturgy. Then a prayer service was performed over them for the consecration of the fruits of the earth. Traditionally, people held lit candles in bouquets of flowers, including poppies. After consecration, they were placed next to the icons in the red corner of the house - near the home iconostasis.

Also, Honey Savior was called Wet Savior (according to peasant tradition, on this day they cleaned wells and performed water blessing prayers over them), another name for the holiday is Savior on Water. On this day, as well as on the Trinity Day, folk festivities took place near rivers and lakes.

Signs of the Feast of the Honey Savior

For the Slavic peoples, this day meant farewell to summer. After August 14, the weather will become colder, the days will become shorter, and the nights will become starry in autumn. Also, after the Honey Savior, the Slavs began sowing winter crops: according to signs, if you start sowing them earlier, expect a crop failure. And according to popular belief, swimming on this day will wash away all sins.

Perhaps this belief is due to the fact that during all Orthodox fasts it is customary to begin the Sacrament of Unction. It should not be confused with the anointing of oil, which is performed during the All-Night Vigil (an evening service held every Saturday and before church holidays) and is a symbolic blessing of the Church.

During Lent, unction is given to everyone, even those who are healthy in body, and those who are seriously ill all year - if necessary, even at home. This is the Sacrament of healing soul and body. It is aimed at cleansing from unconfessed sins (this is especially important to do before death) and healing the disease.
God bless you!

In 2018, the Honey Savior is celebrated on August 14th. Every year, regardless of the day of the week, it is celebrated on this day. It was at the end of the last summer month that the most delicious holidays fell.

Spas (a shortened form of the word Savior, Jesus Christ) are three summer holidays dedicated to Christ: Honey Spas, Apple Spas and Third Spas. People traditionally celebrate Honey Spas on August 14th.

This is the first of three Spas. On this day, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of the Origin (destruction) of the trees of the Cross of the Lord. The holiday falls on the first day of the Dormition Lent.

In Russian Orthodox villages, the first Savior was celebrated without much pomp - at this time the peasant has no time for festivities: he needs to mow, and plow, and sow. But a number of traditions were observed. On August 14, they began to collect poppies.

On this day, the strict two-week Assumption Fast began. They organized so-called “orphans’ and widows’ aid,” when the whole world helped the poorest and weakest residents of the village.

Initially, Honey Spas was a day for collecting honey from the pagan Slavs. The Orthodox Church decided to pay tribute to the pagan roots of the Slavs by calling the holiday of the Origin of the Honest Trees of the Life-Giving Cross the Honey Savior.

From this day forward it is forbidden to eat meat. In accordance with church rules, you can only eat vegetables, fruits and, of course, honey. This holiday in Rus' was also called the Wet Savior, the Savior on Water, the First Savior.

As with any other multi-day fast, it is forbidden to watch entertainment programs on television and it is forbidden to lead an excessively idle lifestyle.

Still, this is a time of abstinence, which should lead you to enlightenment, make you be closer to God, to the truth of the Lord. We need to pray more, “communicate” with the Lord more.

Traditions of Honey Spas

Pagan and Christian traditions do not overlap now, but complement each other. They are mainly related to honey and honey collection:

• On August 14, it is customary to start honey harvesting. Honey can be blessed in church;
• in churches on Honey Savior they bless water in small quantities;
• Since ancient times in Rus', wells have been blessed on this holiday;
• people have always believed that on Honey Day, summer begins to gradually recede, losing its strength, giving way to autumn;
• On August 14 there is a tradition to sow winter crops;
• On First Spas it is customary to visit each other and treat each other with various delicacies.

This day is full of various signs that the church does not approve of, but does not prohibit mentioning them. For example, on August 14, you can judge by the weather what the next summer will be like.

If it is warm and clear, then the summer of next year will also be warm and favorable, and the harvest will be plentiful. Otherwise the situation will be the opposite.

