Today, a bouquet of flowers has become an integral part of our lives. But who taught Russian men to give flowers, and where did this custom come from? We give it to express our recognition, to thank for the service, to congratulate on the holiday or just to make something pleasant. close person. Where did this tradition come from, and when did people begin to use flowers for aesthetic pleasure?
Biblical version of the appearance of flowers in people's lives
There are many different versions that tell how flowers entered people's lives. One of them refers us to the stories of the Bible. According to this version, Adam and Eve lived in Paradise, surrounded by beautiful and fragrant flowers. Having committed a sin, they were expelled from this magnificent place. On earth, Eve was constantly sad, depressed, and Adam decided to please her by returning at least some of the familiar and pleasant environment. He began to look everywhere for flowers in order to surround his beloved with the beauty and fragrance of aromas. After long searches he came across a huge clearing, which was strewn with many different flowers. Adam plucked and gave Eve a huge bouquet. Since then, the custom has gone to give women bouquets and baskets of flowers.
pagan version
According to the pagan version, the appearance of flowers in people's lives is associated with the rites of sacrifice to the Mother Goddess. She was a symbol of femininity, love, family well-being and fertility. As a sign of recognition and reverence, the ancient people lined for her a kind of paths of herbs and flower plants, decorated them with a place of worship. IN different cultures similar deities wore different names, the Slavs performed the rituals of sacrifice to Lada and Lele. And over time, this pagan ritual of presenting flowers in many countries became secular.According to another version, medicinal properties flowers became the reason for their appearance in the homes of our ancestors. In ancient times, when a person was very close to nature, people watched it and noticed what properties this or that plant possesses. Our distant ancestors knew well what can be eaten, what can be poisoned, and what is great for treating various ailments.
In those days, returning from a successful hunt to the house, male miners carried not only their trophies, but also a variety of roots, herbs, and flowers. The hostesses washed and dried all these plants, making preparations for medicinal decoctions and ointments. On one of these days, it occurred to a woman not only to use flowers for processing, but also to decorate her house with them. Later, more and more representatives of the weaker sex began to do so. And over time, dried flowers became not only the first decoration in houses, but also the first women's jewelry - wreaths were woven from flowers on the head, bracelets were made on the arms and a necklace around the neck.
The meaning of flowers at the courts of European kings and emperors
One of the most popular versions of the appearance of flowers in people's lives says that everything floral traditions originated at the courts of European rulers. Under the kings and emperors, there were specially trained people who were responsible for decorating all the premises of the palace. They studied the meanings of each variety of flowers, knew what different shades meant and at what moments it was necessary to present bouquets to royal persons.During the reign of the Roman emperor Nero, flower petals were an essential attribute of all celebrations. A huge number of flowers were grown on the territory of the palace, from which buds and petals were subsequently plucked and showered with them on all the guests of the emperor.
At the courts of the eastern rulers, peonies and chrysanthemums were held in special esteem. Ruling dynasties hired special gardeners and florists who planted huge fragrant gardens. Over time, not only the rulers of countries, but also simply wealthy people began to strive to have their own flower garden. This hobby has become a kind of race between representatives higher strata societies - the rich tried to outdo each other by acquiring new varieties of expensive and outlandish flowers or creating incredible compositions from them.
How flower traditions came to the Russian imperial court
In Russia long time there was no cult of flowers. All these trends came from the West. In the palaces of ruling persons, floral decoration has been used since the time of the Romanov dynasty. It was then, striving to match the best Western imperial courts, representatives royal family began to hire gardeners and set up large flower beds on the territory. fashion trends of that time, it was dictated to use flowers as decorations for celebrations, attributes of various ceremonies, or simply an everyday element in the design of palace premises.
In greenhouses Russian rulers gardeners planted roses, geraniums, tulips and carnations.
Flowers - a sign of recognition of the talent of actresses
Some of the first women to receive flower bouquets were actresses. On the stage, admiring fans of their talent handed them flowers, trying to express their delight and recognition. Interestingly, this tradition also came from the West, and in Russia it appeared thanks to French actress Maria Taglioni, who, speaking with her performances, taught the Russian public to present flowers. There is an opinion that this tradition was gradually transformed, and bouquets were given to all women, wanting to show a special attitude.
