Nicholas strict winter when celebrated in. Happy holiday! Nikola winter - folk traditions

Saint Nicholas Day 2019 is celebrated on December 19th. The Orthodox Church of this date honors the memory of St. Nicholas, Archbishop of the World of Lycia, the Wonderworker. In the people this day is also known as Nikola Winter. This is a favorite and long-awaited holiday for children.

history of the holiday

December 19 is dedicated to St. Nicholas, who became famous for his deeds and selfless service to God. From early childhood he studied the Scriptures. In his younger years he received a spiritual order (title) and became a preacher. The wealth that he inherited from wealthy parents, he sent to missionary work.

Many miracles are attributed to Nicholas. During the journey, he resurrected a mortally injured sailor and began to be considered the protector of travelers, merchants and children. One day, Nikolai decided to secretly help three girls who did not have a dowry. He quietly made his way into the house and left a wallet filled with money.

On one of these visits, Nikolai threw coins into the chimney, but they did not burn, as they fell into the drying sock of one of the young ladies. This is how the legend of Santa Claus was born. The date of the death of the ascetic began to be called the Day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

At times Soviet power The holiday was forgotten. Customs were eradicated, many of their adherents were subjected to ridicule and persecution. After the collapse of the USSR, the tradition was revived and began to gain popularity.

Traditions and rituals of the holiday

On the Day of St. Nicholas, divine services are held in the temples. Believers eat Lenten dishes, since the holiday falls on the period of the Nativity Fast.

On the night of December 19, parents put gifts under the pillow for the child: fruits, sweets, toys. Lonely girls tell fortunes about their betrothed, make wishes, pray to St. Nicholas for a happy marriage.

On this day, housewives bake special cookies for the festive dinner - nikolaychiki. On the tables there are also dumplings and pies with potatoes, mushrooms, cabbage, lean borscht, pickles.

On this day folk festivals are popular in the villages. Young people arrange sleigh rides. In places, the ancient tradition of caroling on December 19 has been preserved. The guys go from house to house and sing ritual songs in which they wish the owners good health and good harvest. For this they are presented with sweets and money.

On this day, it is customary to do good deeds. People help those in need, distribute sweets, money, clothes, books, stationery to orphans and children from large families.

Matinees are held in kindergartens and educational institutions. Pupils read poems, demonstrate crafts, perform song and dance numbers.

From St. Nicholas Day, preparations for the New Year and Christmas begin. People put things in order at home, buy food, choose gifts for relatives and friends.

Presents

On St. Nicholas Day, it is customary to give gifts to children. The most popular are sweets, fruits, toys. On this holiday, you can also please an adult close and dear person with a pleasant surprise.

What can you eat on December 19

December 19th is the Nativity Fast. On this day, it is allowed to eat fasting dishes: food of vegetable origin with vegetable oil (cereals, soups, stewed vegetables, mushrooms), bread, water, salt, raw fruits and vegetables, dried fruits, nuts, honey. On this holiday, you can also eat fish. It is allowed to drink a glass of dry red wine.

What not to do on St. Nicholas Day

On December 19, it is forbidden to engage in heavy physical labor. It is undesirable to clean the house, wash, sew. On this day, you can not break the commandments of God.

Signs and beliefs

• On December 19, it snows - for the harvest of wheat, rain - for the harvest of cabbage and cucumbers.
• If the weather is cold on St. Nicholas Day, then the whole winter will be cold, and if it is warm, then the winter will be clear and without severe frosts.
• If you make a wish on this day, Saint Nicholas will help in its fulfillment.
• On the day of St. Nicholas, nothing can be done for oneself, but only for those in need.
• If all debts are not distributed before December 19, then in next year will have to suffer.

St. Nicholas Day - bright winter holiday. According to popular belief, on the night of December 19, Nicholas the Wonderworker descends from heaven to earth and helps all those in need.

