Green week, or the green holidays, is a traditional
Slavic seasonal festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holida ...
celebrated in early June. It is closely linked with the
cult of the dead
The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...
and the spring agricultural rites. In Eastern European villages, the seven weeks following
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
have historically been a time of festivity. Green week takes place during the seventh week leading up to the
Pentecost,
and includes the seventh Thursday after Easter, called Semik.
The green week is followed by Trinity week, also known as the
holiday of the Trinity in
Eastern Christianity. It is also widely known as
Whitsuntide week in the English-speaking world, especially
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
, and is inaugurated by the celebrations of
Trinity Sunday, the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity.
Observance

On Semik (the Thursday of the green week), funeral rites are held for the unclean dead (those who had died before their time).
Birch trees are particularly significant, because they are considered hosts for the souls of the deceased.
Sometimes people honor a particular tree by decorating it or carrying it around. At other times, people cut birch branches and hang them in their homes.
The birch is also seen as a symbol of vegetative power, and may be honored with people's hope that it will bring its vitality to the coming season's crops.
Springtime and fertility rituals are also important to the holiday. Girls bring offerings of fried eggs (a symbol of rebirth) and beer to birches, and
speak charms about improved harvest when weaving garlands for the trees.
Another tradition is for girls to pledge vows of friendship before the chosen birch tree.
Some believe this to be the remnant of ritual sexual activity associated with the cult of spring.
Like
Kostroma during
Maslenitsa, a chosen birch tree is destroyed at the end of the festivities. It is usually drowned,
"in order to provide the needed rainfall for the sprouting crops".
[Joanna Hubbs. ''Mother Russia: The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture''. Indiana University Press, 1998. . Page 73.]
Association with rusalki
The
rusalki
In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalky/rusalki; ; pl, rusałka}) is a typically feminine entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water, with counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as the French Melus ...
are nature spirits (
navki,
mavki) associated with green week traditions. They derived their name from ''Rusalii'', another name for the holidays. Some believe they were associated with deceased family members,
or perhaps only unclean dead.
Sometimes an honored birch tree would be named for a rusalka as part of green week.
Some of the rites of green week (like making offerings of eggs and garlands) were thought to placate the rusalki so they would stay away from the village's agricultural fields for the season and not bring them harm.
The rusalki are also associated with water and fertility, and so may be invoked during green week in an attempt to bring their moisture and vigor to the fields.
During green week, rusalki are believed to be more active, making them a greater threat to villagers.
One precaution villagers take during this week is to avoid swimming, because rusalki are thought to live in the water and could drown passersby.
Related observances
There is a similar holiday celebrating
Pentecost in
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...
, called ''Rusalii''.
There are also similar Germanic traditions, for example, ''Pfingstbaumpflanzen'' in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
. In modern-day
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...
it is celebrated along with Pentecost Sunday as ''Zielone Świątki''.
See also
*
Călușari
References
External links
Holy Trinity Day or Svyata Triytsya and Green Holidays in Ukraine
{{Slavic mythology
Slavic customs
Slavic holidays
Folk calendar of the East Slavs
Pentecost
Observances in Belarus
Observances in Bulgaria
Observances in Russia
Observances in Poland
Observances in Ukraine
Belarusian traditions
Bulgarian traditions
Czech traditions
Polish traditions
Russian folklore
Ukrainian traditions
June observances
Summer events in Ukraine