It is not known for certain which of the versions caused such a strong entry of flowers into our lives. One thing is for sure - not a single one can do without them significant event. Flowers accompany a person from the moment of discharge from the maternity hospital until the moment he leaves for another world - birthdays, marriage proposals, congratulations on professional and thematic holidays, declarations of love, apologies for mistakes and offenses - bouquets go all their lives next to a person helping to express feelings and emotions in those moments when words alone are not enough.
Flowers are also a source of inspiration. And they can become proof of this.
Listen: Ether from 18.08.html
- Why did the Lord show His heavenly glory and the lordship of His Divinity?
Everything that we read in the New Testament gospel history is divine and mysterious, and we should not think that every question will find its solution. “What God does, he does not tell anyone,” our pious ancestors thought. Church hymns, the troparion, the kontakion of the feast, the service composed by St. John of Damascus testify to us that before His rising from the tomb, the Lord assures the apostles, strengthens their faith in His divine sonship. And with their own ears, with the spiritual ear of the heart, these three chosen ones - John, James and Peter - hear the voice of the Father, as perhaps they have not yet heard Him at the Jordan. The Savior is shining. Glory to the Divine. This is the radiance of Divine Grace.
On this holiday in Russia, autumn begins, because we rejoice so much in spirit, because our heart responds to this radiance of the Tabor light, and in fact it burns, flickers the flame of Divine grace, communicated to us in baptism. We are, by God's grace, calling, sons of the Kingdom, children of the Light. We are called to walk in this light, and it truly illuminates, sanctifies our feelings, the entire circle of earthly existence, if we apply humility, purity and mercy to the right faith. When these green sprouts of virtues sprout in our hearts, then the Eternal Light will shine, and we will make sure in spirit that the King of Heaven and Earth Jesus rests on the throne of our hearts.
Transfiguration is a holiday that tells us that there is a paradise, it exists. And this is the answer to those who say that no one returned from the next world.
Not only the Transfiguration, but also the stay of Christ with Peter in the boat, when the net from the abundance of fish almost broke, and the Zion Room, in which the apostles dined with their Teacher - all these are the threshold of paradise. Where the Lord is, where His peace and love are, there is paradise. Indeed, before the Transfiguration, the Divine Glory never appeared in such fullness, was not revealed to the apostles. And Peter, forgetting himself, said: "Let's put three canopies - Moses, Elijah and You, it's good for us to be here." He really tasted, as the Savior promised the disciples six days earlier, he tasted the power of the Kingdom of God. His spirit was exhausted from the bliss that the apostles felt in their hearts, and Peter did not want this to ever stop. Therefore, he invited the Savior to stay.
What is the reason for the difference: in the Gospel of Mark it is written "and after six days Jesus took Peter, James and John." And in the Gospel of Luke, for some reason, there is a conversation that he took after 8 days?
- "Days of six" does not say exactly what six days are. The apostles, often speaking about times and dates, firstly, call a conditional period of time, and, secondly, we must remember that in the Jewish perception of the day does not completely coincide with our idea of it. So, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, which took place on the third day, can only be understood if we take into account that even part of the day could be taken as a whole. Therefore, if you open Lopukhin's Explanatory Bible, you will find there a very detailed explanation that harmonizes both of these Gospel narratives. And there are no contradictions between the disciples of Christ, both in this case and in all others.
- Why did the ancient prophets appear on Mount Tabor, and why did they also appear in Heavenly Glory?
When the apostles woke up, you remember, a certain mysterious light cloud descended on them, which seemed to embrace the Savior, and the voice that came from above “this is My beloved Son” was pronounced over one of them by their Teacher. Elijah and Moses were no longer around, but they talked with Christ about His suffering death, about the outcome, the evangelists mention this, before the voice of the Heavenly Father sounded. It is obvious that it was these and not other Old Testament prophets who conversed with the Lord not by chance. Because Elijah, as you remember, has not yet tasted death, and he was transferred from the heavenly storehouses by the power of God here to Mount Tabor. And the lawgiver, that is, the prophet through whom that very covenant with Israel was concluded on Mount Sinai, was returned from the underworld, where they languished, of course, not in such torments as the inhabitants of Sodom, but still they were deprived of the Cross of the Lord, up to Resurrection, heavenly bliss. Thus, both the underworld and Heaven appeared in the person of Elijah and Moses at the feet of Christ. The apostle gave it to be understood that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God, as soon as, revered more than other prophets among the Jews, Moses converses with Him as a slave with a master. This means that Jesus Christ is truly not an opponent of Moses, and He came to complete the ancient law, to renew it. And Ilya is a zealot, most of all he baked during his lifetime about the Glory of God. If Jesus Christ had been an opponent of the Father, Elijah the Prophet would never have bowed his knee and head before Him. Thus, the events of the Transfiguration of the Lord tell us in this trinity assembly of Christ and His prophets that Jesus Christ is truly the Radiance of the Father.
- Why were the disciples afraid when they heard the voice of God?
How do you think creation might feel when it hears the voice of the Father? Let's remember another mountain - Sinai. And let us remember how, at the foot of it, the Old Testament Jews prayed to their leader - "Let God not speak to us, but speak only to you, we cannot hear His voice." Even then, mankind had not found a redeemer, God had not yet been incarnated, and therefore Moses was forced to border Mount Sinai with a circular line, so that neither the beast, nor the bird, nor the man crossed this line, for they could die. It was then impossible for a common man, either regenerated or renewed by the Holy Spirit, to see His glory. Therefore, the apostles are depicted on the icon of the Transfiguration as fallen down, as if they are headlong flying from this mountain, covering their eyes and ears, unable to either see or hear the voice of the Heavenly Father. And so it always has been, and so it always will be. Let's move mentally into the events of the Apocalypse, and you will remember that one of the witnesses of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the beloved disciple, taken to the mountain, because he was a virgin, his heart was a pure mirror of theology, already on the island of Patmos, seeing the resurrected Christ also in radiance, John fell at the feet of the Savior while dead. If the Savior had not laid his right hand on the already aged disciple and raised him up, then the spirit would have gone out of the apostle. Therefore, the reverence, that fear and trembling that filled the hearts of the disciples, even in a small world, let it touch our hearts, so that we at least talk about these lofty subjects not on the go, but reproaching ourselves that our lips are not enough pure, as well as hearts, in order to fully understand and rise to what appeared to the minds, ears of the apostles.
Is there any explanation why the Lord did not allow the disciples to talk about what they saw on Tabor?
So after all, in other cases, he often did not allow it, ordered those who were healed by Him, those who witnessed wonderful miracles, for example, the resurrection of a dead maiden, to remain silent. Why? The Savior does everything in wisdom. In some cases, it teaches us modesty so that we do not magnify ourselves before people, when God puts into our mouths or into our hands to do something worthy of His holy Name. But in the case of His Transfiguration, obviously because he forbids the apostles to share what they saw before the time, that he had not yet ascended the cross. For it was necessary first for the Savior to assimilate the guilt that weighed on sinning mankind, it was necessary to atone for Adam's sin with His blood, it was necessary to pass from humiliation to the glory of the Resurrection and Ascension. And if a multitude of people were tempted by the cross, do you remember the Pharisees and scribes who cynically, with incredible hardness of heart, mocked the Lamb crucified on the tree. If some of those who followed the Lord, among the apostles, doubted when they saw Him resurrected, then what can we say about the glory of the Transfiguration?! Many would not believe. That is why the Savior teaches the apostles not to throw beads, but to hide this pearl of Tabor's light. And only after the descent of the Holy Spirit, when the peoples were subdued to faith thanks to the apostolic faith, confirmed by miracles and signs, only after that did Peter record in writing everything that he saw and heard. And today we can read about it in one of his two messages.
The Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt writes in his sermon on the Transfiguration that on this most radiant feast we celebrate not only the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor, but also the glorification of human nature in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, could you explain what you mean?
The Lord testifies to us to what glory and honor we are called. For He took on His shoulders a lamb, assimilated our nature to Himself, and in Him, in Christ, our nature is also glorified. This means that today we too, children of the Church, receive from the Lord by His grace, by His gift, by His grace what He has by nature as a God-man. Indeed, we find evidence from the Apostle Peter that we, who believe in the Son of God, become partakers of the Divine nature in the Sacrament of Communion, and I know that on the feast of the Transfiguration, most of our listeners receive communion. Together with the Life-Giving Blood and Flesh of the Redeemer, they will also receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. Grace will fill our inner world. And we must always remember this. That is why no sane Christian will ever accept the false blasphemous idea that man can borrow his nature from some primates (monkeys). Human body- this is an icon case that serves as a frame for the soul. Our nature is unique.
- Where did the custom not to eat apples before the Transfiguration come from? After all, the harvest is dying!
Quite recently, I read the reflections of a priest who, not without some reason, says: “Friends, but how long can these formulas be repeated?! It's not very pious. The word Spas - Savior should be used in such a phrase - Apple Spas, Honey Spas. Well, somehow it's not good. Batiushka would be right if we put such a meaning into this phrase that it correlates with the personality of the Savior. In this case, we will not transfer linguistic phenomena to the very realities that stand behind them. Because then it was necessary to accuse our most pious, patriarchal people of almost blasphemy - "Peter and Paul reduced the hour, Elijah the prophet dragged away two." Well, how did you get it? Stole, took without asking? This, you know, can be obtained with lightning from Elijah the Prophet, if indeed these phraseological units are so straightforwardly correlated with the very persons who stand behind these expressions. There is no familiarity behind this, you need to see something else - a thousand-year-old Russian culture, such an acquaintance with the month-word, which implies the entry of the calendar itself into working life Russian people. These are phrases traditional for the Russian ear.
And the second question is not to eat apples. This is, undoubtedly, the reality of Russian church life. You know what desperate Greekophiles the Russians were, and still, to a certain extent, remain, because we adopted church charters and Christian bookishness from the beautiful Byzantium, and the typikon prescribed abstinence from grapes. And from our diligence, we also added traditional apples for us. However, that learned priest who was offended by the Apple Savior on our people, he expresses a different idea, that if apples ripen much earlier, then, according to this priest, it is necessary to bring them to the temple. “From the abundance of your heart, thank the Lord,” said the priest, “and eat.” But I didn’t say it, it was that learned father. I would say that you need to cook compote, a whole barrel and invite the employees of the Radonezh radio station to sit by this barrel for the Transfiguration, talk about this and that.
The custom of wearing scary masks and scaring each other exists among many peoples. Slavs do it on Christmas time, Europeans and Americans do it on Halloween. Where did such strange traditions, and do they have common roots?
The origins of Christmas time in the pagan past Slavic peoples. Initially, they were dedicated to meeting a new solar year, the revival of nature, the beginning of the cycle of agricultural work. And, of course, the commemoration and veneration of the ancestors, which, if appeased, the other world will contribute to a good harvest. At the same time, people said goodbye to cold winter and the powers of darkness.
Halloween comes from the Celtic holiday of Simon, which also marks the end of the year. However, the Celts, who celebrated it at the end of October, believed that daylight was leaving and dark was coming. However, they also commemorated the dead that day, believing that for one night the boundaries between the worlds are erased, and the souls of satisfied relatives will protect them from the invasion of evil spirits.
Today, few people know that the word "carol" comes from the name of the solar god Kolyada, who sows peace and friendship around him. The peoples who revere him have always lived in harmony and good neighborliness. But he also had personal enemy- Chernobog, who spread anger, aggression and encouraged to constantly quarrel.
Sweet or nasty
In Rus', in the first days after Christmas, children dressed as angels or warriors went from house to house, begging for sweets, pies and small coins.
Those who did not treat the children risked incurring all sorts of troubles in the coming year.
In America and Europe, Halloween also has a custom called Trick-or-treat (sweet or nasty). Owners who did not give the children sweets, cakes or money may well find a door handle or a porch smeared with soot, or even worse. However, if in our country children have always depicted only bright heroes, then in the West so far, along with the costumes of angels and good fairies, clothes of vampires, witches, werewolves and other unkind characters are common.
Go away, Buka!
After the adoption of Christianity in our fatherland, a belief appeared that God, rejoicing at the birth of a son, releases all evil spirits from the underworld and gives her the opportunity to roam freely around the world for several days. The first to appear are the holy women - ugly, covered from head to toe with hair, they cannot speak, they only sing and dance. Encounters with them are extremely dangerous: with long, sharp nails, they can "stab" a person to death. However, the holy women are female creatures, coquetry is not alien to them, therefore the night traveler who fell into their clutches has real chance pay off with beads, bright ribbons, earrings and other jewelry.
The ugly Buka is no less formidable, he torments you with riddles, if you don’t answer them, you will remain in his networks forever, if you solve it - Buka will immediately disappear.
In Germany, Austria and northern Italy, Krampus walk the streets before Christmas. Their appearance is terrible, but it turns out that they are the first helpers of Santa Claus. With their terrible robes and masks, these creatures drive away the ghosts of winter. Krampus punish naughty children with rods, instead of gifts they give coal, and they also strive to smear the mischievous person's face with it so that everyone around them can see how naughty he is. In Russia, at Christmas time, it was also customary to smear faces with charcoal, this was done so that no one would recognize the carolers, neither neighbors nor evil spirits.
Cross and rosehip
At Christmas time, any action must begin with a blessing, even looking out the window is better after crossing yourself. What if there is an evil force on guard there? Then, meeting her gaze, you can go crazy. However, on the windows, on the doors, in the attics and in the basements, our ancestors ahead of time, already on Christmas Eve, painted crosses to prevent the appearance of any evil spirits.
European Christians also protect themselves from evil forces with the cross. Thanks to the cross, the drunkard blacksmith Jack also escaped hell, after whom the famous pumpkin lamp is now named, showing the way to lost souls on Halloween.
Udmurts, protecting their house from unpleasant cohabitants, stuck branches of mountain ash, fir or juniper into window and door openings. It was believed that evil spirits got stuck in them and could not get out. Periodically, these amulets were burned and fresh hung up.
Veps and Nenets drove away the otherworldly force with the fangs and claws of a bear. Pomors defended themselves with belts with a special ornament. Like the Ukrainians, they believed that no evil spirits could get through the outlined circle. Armenians planted peonies, believing that evil spirits are removed from the places where these beautiful flowers grow. Mari drove away evil spirit wild rose and thistle.
Kabardians, Balkars, Circassians and Karelians against demonological creatures used metal objects with a sharp tip - knives or needles. They put two needles crosswise under the rug at the entrance to the house, they drove nails from the outside into the door in the form of a triangle, the top facing the sky. At windows and ventilation openings, a knife or awl was installed with the tip up. It was believed that when evil spirits try to get inside the room, they will prick themselves and will certainly run away.
Amulet - horseshoe
An iron horseshoe brings not only well-being, but also protects from otherworldly inhabitants. And if you find it on the road, just for the money!
There is an almost international legend: the devil appeared to the blacksmith in the form of a horse and began to seduce the master into black deeds. But he did not succumb and, moreover, he shod the "horned one", and so that the unclean one would remember science, he did not dare to appear in the smithy again, he hung a horseshoe on the gate. Since then, people began to nail them on the doors of their houses, scaring away the undead. Only defending themselves, they hang the horseshoe with its horns down, and luring good luck and prosperity - up.
Fur coat inside out
From the house at Svyatki, especially with the onset of darkness, the ancestors of the Slavs went out to scary masks and clothes turned inside out, so that evil spirits, when they meet, take a passerby for their own and do not touch it. Especially popular were the images of a goat, a bear, a kikimora, a dead man, an old man or an old woman, a gypsy. They were made quickly, from improvised materials available in any household: birch bark, cardboard, straw, shreds. These masks were never kept, they were burned or thrown away immediately after Baptism, and on next year made new ones.
