What did Russian people used to do on Holy Trinity Day?

Traditional Russian holidays marked the calendar change of seasons and the moments of solstice and equinox. On these days, rituals were performed related to a new stage of agricultural work and changes in human life.

The Christian Day of the Holy Trinity is celebrated on the 50th day after Easter. The holiday coincides with the transition from spring to summer and the pagan holiday of Semik or Triglav.

During this period in Old Russia, summer festivities and fortune-telling began. Through ritual songs and dances, the Slavs “programmed” the land for abundant blooming and a bountiful harvest. “Where the girls walked, / There flowers bloomed, / Where the boys walked, / There the rye would be thick,” they used to sing.

Circle dances

It was believed that a circle dance in the fields on Holy Trinity Day endowed the earth with fertile power. Children under 15–16 years old and the elderly were usually not included, only young adults participated. Various kinds of circle dances were performed. For example, in the Voronezh region, the circle dance could last for hours, from noon and almost all night long, to the same song repeated many times.

A protective effigy against mermaids

Before Holy Trinity Day, women had to finish weaving any clothes. Otherwise, they said, a ‘rusalka’ (a fearsome drowned maiden) would “swing on the threads”. In many villages, the week after Trinity was called ‘Rusalnaya nedelya’ (Mermaid Week). It was believed that, during this time, mermaids emerged from the water onto land. This was a period of saying goodbye to spring. According to tradition, a doll was made from rags, dressed in women's clothing and carried around the village with songs and dances. For a week, the mermaid lived among the people.

To appease the drowned maidens, village residents braided birch branches into swings. At the end of the week, the mermaid was “sent off”, i.e. left in the forest or the effigy was burned.

By the way, for a good harvest, in some regions, a ‘jester’ – an effigy – was made from leftover last year's straw and burned at the end of the celebration.

‘Burial of the Cuckoo’

During Trinity Week, in some regions of the country, unmarried girls would tell fortunes to see who would marry first. The ritual was called the ‘Pokhorony kukushki’ (‘Burial of the Cuckoo’). Don't be alarmed! In old Russian, ‘to bury’ meant the same as ‘to hide’. In the Belgorod region, a week before the holiday, a cuckoo was woven out of maple leaves or bulrush grass or simply a stick with ribbons was made. The girls made the cuckoos in secret from the boys and hid the dolls in a tree or buried them in the ground.

During Trinity Week, the cuckoo doll was taken out and sent down a river on a raft, with the words ‘Well, float away!’ uttered or simply thrown into the water. Whichever floated farthest belonged to the one who would marry first.

In Slavic mythology, the image of the cuckoo embodies the souls of the dead who have not lived out their full lifespan.

Decorations from birch branches

The birch tree is rightfully considered the main symbol of Holy Trinity Day. Songs were dedicated to it and it was also known as a “little friend”. Children in the Moscow region would go from house to house with a birch branch decorated with ribbons, paper flowers, eggshells and bells, singing about the curly birch tree and collecting treats.

Houses were also decorated with birch branches. In Udmurtia, they even covered the dinner table with them. In the yard, branches were stuck into the ground, into gates and into the cracks between logs. In the Bryansk region, when a thunderstorm gathered over the village, dry birch branches were burned in the stove to prevent lightning from striking the house.

Orthodox traditions

To this day, Orthodox Holy Trinity Day is celebrated in combination with ancient Slavic traditions. On this day, priests dress in festive green vestments, symbolizing the eternal rebirth of life. Parishioners bring bouquets of herbs and birch branches to the service. After being blessed, they are dried and then used throughout the year as remedies.

On the Don River, they gathered wormwood, thyme, sedge and made brooms from poplar, maple and birch. Children were bathed in water containing these Trinity herbs. In the Voronezh region, herbal bouquets made from lovage, mint, thyme, rye ears and hemp were also used for medicinal infusions.

A full version of this article (in Russian) can be found on the Culture.ru website.