Discover Top Posts Tagged with #letnice

Summer Altar

Today, I changed the altar out from May to summer. The first cicada sounding on Semik during Rusalia/Green Week seemed like a nudge in that direction. Also, Sunday is Letnice (the Czech folk name for Pentecost)—the root of the word is the Czech name for summer.

I made an offering of first fruits and amaranth and sheep sorrel to the ancestors. Amaranth has a long tradition in the Americas as a spiritual offering and I have been developing a strong personal relationship with sheep sorrel.

I always put this cicada netsuke out the first day I hear a cicada.

The netsuke and berries are sitting on a tin of dandelion salve “the sun itself in the grass.”—Thoreau 🌞

Mimosa was put on the altar for pretty and birch for its long relationship with Rusalia and the rusalka.

This was the first time Morana was dressed in the linen that I dyed in the spring with redbud blossoms.

For the first time the Sun Goddess tapestry (left) that I stitched last year appeared on the summer altar. I stitched this piece in honor of the Northern European sun goddess who shows up under the names Sunna (Scandinavia), Saule (Baltic), and Solntse (Russian).

The painted rock was a lovely gift from my days as a children’s librarian. One of my tweens decorated it for me.

Happy Semik everyone!

#summer #altar #morana #Marzanna #sun goddess tapestry #cicada #first fruits #amaranth #sheep sorrel #summer solstice #midsummer #Kupala #Letnice #Pentecost #devotional embroidery #Slavic #birch #mimosa #blackberry

Time to get back to stitching. I haven’t finished anything for awhile, so I thought I would take a break from the roosters to work on a small project that will give me the satisfaction, hopefully, of completion.

#devotional embroidery #elder #elderflower #Letnice #amulet bag #green holidays #Bezový květ

Whit Monday

We spent the afternoon foraging elder, but saw lots of other pretties.

The mimosa/Persian silk tree is just starting to bloom—of my favorite summer floral teas!

Some of the sumac is already reddening—I can’t wait to make za’atar!

Trumpet vine.

Tickseed.

River birch and willow.

#arkansas river valley #Illinois bayou #tickseed #mimosa #sumac #trumpet vine #whit Monday #Letnice #green holidays #foraging #foraging on holy days #Svatodušní pondělí

Elder

My Whit Monday was spent harvesting elder. The first flowers I saw, I had to cross over watermoccasin infested waters on this semi-rotted tree—of course, after that we found it in about five easily accessible places. 🙄

#arkansas river valley #foraging #elder #elder flower #Letnice #whit Monday #green holidays #foraging on holy days #bioregional herbalism #Slavic american #Czech American #swamp #wetlands #Illinois bayou #kořenářka #Svatodušní pondělí

Letnice/Pentecost/Green Holidays

May, in Old Czech trnopuk or traveň, is a month of full bloom. The region is already completely covered in lush, joyful greenery and the rural agrarian population, whose existence and moods have always been closely linked to the natural cycle, rejoices with it. It is a month dedicated to the cults of water and greenery, culminating in Pentecost, which is also characteristically called the green holidays.

The ancient Slavs celebrated the so-called Rusal holidays at the turn of spring and summer, associated with sacrifices to deceased ancestors. Their name was derived from the ancient Roman dies rosae (days of roses, rosalia), holidays associated with protective and prosperous magic, the remains of which can be found throughout the European cultural circle.

Originally a pagan tradition, the Christian hegemon later took over and Pentecost was included in the church calendar as a Whitsun holiday. (It should be added that even the original Jewish Pentecosts, from which the Christian ones are directly derived, are prosperity-type holidays. Their essence is the offering of the first loaves of bread from new flour as thanksgiving for the harvest.)

Whitsun is celebrated fifty days after Easter, ten days after the feast of the Ascension of the Lord. They are therefore movable feasts and can take place between May 10 and June 13. This year they will fall on June 4. Christians commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles after Christ's resurrection and the founding of the church. According to the book of Acts of the Apostles, everything happened in such a way that, with a mighty roar of a whirlwind, tongues of fire came down from heaven, which divided and marked each of the apostles. These circumstances were vividly reflected in the scenes of the Whitsun Mass. The priest celebrated this day in a red vestment - representing the heavenly flame - and to the sounds of trumpets, representing the storm, a wooden dove (sometimes even a live one) - a symbol of the Holy Spirit - was lowered from the temple vault.

Originally, the Whitsun holidays lasted a whole week. They were a time for mass baptisms, confirmations, the blessing of water and confirmations. However, in the Baroque period they were gradually overshadowed by the pompous celebrations of Corpus Christi. Their importance continued to decline and after the Second Vatican Council (1958-63) only the Sunday Feast of Pentecost remained from what was once the third most important Christian holiday.

