It's gotten a little colder, but I can still feel that SPRING is here. Even the storks flew in on Monday. But it's no wonder, because today is the day of the vernal equinox, which means that SPRING has spread its green wings over the landscape and MORENA have to go.
Until the spring equinox, we can talk about the period when the ceremonies were mostly dedicated to the god SVAROG and LADA, but this period - the time of Komodice - is filled not only with expectation, but with a real perception of change. A few days before the spring equinox, the Strinenia ceremony was celebrated - the ceremony of welcoming the birds. Clay bird figurines were rubbed with honey and sprinkled with grain and displayed in the yard in front of the stable or in the orchard. As part of this ceremony, bread or grain was thrown into the air with the cry: "Birds are flying, Vesna will come soon".
After this ceremony, spring cleaning could begin, where not only dirt was removed, but all the evil that had accumulated in the family during the winter and throughout the year was swept away along with the dust. After thorough cleaning and washing, the dwellings used to be fumigated.
On the day of the arrival of VESNA, i.e. on the day of the spring equinox, a white tablecloth was spread on the table and the house was decorated with willow twigs - mud pots, but also birch and hazel twigs covered with buds. Such twigs were stuck on the edges of fields or gardens on this day and served as protection and sanctification of the future harvest. During this day, mostly green foods were eaten, such as fried rice with nettles and spinach. Ceremonial butter, which had magical and healing properties, was also churned on this day. The climax of this day was the start of painting Easter eggs and especially the preparation of a straw puppet - MORENA, which then waited on the oven until Death Sunday, a holiday originally called Provoda.
The Provoda - Death Sunday and the farewell ceremony with MORENA usually followed the new moon following the vernal equinox (this year we don't have such a new moon and the full moon follows). This full moon after the vernal equinox governed and calculated many lunar circle holidays, and this full moon day was dedicated to the goddess CHORS, and after that this sacred season of celebrating the arrival of spring culminated with Easter, a holiday closely associated with the progenitor Rod, the originator of everything. Its symbol, as well as the symbol of this entire period, is an egg, which also symbolizes rebirth and new life.
In the form of painted Easter eggs among the Eastern Slavs, also called Easter eggs. Kraslice is an integral part of the spring holidays. Other symbols that we can meet in this period are willow or birch twigs, which were used to decorate dwellings in this period. Last but not least, the symbolism of this spring period includes lambs and just-hatched chicks as symbols of birth, or a hare was also used as a symbol of fertility.
But before that Holly DAY (Christian Easter) comes, MORENA must be escorted to Nav. The function and course of the ceremony have not changed over the centuries. The procession takes the MORENA figurine beyond the village to the stream, where it is ritually set on fire or thrown into the water. Previously, a magic ritual with an egg was also performed in the sanctuary. This ritual consisted in the fact that the priest rolled the figure with an egg, which was supposed to transfer diseases, weaknesses, bad thoughts or vows to the egg. Everyone carried this egg from the sacred grove or other ceremonial place to the place where Morena was burned and drowned. When the goddess was ceremonially thrown into a stream or set on fire, these eggs were thrown behind her or into a dummy so that the evil transferred into the egg would take Morena with her to the underworld.
I wish you that the arrival of VESNA will bring new strength to your life and that MORENA will take all your pains, ailments and diseases with her when she leaves.
