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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