Pagan cults were present in the life of the Slavs until the 9th-12th centuries, that is, before the adoption of Christianity in Russia. The Lada holiday belongs to this particular era. Some ancestral traditions have survived to this day.
The ancient Slavs celebrated Lada (Ladodenie) holidays 6 times a year. They were dedicated to the goddess of the Slavic pantheon, who is the patroness of spring, love, marriage, sowing and harvesting.
The first holiday, opening the cycle of celebrations, was celebrated on March 30, the last on September 8. Between these two dates, Lada was recalled on Krasnaya Gorka, during the beginning of field work, with the first shoots and harvesting.
Some researchers believe that Lada is one of the two goddesses who give birth. The same deities are present in the pantheons of almost all Indo-European peoples.
Before starting the cultivation of the fields, the peasants always turned to Ladushka - as they affectionately called the goddess. Spring and summer prayers for rain, the holidays of the first greens and the last ears of corn are associated with her name. Lada and her daughter Lelnik were asked permission to call the spring.
The holiday was traditionally accompanied by special ceremonies celebrating the awakening nature. Women climbed hills, rooftops, and tall haystacks. There they raised their hands to the sky and called upon the spring sun to shine brighter and warm up hotter. Cranes were baked from the dough, which they not only feasted on, but also used as amulets. The birds were placed on high places so that they protect the house from any adversity.
Boys and girls performed round dances and dedicated them to the goddess. Brides and grooms turned to Lada with a request to send them prosperity in a future marriage. Often the decision about the wedding was made in the middle of summer, the celebration itself was celebrated after the end of the field work. The glorification of Lada ended after harvesting the loaves.
A legend is connected with the holiday, according to which birds fly from the Slavic paradise on this day. It was believed that you need to imitate the dancing of birds - to be koben. This ancient rite is associated with the return of the solar power of life to earth.
Now the holiday of Lada, like many other celebrations of the ancient Slavs, is celebrated by some people only as a tribute to the traditions of their ancestors. It lost its distribution with the arrival of Christianity in Russia. The old gods were replaced by new ones, most of the pagan beliefs and customs remained in the distant past.