The guises were considered unclean, keeping them in a hut would certainly lead to serious misfortunes, however, by covering the face, one could allow oneself to do things that were incredible in an ordinary suit. "Oh, these Christmas time, bribes are smooth from them!" But on Epiphany night, the former mummer had to swim in the hole or, in extreme cases, sprinkle himself with holy water in order to wash away all Christmas sins.
In fairness, it should be noted that it was customary to wear masks not only at Christmas time. They ran in them for the Shrove Tuesday train, and they also wore them on the Mermaid week before Peter's Lent.
The most daring Europeans still go to Halloween in their clothes inside out at a crossroads, hoping to meet a witch there and try her about their future, and turn trousers, jackets, skirts so that the unclean spirit does not guess who exactly is standing in front of him.
Prepared by Tatyana Makoveeva.
Once upon a time, during the childhood of all mankind, our great-great-great-great-grandmothers and great-great-great-grandmothers lived in the rhythm of nature.
They saw, they knew: everything in the world has its own rhythm and order.
A wave is rhythmic, when it runs and runs away, they go in a secret rhythm - summer - autumn - winter - and spring, day and night, sunrises - sunsets alternate ... Everything is sequential, everything is in order, rhythmically.
Our ancient ancestors - they did not adapt to these rhythms, they lived in them. And they brought the harmony of rhythms into their daily lives.
Ritual is an act of creation, the creation of order.
From obscurity - to certainty, to predictability - a person is drawn to this.
Instability, unreliability, fragility of what we do for the first time - and vice versa, ritual, well-defined actions that seem to say: here is the order, you will go after one to another.
If you do this, you will not miss anything - and you know what you will get later. The fire burns out - you collect coals - you store it carefully, not letting it go out - it means that you will make a new fire, and in right time. If you don’t guard it, the coals will go out, they will become firebrands, which means there will be no fire, no heat.
Consequences - from causes. One leads to the other, one follows from the other, follows. Consistently everything goes, in the footsteps.
What gives it?
Feeling of repeatability and reliability.
And even though we are from those distant ancestors, far, far away, and we are separated by centuries and centuries, but we also need it. We are still children of nature. Despite the technical age, despite progress and everything else, we are children of nature, and we simply need a sense of rhythm, rhythm, it is inherent in us from the very beginning.
The son of David, King Ecclesiastes, said: “The generation passes and the generation comes, but the earth remains forever. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new about which they say: “Look, this is new”; but that was already in the ages before us.” (“The Old Testament. The Book of Ecclesiastes or the Preacher. Chapter 1). And these are not sad words. Vice versa. They say that everything is life, that life goes on. And how we keep a good "yesterday" depends on what "tomorrow" will be.
At that moment, when we perform some kind of good ritual, we seem to be stretching a thread from the past to the future. Through today. And we help to believe in ourselves and believe those close to us that it depends on us, our “now”. If we do it with love.
"Homemade" rituals
Somehow one contacted us good mom: « I am concerned about my child. I noticed that when I ask about the lessons, my daughter always knocks herself on the pocket, like this, three times. Asked why? He doesn't speak, he shrugs. The diary, for me to sign, gives me my left hand. Some stupidity. In the corridor, our floor is tiled, the pattern is like this, so she always walks along the pattern, along the lines. If he stumbles, he will return and go first. “What is it, mania and it’s time to take me to a neurologist?».
If you noticed something similar with your child, we hasten to reassure you.
Children often come up with some rituals themselves (and / or pick up from someone and repeat). “I’ll walk on the asphalt and not step on a single crack, which means they’ll buy ice cream ... / ... we’ll go to the circus ... / ... I’ll write a test for the “five”, ... / ... my mother will not swear ... "etc. and so on.
Children often come up with some tricks themselves (and / or pick up from someone and repeat). “I’ll walk along the asphalt and not step on a single crack, which means they’ll buy ice cream ... (“we’ll go to the circus / I’ll write a test for“ five ” / we’ll make up with Mishka / my mother won’t swear if I do this and that ...”) .
Oh, how much we all once thought of, oh, what signs we came up with!
And what is it in essence? A ritual where a clear sequence of actions is indicated. Find out, guess, fulfill ... And what is surprising: it helps! "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done..."