This is a very important day for everyone who honors church and folk holidays. The importance of the Honey Savior for all people cannot be denied. This is a time of prayer, joy and the beginning of the two-week Dormition Fast, which ends with the holiday

Folk signs on Honey Spas

The Savior has everything in stock: rain, wind, buckets, and different weather conditions.

According to popular belief, summer ends today. And autumn begins. If you believe the weather, then it is so. There are two more salvations ahead for the Orthodox - “Apple” and “Nut”.

By the way, beekeepers, according to custom at Honey Spas, must treat everyone with fresh honey in order to get a rich harvest next year. So don't miss the chance to enjoy yourself.

For the first time, the Savior and the beggar will try the honey.

In most areas, early sowing of winter rye began. Rye should not be sown in wet weather or rain.

If during raspberry ripening the first berries are large, rye should be sown earlier; For small berries, mid or late sowing of rye is better.

On First Spas, pinch the peas. The raspberries are ripening. Harvesting wild raspberries and bird cherry berries begins. Rain on Makavea - there are few fires. Poppies are collected on Macabei.

The first Spas is the beginning of the Assumption Fast (until August 28), about which they say: Spasovka is a gourmet meal, and Petrovka (Petrovsky Fast) is a hunger strike. Swallows and swifts fly off to First Spas.

Roses are fading, cold dew is falling. This day was also called the Wet Savior, religious processions to the water were held everywhere, and after the blessing of water they bathed themselves and for the last time this year they bathed all livestock.

On the First Savior, holy the wells.

They hurried to collect ripe bird cherry berries - an excellent remedy with astringent, diuretic and diaphoretic properties, used for gastrointestinal diseases.

In the Urals and Siberia, cedar trees begin to be pine-picked from the first Savior.

Honey for Honey Spas

Beekeeping has been practiced in Rus' since ancient times. Honey and honeycombs are considered one of the most healing phenomena of nature. Honey is an excellent Lenten dish.

If you don’t know what you will eat during Lent, then think about the fact that bread with honey or honey with tea is an excellent option for a light breakfast. The healing properties of honey still surprise scientists and delight ordinary people who eat honey with spoons.

The most delicious and fragrant variety of honey is linden honey, golden in color and with a subtle, sweet smell of linden flowers. Fresh honey is viscous, sweet and fragrant.

Flower honey is prefabricated honey collected by hardworking bees from a wide variety of flowers in fields, gardens and vegetable gardens. Flower honey has a rich, amber color and a thick, spicy aroma.

There is also honey collected by bees with the color of buckwheat - buckwheat honey. This honey is not for everybody, because... it has a dark color and a specific taste.

And there is also mountain honey from mountain herbs growing in completely clean air and clean mountain soil. There is also fireweed honey from fireweed flowers, acacia honey, taiga honey, sainfoin honey...Birch honey, monastery honey, intoxicating honey, princely honey, prefabricated honey, white honey, red honey...

How to distinguish good honey from bad

Not entirely simple, but not incredibly difficult either: fake honey - “linden” - is just a sweet, slightly viscous substance.

Most often, fake honey is sold by gypsies who go door to door offering “the most natural honey in the world” and who “produce” their fake “honey” from molasses (a mixture of molasses and sugar cooked over a fire) only slightly diluted with real honey only for appearance's sake.

Very often, irresponsible honey sellers deceive people like this: molasses on the bottom, and a little honey on top. So, when buying honey at the market, be vigilant and it is best to buy honey from a seller who also sells honeycombs and many different types of honey, and lets you try honey, and agrees to pour honey straight from the vessel from which you tried it .

It’s quite easy to distinguish good honey from fake honey if you’ve eaten real honey at least once in your life.

So, when you try real honey, it is not only sweet, not only has a homogeneous, viscous, sticky consistency, not only does it smell pleasantly of flowers, linden, buckwheat or something else, but once it hits your tongue, it immediately begins to “bite” it. ", "corrode", pinch - this fructose is broken down along with enzymes.