Saint Nicholas Day in Orthodox calendar recorded twice - in winter, on December 19, and in spring, on May 22. Both holidays are dedicated to the holy elder Archbishop Mir Lycian Nicholas. Nicholas Day May 22 - the date of the transfer of the relics of the holy elder from the World of Lycia to Italy (Bari). Many are associated with the spring holiday. folk traditions and signs, the correctness of which you can check after May 22, 2016 - the date of the day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

What date do Orthodox Christians celebrate St. Nicholas Day in 2016?

The date of the holiday does not change, remaining the same every year. In 2016, Saint Nicholas Day is celebrated as usual on May 22. Morning holiday begins with the ringing of bells in all churches. Believers attend services in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the patron saint of children, the poor, sailors, and travelers. The houses are cleaned the day before, new wax candles are lit near the image of the elder, and a plentiful festive treat is prepared. On the day of the holiday, it is customary to invite children to the house, give treats to the poor, treat children with homemade cookies (“Nikolaychiks”).

Famous folk omens for St. Nicholas Day

The signs of St. Nicholas Day are associated with weather phenomena and helping those in need. On the morning of May 22, look at the sky: the rain that drips in this laziness brings summer warmth and a good year. Cheerfully croaking frogs delight fans of Hercules porridge - oats will be generous. If 12 days pass after May 22 and warm weather sets in, the summer will be good. In case of bad weather after a dozen days, heat should not be expected until September. On this day, it is customary to ask Nikolai for help, and you will receive it, but only in case of a particularly urgent need. Nikolai is merciful to everyone who needs his help and helps people who support both their own and strangers in trouble. According to the signs of May 22, this day should be completely devoted to other people, then the year will be generous and kind. A person who has not extended a helping hand to another on Spring Nicholas will fail for 7 years. The generosity shown on the day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker will return to you with the grace of the elder and the fulfillment of your requests to him.

Nicholas Day May 22 - traditions of the people

Nikolin's day on May 22 or the holiday of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is called Warm, Herbal, Spring. It is assumed that after this day comes the summer heat. On Nikolin's day, thick, juicy grass will be born to feed livestock. On May 22, peasants plant potatoes and order prayers to the saint with requests to protect their livestock from predators. During the day in the villages, the entire male population feasted, burned fires, and were plentifully treated to food and drink. By the evening dawn, the girls joined the holiday, and the fun continued with a vengeance.

When celebrating St. Nicholas Day, do not forget about the traditions and signs of the holiday. On May 22, 2016, invite friends and acquaintances, neighbors and relatives to a festively laid table with a rich treat. Bake more delicious cookies and give them to the neighborhood kids. Go to church and order a prayer service for Nikolai, asking him to help you in some good deed. Do not forget to do good deeds like Nicholas, who did them during his lifetime, and after it.

Saint Nicholas in the Orthodox church calendar dedicated to more than one holiday. December 19, according to the new style, the day of the death of the saint is remembered, August 11 - his birth. The people called these two holidays Nikola Winter and Nikola Autumn. On May 22, believers commemorate the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from Mir Lycian to Bari, which took place in 1087. In Russia, this day was called Nikola Veshny (that is, spring), or Nikola Summer.

All these holidays are non-transitory, that is, their dates are fixed.

Saint Nicholas is called a miracle worker. Such saints are especially revered for the miracles that occur through prayers to them. Since ancient times, Nicholas the Wonderworker was revered as an ambulance to sailors and other travelers, merchants, unjustly convicted and children. In Western folk Christianity, his image was combined with the image of a folklore character - "Christmas grandfather" - and transformed into Santa Claus ( santa claus translated from English. - St Nicholas). Santa Claus gives gifts to children for Christmas.

Nicholas the Pleasant was born in 270 in the town of Patara, which was located in the region of Lycia in Asia Minor and was a Greek colony. The parents of the future archbishop were very wealthy people, but at the same time they believed in Christ and actively helped the poor.

As the life says, from childhood the saint devoted himself completely to faith, spent a lot of time in the temple. Having matured, he became a reader, and then a priest in the church, where his uncle, Bishop Nicholas of Patara, served as rector.

