The heritage and culture of our ancestors is mostly based on the changing seasons and the movement of heavenly bodies, especially the Sun. The Feast of the Spring Equinox (March 21) is no exception and glorifies the arrival of Spring-Vesta, saying goodbye to Winter-Mara.
The Slavs always strived to live in harmony and harmony with Nature and celebrated the days of the changing seasons, since this is the basis of all that exists - a week before the Equinox and a week after.
The day of the Spring Equinox (the beginning of the astronomical spring) had many names - Great Day, Krasnaya Gorka, Great Day, Krasnogor, Komoeditsa. Our ancestors considered this day the beginning of the New Year, since the Yarilo-Sun melted the snow and all nature revived and revived, a new life began.
the saying "The first pancake is lumpy" originally had a completely different meaning than it does now. - that is, bears. Since these days they also revered the Bear God, people in a solemn procession went into the forest and laid out baked pancakes on stumps for treating to the One-Bear. Only after this did the amusements and festive festivities begin.
On the feast of Maslenitsa and the Equinox, all members gathered together to celebrate and perform rituals. After a long winter, people planned to start field work and called for a good harvest. Our ancestors arranged with triplets, competitions in strength and endurance, and, of course, with treats and gourmet food. Cleansing rituals were held from the difficult and boring winter. They were purified by fire and smoke - jumping over a fire and a wheel of fire.
On the day of the Spring Equinox, great attention was paid to what to say and what to do, since it was believed that the power of this holiday is very great and everything that was done would have an impact on the future life of a person.