It is noteworthy that before the Honey Savior, Orthodox Christians (and now conscious ones too) did not eat honey from the new harvest. But last year’s honey could be eaten even before the Honey Savior.

The same is true with apples, grapes, and pears of the new harvest - they could not be eaten until the Apple Savior. Except for those apples or pears that miraculously survived in the cellar from last year.

Before the Nut Spas, you cannot eat new, fresh nuts, be it walnuts or hazelnuts, hazelnuts, hazel, pine nuts, almonds.

What did you usually eat before at Honey Spas?

A variety of dishes, drinks made from honey or just honey. Honey pies made from wheat and honey, kvass from bread and honey, honey gingerbread, honey with fruits...

Honey Savior is also called Makovey, Spasovka or Spasovy Day, Day of Origin, Bee Day. August 14 is called Makovei in memory of Saint Maccabeus.

Therefore, on Honey Spas it is customary to consecrate not only honey, but also water, and also poppy seeds.

In the old fashioned way, various herbs are also blessed in Orthodox churches on Honey Spas - wildflowers, for example, Chernobrivtsy, and medicinal herbs, for example, mint, lemon balm, thyme. Our grandmothers especially like to bless herbs today on the First Water Savior - they don’t have money for honey, so they, the poor, bless fragrant herbs...

If you have run out of holy water at home, then do not forget this Friday, August 14, 2013, to take a bottle of water with you, buy fresh, new honey and poppy seeds in advance to dedicate them in the church and worthily begin the Dormition Fast.

If possible, it is worth helping and giving to the poor, orphans and widows on August 14 (there used to be even widows’ and orphans’ nights, when peasants helped orphans and widows for free with harvesting and general housework) in order to receive God’s forgiveness and blessing.

In general, as mentioned above, on the day of the Honey Savior it is customary to share honey with the poor. But for some reason, when I was in church, I didn’t notice that honey was given to the poor with spoons, mostly they were given in money. But this is not entirely correct. Therefore, I recommend both myself and you next year to pour the fresh season’s honey at home in advance into small, small, clean jars, so that you can give the beggar at the Honey Spas not only money, but also honey.

August 14 celebrates the Origin (destruction) of the Honest Trees of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, which is popularly called the Honey Savior.

How the Honey Savior is celebrated

According to the rite now accepted in the Russian Church, on August 14, a small consecration of water is performed before or after the liturgy. Together with the consecration of water, the consecration of honey is performed - the so-called first Honey Savior. From this day forward, the eating of its new harvest is blessed.

Celebration of the Honey Savior

The Honey Savior was widely celebrated in medieval Rus'. This took place with particular solemnity in Moscow, where the procession to the water and the rite of blessing of water took place, which were distinguished by special solemnity, in which the tsar himself participated.

Not only in the cities, but also in the villages of Russia on the Honey Savior, the church organized a solemn removal of the cross, a religious procession was held to reservoirs (rivers, lakes, ponds) and water sources (wells), where prayer services and the blessing of water took place. On this day they paid tribute to water, which is why people called the first Savior “Savior on Water,” Water or Wet.

Traditions of Honey Spas

The peasants believed that from this day on the bees would stop producing honey, so it was necessary to “break the honeycomb”, otherwise the bees from the neighboring hives would take all the honey. To “break out” the first honeycombs in the apiary, the beekeeper dressed in clean clothes, made the sign of the cross, chose the richest hive in terms of honey reserves, after which he “trimmed” the honeycombs and, putting some of it in a new, unused wooden container, took it to the church.

International festival of fire straw sculpture dedicated to the "Honey Savior"

After the liturgy, the priest blessed the honey of the new harvest, and only now was it allowed to be eaten. Part of the blessed honey remained in the church, then the clergy, beggars and children treated themselves. Returning from church, the beekeepers broke their fast with fresh honey, pies with millet porridge and honey, brewed “copper” kvass and treated everyone who came to visit, and in ancient Rus' they baked huge gingerbread bread with the first honey from the first rye flour of the new harvest.