After the death of his parents, Nicholas the Wonderworker distributed all his inheritance to the poor and continued his church ministry. In the years when the attitude of the Roman emperors towards Christians became more tolerant, but persecution nevertheless continued, he ascended to the episcopal throne in Mir. Now this town is called Demre, it is located in the province of Antalya in Turkey.

People loved the new archbishop very much: he was kind, meek, fair, sympathetic - not a single request to him remained unanswered. With all this, Nicholas was remembered by his contemporaries as an implacable fighter against paganism - he destroyed idols and temples, and a defender of Christianity - he denounced heretics.

Even during his lifetime, the saint became famous for many miracles. Saved the city of Mira from terrible famine- his fervent prayer to Christ. He prayed and thereby helped the drowning sailors on ships, led the unjustly condemned from imprisonment in prisons.

Nicholas the Pleasant lived to a ripe old age and died around 345-351 - the exact date is unknown.

Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker reposed in the Lord in 345-351 - the exact date is unknown. His relics were incorruptible. At first they rested in the cathedral church of the city of Lycian Myra, where he served as archbishop. They streamed myrrh, and the myrrh healed believers from various ailments.

In 1087, part of the relics of the saint was transferred to the Italian city of Bari, to the church of St. Stephen. A year after the relics were saved, a basilica was erected there in the name of St. Nicholas. Now everyone can pray at the relics of the saint - the ark with them is still kept in this basilica. A few years later, the rest of the relics were transported to Venice, and a small particle remained in Mira.

In honor of the transfer of the relics of Nikolai Ugodnik, a special holiday was established, which in Russian Orthodox Church May 22 is celebrated in a new style.

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Our religion is rich in saints, whom you can always turn to for help and ask for strength and faith, health and. And the most revered (after the Mother of God) is St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, whose popularity in Ukraine could tell the number of churches dedicated to him in pre-revolutionary Kiev. In Ukraine .

The name of Nicholas is recorded in the list of bishops - participants in the first Ecumenical Christian Council of 325, which was collected by Emperor Constantine the Great. During his lifetime, he performed many miracles: he saved three slandered military leaders from death, saved Mira's hometown from severe hunger, and repeatedly saved those in distress on land and at sea. After a peaceful death, the relics of the saint began to exude a healing myrrh, which glorified him even more.

In 2009, Nikolai's face was reconstructed from X-rays and craniological measurements at the University of Manchester. According to scientists, Nikolai was a stocky man about 1.68 m tall. He had a high forehead, protruding cheekbones and chin, brown eyes and dark skin.

The tradition of the feast of St. Nicholas on December 19

Saint Nicholas Day 2018 begins the string of Christmas holidays. And one of the pleasant events of this is the arrival of the saint at night: in Ukraine, he puts sweets under the pillow for children, in Europe - in socks hung by the fireplace.

The history of the birth of this tradition is as follows: in the neighborhood of St. Nicholas lived a poor widower who had a daughter. The girl had a lover from a wealthy family. But his parents did not want to accept a dowry into the house. Upon learning of this, Nikolai thought: "I have everything, but next to me someone is suffering." And to help the girl, he decided to use his father's inheritance. At night, in order not to be recognized, he made his way to a squalid house and threw a bundle of gold coins into the window of the girl's bedroom.

So he connected the hearts of the beloved, and a rumor spread through the city that sky Angel helped lovers. Saint Nicholas for the first time in his life felt happy. He began to bring warm clothes, toys and food to the homes of the disadvantaged. And always under the cover of night, so as not to be recognized. But one day the townspeople tracked him down and were very surprised when they found out that this reserved and shy young man had such a good heart. They later chose Nicholas as their bishop.

"Saint Nicholas on the threshold - help me on the road"

Due to his actions, Saint Nicholas is considered the patron saint of ordinary people, sailors, merchants and children. There is a legend that in Alexandria, while still young, he resurrected a sailor who fell off an element of ship equipment in a storm and crashed to death.