However, Pentecost was also a source of diverse expressions of folk piety and culture. Whitsun, and by extension the entire end of spring, was perceived as a particularly happy time. Children born during this time were supposed to have a bright future, livestock born in May were considered exceptionally suitable for breeding, and the May rains were a true blessing for the future harvest, as many ancient legends still testify to today. Death at this time also carried with it a happy promise. Whoever died during the so-called happy time was said to have been an exceptionally good person, because at this time the gates of heaven are wide open and hell is completely closed.

The exception to this rule was the last week before Pentecost, the so-called black week. During this time, it was not advisable to enter into marriages, contracts, move or take other major life steps. Numerous taboos were also associated with Pentecost itself. Anyone who went out into the field or mowed the grass on Pentecost would be violating the power of their protective equipment against adverse weather conditions and pests.

The synthesis of Christian and pre-Christian influences was the so-called celebration under the green. In the countryside, it was customary to decorate windows and doors with green branches (usually linden), in some places the branches were tucked behind holy images in the room, or under thatch around the entire perimeter of the roof. On the eve of the holiday, the crack of whips, the firing of rifles and pistols, and the rattling of keys could be heard throughout the village. As we already know from some previous articles, greenery and noise were understood as magical means of protection against dark and witchcraft forces in pre-Christian religious representations. However, these meanings were forgotten over time and both customs acquired a new interpretation. According to him, the noise resembled the aforementioned roar of a whirlwind, and the green branches served to allow the Holy Spirit to settle on them in the form of a dove.

Interestingly, in the case of Pentecost, urban and rural traditions diverged much more than they do for any other annual holiday.

City festivities were carried out in the spirit of the knightly legacy and their main content was various shooting and sports competitions ( bird shooting, sharpshooters ), combined with festivities and dancing in the open air.

In the countryside, the most striking element of the celebrations were the so-called royal games , a typical part of which are still very rich and beautiful masks. Despite some similarities with city celebrations, the origin of village celebrations is much older, dating back to the times of mythical antiquity. In addition to competitive elements and dance entertainment with refreshments, they also included the election of a king, a procession of villages and various dramatic scenes. In some areas, maypoles were also built only at this time.

In addition to the impressive royal parades, many pastoral customs were also part of the village Pentecost. After midnight on the Whitsun Vigil, the shepherds drove the cattle to the first seasonal pasture and competed in their skills. According to the achieved position, they obtained functions for themselves, from the gate opener ( king ) to the idler ( tailer, pikyšvonc ), which had a ritual meaning associated with the magic of the first (see bringing death, Red Monday) and determined the hierarchy of their holders, important for further entertainment. The rest of the night was spent in long celebrations, full of protective magical practices. In the morning, the shepherds returned home with their wreathed and grazed cattle, where they received various pastries from the housewives as a reward.

Other Pentecostal rituals, such as young couples rolling in the seedbed, walking around the fields, or wiping off the Pentecostal dew, were supposed to bring protection to the fields and meadows, or, somewhat maliciously, to draw benefits from the neighbors' fields onto their own lands.

Ancient customs were also connected to the water element. Ceremonial washing of the face and limbs was practiced already in the pre-Easter period. On St. George's Day, water was supposed to lose its poisonousness (it entered snakes, scorpions and other venomous creatures), and on the Holy Spirit, people could enjoy their first proper bath in the open air. Other customs associated with water included visiting healing springs, drinking from magical wells, but also cleaning them and decorating them with flowers, which may be a vague memory of offerings to ancient deities and beings.

ASSOCIATION OF AUTHORS, Folk Culture – Ethnographic Encyclopedia of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia 1st ed. Prague: Mladá fronta, 2007, 636 pp., ISBN 978-80-2041-712-1 VEČERKOVÁ, Eva Customs and Festivals in Czech Folk Culture 1st ed. Prague: Vyšehrad, 2015, 512 pp. ISBN 978-80-7429-627-7 ASSOCIATION OF AUTHORS, Great History of the Lands of the Czech Crown – thematic series Folk Culture 1st ed. Prague: Paseka, 2014, 803 pp., ISBN 978-80-7432-442-0 ZÍBRT, Čeněk Happy moments in the life of the Czech people – Kings and queens KROLMUS, Václav Old Bohemian legends, songs, games, customs, festivals and tunes, part three 1st ed. Prague: PLOT, 2014, 366 pp. ISBN 978-80-7428-243-0

Original Czech Article: