The onset of autumn brought abundant, well-fed days to the Slavic tribes, when it was time to pay tribute to the family and home, honor the memory of ancestors and enlist the favor of forces from another, other world.
Semargl - Earth Fire Day
On the first day of September on the Slavic lands, it was customary to honor one of the incarnations of the god Semargl - earthly, home fire. People saw in him a force, akin to heavenly fire, which could both drive out evil spirits, give food, and punish those guilty with fires. The Slavs represented the fiery god in the form of a winged wolf or dog and believed that on his holiday he descends to earth to receive worship and sacrifices from people.
Earthly fire performed many functions in the economy of our ancestors. He worked in a smithy, providing peaceful peasants with various tools and warriors with weapons. He cleared all the old things from the accumulated negative energy. People who jumped over the fire and pets carried next to it got rid of damage, the evil eye or common diseases with its help. The fire of the funeral pyre with smoke carried the souls of the dead to Iriy, and the flame on the altars sent human offerings and requests for help to the gods in heaven.
On the day of the holiday, the Magi kindled a new earthly fire from a heavenly spark, which, according to legend, Semargl brought to earth on his wings. To appease the flame, it was supposed to be "fed" and "given to drink" with sacrificial offerings. After the ceremony was held in the meadow near the village, a general feast was served, to which each family brought different food. After the meal, the women and children carried away a piece of the new fire to their homes, while the men traditionally stayed for the council, where the urgent problems of the community were solved.
In the houses, meanwhile, the ritual part of the celebration continued. The hostesses with a broom from the branches of wormwood drove out into the street the insects that had bothered over the summer, saying: "Shoot, flies, to Selukha, and fleas to Yavdokha." The broom was then placed outside the threshold to prevent the flies and fleas from returning. From the day of Semargl, according to signs, the complete extinction of various midges began and the house was cleared of it. From the fire brought from the temple, candles were lit, which were supposed to protect the economy from misfortune, and the flame in the hearth, which should be kindled, without taking your eyes off the flame, so as not to miss the luck. The fire in the hearth was considered one of the family gods who regularly guarded the happiness and peace of the house and its inhabitants, gave them prosperity and helped them in difficult times.
Promotional video:
September 8 Rozhanitsy - The beginning of Indian summer
On the eighth day of autumn, the Rozhanitsy holiday came to the Slavs, and with it the beginning of Indian summer - warm sunny days, reminiscent of a bygone summer and dedicated to female power. It was believed that the goddesses Rozhanitsy not only founded the heavenly clan, but also the clan of earthly foremothers descended from them. In a patriarchal society, Slavic women were given their own, honorable place: it did not occur to our ancestors to assert that they were second-class creatures. The man was the main one in solving tribal issues and in the war, his mother or wife - in the family and in the household. Even ritual and magical practices often had a "masculine" or "feminine" orientation, and each was irreplaceable in its own way.
At dawn on the day of Rozhanitsy, all the women of the community went to the temple, to the idols of the goddesses, who were portrayed as mother and daughter, or as moose cows. It is interesting that, depending on the age of the Slav, they chose different festive outfits. The girls were supposed to have white dresses, they loosened their braids and decorated their hair with wreaths. Women in their prime of childbearing age dressed brightly, complemented hats and clothing with jewelry - beads, pendants, embroidered belts. And the elderly, in order to emphasize their closeness to the transition to the other world, wore clothes in dark colors, without embroidery and jewelry. And the gifts brought to the goddesses were different: girls carried wreaths and bouquets of wildflowers, married Slav women - drinks, fruits and vegetables, and old women - a variety of pastries - bread and pies.
It was not the priest who was trusted to kindle the sacrificial fire on this day, but the eldest woman in the village - the big woman. At the same time, it was supposed to sing ritual songs dedicated to the Rozhanitsy and the Slavic Foremothers. One specially baked sacrificial loaf was sent into the flame of a kindled fire, and the other, the same large, was divided into chunks and distributed to all participants in the ritual. A special role in the holiday was assigned to pregnant women: it was believed that on this day and beyond, throughout the entire period of Indian summer, they could heal women's diseases and infertility, perform small everyday miracles and predict the future. After the rituals in the temple, the women of the community began a funny ritual, which tells how much they had been annoyed by various midges throughout the past summer - “the burial of a fly”. The caught insect with songs was laid in a "coffin" made of carrots,in a long procession they carried them outside the outskirts and solemnly buried them in the grave.
And while their relatives performed all the necessary rituals, the men were engaged in household chores. On Rozhanitsy, they took the entire economy into their own hands in order to pay respect to female deities and their mothers, wives and sisters.
September 14 Shift - From Warm to Winter
In mid-September, nature turned towards winter, and the Slavs celebrated the Shift - the day when the earth "shifted" from the hot summer season to the cold. At this time, the birds flew to warm lands, and our ancestors believed that some of them fly directly to Iriy, and can convey the message to their ancestors. The cuckoo was the first to fly away, because according to legend it was she who kept the keys to the heavenly gates. On the day of the holiday, it was customary to turn to the ancestors, remember them, ask them for advice. Mothers who lost their children early believed that the birds would bring hello and motherly love to the departed. And those who wanted to continue the race asked the storks to bring them a child's soul on their wings in the spring, which would incarnate in a newborn baby.
At the end of the month, September 25, the Slavs honored two deities at once. One of them was the autumn incarnation of the Sun - Svetovid. He was depicted as a four-faced man, whose different faces looked to the past and the future, to heaven and earth. This stern god made sure that the laws of Rule were observed in all worlds, so that the order of universal existence was not violated. If the harmony of the world was broken somewhere, he came to the aid of the offended and severely punished those who disobey the will of heaven.
Svetovid was considered one of the patrons of warriors, and he helped them not only in battle, but also in peacetime. According to legend, he came to earth on a white horse at dawn and fought tirelessly against the enemies of the day. Therefore, in the temple near the idol of Svetovid, they constantly kept the best white horse, and next to it - a saddle and harness. Only the Magi had the right to take care of the horse, feed it and take it for a walk, so that it does not stagnate and is always
ready to serve his heavenly rider. A rooster was considered a bird dedicated to Svetovid, and on the day of the holiday at the temple he was sacrificed to the god of the autumn sun.
Another deity who was honored on this day was Ovsen, the distributor of material wealth and the organizer of the unity of Slavic families. Ovsen was revered as a kind of bridge from summer to summer, its celebration was associated with the end of agricultural work, with the beginning of community holidays and the wedding season.
They portrayed the god in the form of a richly dressed horseman, carrying rich fruits of the harvest in his right hand, and dry grass and branches in his left. Ovsen generously endowed the industrious and honest with wealth, and punished the dishonest and sloths with poverty and troubles.
A rich feast was certainly arranged on Ovsen, the main decoration of which was a huge, specially baked kalach. It symbolized the wealth of the Slavic community and at the same time - the strong and wise autumn sun that brings people a harvest. According to the signs, after Ovsen there were fewer and fewer clear days, prolonged rains began and autumn finally came into its own.
Ekaterina Kravtsova