In the popular mind, Nikolai helps both in military and peasant affairs: "Nikola saves at sea, Nikola lifts the peasant's cart." And also St. Nicholas is the deliverer of all evils, the organizer of marriage bonds and marital happiness ("he helps at every hour"), the defender of the slandered and innocently condemned.

People turn to St. Nicholas in hopeless situations and under difficult financial circumstances, unmarried and married women they ask Nikolai Ugodnik to get married safely and live with her husband in love and harmony. Drivers, sailors and travelers are praying to avoid dangers on the road.

Parable about the appearance of St. Nicholas Day

Saint Nicholas has two days a year for veneration - in May and December. Both of these months are important for grain growers ("Two Nicholas: one with grass, the other with frost"). And the legend, according to which the saint got these very days, is associated with a peasant peasant. A man was driving along a country road, but got stuck with a heavy cart in the mud.

He jumped off the cart, tried to pull the cart, but nothing happened. At this time, St. Kasyan was walking past in elegant clothes. The man asked him for help. Kasyan was offended that they bothered him because of such a trifle - after all, he is in a hurry to God in paradise. And passed by. After some time, another wanderer, Saint Nicholas the Pleasant, passed by the cart. When a peasant asked him for help, he immediately turned his shoulder, covered himself in mud, but helped to pull out the cart and went on his way.

When the saints came to God, he asked Nicholas: "Why are you late and covered with mud?" Nicholas told what happened to him on the road. God asked why Kasyan did not help the peasant? He replied: "I was in a hurry to meet you. How could I come in dirty clothes?" “Since you didn’t help the peasant, Kasyan, they will praise you only once every four years. And Nikol Ugodnik, an ambulance to help, will be celebrated twice every year.” Since then, the day of St. Kasyan is celebrated only on February 29, and at St. Nicholas the Pleasant every year in spring (May 22 - the day his relics arrived in Bari, Italy), and in winter (December 19 - the day of the death of Nicholas) on a holiday.

Signs for St. Nicholas Day 2018

It was believed that Nikolai's day brings with it the Nikolsky frosts: "Praise winter after Nikolin's day", "Nikola would come up, and winter would come on a sled for him", "They took winter on a sled to Nikola, here's a thaw for you."

On the feast of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, the peasants of the whole village gathered, brewed beer, put a candle in the church with the whole world and prayed for the blessing of all blessings, so that next year there would be a harvest for livestock and fruits. After that, the treat of all the villagers with mash, beer, pies and a fun ride with songs began: "We greeted the snowy winter three times by going round the village on a sleigh." The rest of the food was distributed to the poor. And in the sayings this day was described as follows: “Krasna Nikolshchina with beer and pies”, “Call a friend to Nikolshchina, call the enemy, both will be friends.”

"Nikolsky Bargaining Decree for Everything" or "Nikolsky Bargaining Sets Bread Prices" - December 19 was considered in the old days the first day of the grain auction.

Interesting Facts

Nicholas the Wonderworker (he was a Greek by origin) is revered by both the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Even Muslims and pagans turn to him for help. After all, he is considered the simplest and fastest to fulfill the request of the saints.

In iconography, the icons of "St. Nicholas of the Winter" and "St. Nicholas of the Spring" are distinguished, corresponding to the days of veneration in the year. At the same time, the "winter" Nikola is depicted in a bishop's miter, and the "spring" - with an uncovered head. According to legend, the iconography of "Nikola in Winter" arose during the reign of Nicholas I, who drew attention to the fact that his heavenly patron was depicted on the icon without a headdress and made a remark to the clergy.

Saint Nicholas is the prototype of Santa Claus. And in the countries Western Europe A donkey helps him deliver gifts. Therefore, children leave a couple of carrots near the boot for sweets, because the animal can get tired and hungry during a night trip.

P.S. The upcoming holiday gives anyone the opportunity to prove themselves in the role of a secret assistant. To whom will your help and love be addressed: orphanages, schools, hospitals, close people, and maybe yourself? You decide.

Photo: pixabay.com, open sources on the Web

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