Actions that make no sense actually make sense. This is also a way to calm oneself down, and / or set oneself up for something good, and / or convince oneself: it will turn out the way I want, and fate is favorable to me.
And we do not think especially, and our children do not think. It's from the past, it's like genetic memory.
Just thinking and performing such a strange action, we seem to go to the origins; that “rituality” in us is from the times when people still remembered: all nature is alive, and they worshiped it. And he considered himself as a part of it. And they turned (and we turn again) to the gods.
Then - they made a sacrifice, and we make efforts, doing this and that.
Then they received a reward, a blessing. And we get: “it turns out the way I thought of it!”
Senseless things like actions actually have meaning, allegorical, and maybe even sacred.
At that moment, when we act as expected, according to the envisioned - conceived, traditionally, we seem to be stretching a thread from the past to the future. Through today. And we help to believe in ourselves and believe those close to us that it depends on us, our “now”.
"What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done..."
A person simultaneously belongs to two worlds: "the world of the valley" and "the world above". And both of these worlds - heavenly and earthly - are combined in us.
The material and the spiritual are within us.
So maybe, by creating rituals and following rituals, we restore (create, maintain!) the harmony of these worlds?! We hear and follow the rules, rhythms, laws by which our world was created. Traditions and rituals link man to man, and the past to the future. And everything becomes one and whole. Like a planet - a single whole together with mountains, rivers, atmosphere, together with people on it. Everything, everything Earth.
So the family is a single whole, one organism.
Little planet.
“He is a symbol of loyalty and happiness from young years and to gray hairs ”- this is how it is sung in famous song about the habit of wearing wedding rings. However, today this tradition has become more of a touching ritual, and the ring has become a symbol of marital status. Buying rings before the wedding, we do not think about the meaning and origin of this tradition. Meanwhile at the engagement ring rich story With beautiful legends and life stories.
engagement story
It is believed that the ceremony of betrothal first appeared among the ancient Romans: then the groom gave a simple metal ring not to the bride, but to her parents, symbolically confirming his readiness for obligations to support his beloved. The tradition of wearing rings during an engagement appeared a little later and was associated with the custom of “buying” a woman - this jewelry served as a sign for other men that the girl had already been promised to someone, and as a commercial guarantee that the wedding agreement would be fulfilled. The betrothal ceremony was more important than the wedding itself - it was considered only a successful completion of the engagement. Moreover, the breakup of a relationship after an engagement was seriously condemned and even accompanied by the payment of compensation to the injured party. Gifts in this case were of a collateral nature and, in the event of a couple's separation, were usually returned.
Among the Jews, this tradition was preceded by the custom of giving the bride a coin, which was later replaced by the need to exchange rings before the wedding, also as a sign of the promise of financial support for the future husband in front of his wife.
engagement rings from precious metals first appeared among the Egyptians. They still bore little resemblance to fine jewelry such as modern classics, but already made of gold and decorated ring finger left hand - the romantic Egyptians believed that from this finger the "artery of love" leads directly to the heart.
The rings of the Romans were also endowed with a special spiritual meaning: girls received turnkey stylized rings from their future husbands, which meant that a woman would share duties and manage the household with a man as an equal partner.
In the Middle Ages, the church legalized the custom of engagement, and the exchange of rings began to mean not only a material agreement, but also a promise of love and fidelity. The groom wore an iron ring, which symbolized strength, and the bride - a gold or silver ring, as a sign of her tenderness and purity.
After the engagement
The relationship of the couple after the engagement also had a certain regulation, which different peoples curiously different. For example, in Italy, the betrothed could only meet in the bride's house, and even then in the presence of her mother. In Germany, morals were freer: the young entered into marital relations after the betrothal. In Spain, the period from the engagement to the wedding should not exceed three months - a delay in this period could become the basis for terminating the relationship. And in the same Germany, several years could pass from the exchange of rings to the marriage: the betrothed had to equip life in a separate house, and it took time to acquire property.
Where can I "try on" jewelry. The brand developers did their best, keeping in mind the main rule - the ring should fit perfectly, because the bride will wear it without taking it off. not for nothing famous proverb says: "The ring will cool down, and love will cool down."
