Parent's day is the ninth day after the Easter holiday. At this time, the deceased relatives are commemorated . How does this happen? Believers Orthodox Christians visit the graves of their near and dear ones, bringing the deceased souls the joyful news of Christ's Resurrection. Since Easter is really good news, the parental day began to bear the second name - Radonitsa (or Radunitsa).
There is another version of the origin of this name. The fact is that Radonitsa (and Trizna) are the names of goddesses who are the guardians of dead souls. Previously, people sacrificed plentiful food to these deities, leaving them on the burial mounds. This was done so that the soul, which is still on the earth for forty days, enjoys the respect shown to it by the living. After some time, the names of these goddesses began to mean the wake: the ancient Slavs called this ritual Trizny, and modern people began to call the spring wake of the deceased relatives of Radonitsa (the same as the parent's day).
Tribute to the dead
Orthodoxy knows several funeral days throughout the year. All of them are called parental Saturdays, since most of them fall on Saturdays. But Radonitsa is perhaps the most massive parental day. It does not have a specific date and falls not on Saturday, but always on Tuesday (in Fomina week).
Today it is customary to visit the cemetery on parental day, not only as a tribute to the deceased parents or relatives, but also to restore order after winter in their graves. People clean last year’s leaves, weed, plant new artificial flowers or plant live ones, straighten fences, screw photos that have fallen from the monuments into place, etc.
Spring is a time of awakening and purification!
Parent day, the date of which falls on spring days, is not accidentally celebrated at this time. Huge religious significance in the cultural studies of Orthodox Christians is given to the spring commemoration of the deceased. After all, spring is the awakening of mother nature and the whole world from winter sleep. Living at this time needs the support of their ancestors. So people come to "talk" with their deceased relatives and parents, to put things in order in their "houses".
Since Radonitsa is directly confined to Easter, on this day it is customary to bring colored eggs, Easter treats and make a memorial meal in the cemetery. Part of the meal is given for a trace of the soul of a deceased relative to poor people. That is, according to religious beliefs, "communication" with people who have left us occurs. Together with the deceased relatives, we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, his unconditional victory over death, we rejoice that they too were able to be reborn in a new - Eternal Life!
Popular belief
It is believed that on the ninth day after Easter, the dead, inspired by the Great Resurrection of the Lord, come out of their graves and rejoice that their children and relatives remember them. This belief is a kind of cult of ancestors.