It is customary to start the morning of the Honey Spa with a spoon of holy water on an empty stomach. Honey and poppy seeds are the main attributes of the holiday; they are always brought to church for lighting. And then, housewives begin to bake various delicacies: honey gingerbread, poppy seed pies, make honey-poppy milk (usually pancakes are dipped in it), prepare a honey drink (sbiten), the tables are crowded with culinary masterpieces. Although the dough should be lean, in the hands of a skilled housewife, generously seasoned with aromatic herbs, cocoa, cinnamon and raisins, it acquires an incredible taste.

Folklore ensemble "Ladanka" performs at the celebration of the "Honey Savior"

Signs for Honey Spas

Honey collected for the holiday is the most useful and healing. And if you don’t collect the honey on time and don’t cut out the honeycombs, then the neighbor’s bees will steal all the goods. After the honey is blessed, everyone is generously treated to it, and part of the honey is given to the church. According to custom, when eating the first spoon of honey, you need to make a wish and it will come true. It is believed that the more treats the owner gives, the more hardworking the bees will be next year.

At the exhibition "Honey Spas" at the All-Russian Exhibition Center As a rule, honey fairs are organized at Honey Spas, where beekeepers present various varieties of honey to the attention of buyers. They treat passers-by and tell about the healing properties of the amber delicacy. They also sell honey gingerbread and Easter cakes, and play funny songs. There is an incredible aroma in the square; it is simply impossible to pass by and not buy at least one jar of honey.

The material is compiled from open sources.

In 2019, summer will traditionally send us many amazing warm days and, of course, holidays. One of the most striking of them will be the Honey Spa, sacredly revered by Orthodox citizens.

Honey Spas is always celebrated on August 14, unlike some other celebrations with portable dates. The holiday has several names that have developed for reasons related to events, namely:

1. The first one saved: in August there were only 3 rescues, Honey is the very first.
2. Day of the Seven Holy Maccabean Martyrs: Named after the holy martyrs.
3. Spas on the Water: On this day, as a rule, a procession began to cleanse wells in preparation for autumn and winter.
4. Honey festival: in honor of the end of the summer season and preparation for the harvest, honey was considered one of the main products.
5. Bee Festival: By the time the celebration arrives, the beehives are already filled with sweet treats.
6. Maccovey: During this period, poppy seeds ripen to make milk and use them in baking.

On the bright day of the Honey Savior, it is customary to go to church and illuminate the honey. It is a misconception to simultaneously illuminate apples, which are an “attribute” of the next rescue (Apple). But eating apples with honey is not prohibited - it’s delicious.

Traditions of the Bee Festival among the Orthodox

There are many interesting traditions of the Savior on Water and most of them are connected with honey. Here are some of them:

Contemporaries do not know many traditions, but the constant symbol of the Honey Savior remains Tsar Honey, without whom this celebration and the festive table cannot be held. It’s good when it rains on this day and there is an opportunity to get wet under the holy heavenly drops. It is also recommended to bathe in a consecrated pond on the holiday to avoid illness and family quarrels next year.

Vintage "show programs" on Maccovey

On the Day of the Honey Savior in past years, loud and joyful congratulations were heard everywhere. People adored the wonderful summer holiday and tried to spend it cheerfully and enthusiastically.

In many large cities of Russia large-scale fairs were held, which attracted beekeepers. The main task of visitors is to choose who has the most delicious honey. Other sweets were also sold:

1. Dry shortcakes.
2. Gingerbread.
3. Rugs.
4. Beekeeping products.

Nowadays, also in some regions, the ancient tradition of organizing fairs in the scent of flowers is revered. Here you can purchase a product of any type and variety (brown, white, buckwheat). A holiday is not complete without folk dances, songs, and competitions. Most often, events take place near churches or even in the courtyards of temples.

Visiting the holiday fair in honor of the Honey Savior is an unforgettable pleasure.

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