Every year, December 18, the Orthodox prepare for the great Christian holiday of the Epiphany of the Lord or Baptism. It is believed that this is the third most important of the twelve major holidays of the church, after Easter and Christmas.
All day before the holiday the Orthodox should carefully prepare for the upcoming Epiphany. Women diligently cleaned houses, as it was believed that rubbish should be swept out of the most inaccessible places. The sacred meaning of the coming great holiday was the cleansing of all bad things, the liberation from sins through ablution or immersion in holy water. The more precise meaning of the Greek concept, which came into the Orthodox tradition as baptism, implies taking on itself the creed. However, the word "baptism" in itself means liberating immersion. So, John the Baptist (Baptist) christened Jesus Christ in the Jordan River. He immersed it in water for a short time, having performed a cleansing bath.
When we speak of cleansing ablution, it is precisely spiritual cleansing and deliverance from sins, as well as rebirth in the new Christian life. According to biblical texts, John immediately found out who had come to him, and answered the request of Jesus to baptize him: "I need to be baptized from you." But the life of the Savior was an example in everything, an absolute standard of the will of the Lord, therefore Jesus requested baptism with humility.
The second name of the holiday is Epiphany, as God revealed himself to the world in three aspects of his unity: God the Father testified of Jesus Christ, and people heard the voice of God coming from heaven; God the Son was baptized in the Jordan River; The Holy Spirit descended from heaven and descended, sitting a dove on Jesus' shoulder.
The Orthodox holiday of Baptism consisted of an all-night vigil, after which the Great Blessing of Sanctuary takes place. An all-night vigil consists of such parts of the church service: the Great Compline, lithium, matins, and the first hour.
No food was allowed on the day before Baptism; the rule was mandatory for all but small children, the sick, and the elderly. After cleaning in the dwellings, closer to night, the Epiphany Eve began, which, in fact, was evening preparation for the upcoming holiday. He is called the Consecration of the Baptism of the Lord.
In the evening, it was decided to gather for family feasts. As a rule, these were members of the same kind, because Christmas Eve is a family dinner or supper. On the table without fail put a special dish-july. From this tradition the name of the ritual dinner came - the Epiphany Eve.
Now the meaning and understanding of cooking the main course of the evening is almost lost, and in the old days this was given special importance. The eldest woman of the clan cooked orally. It was she who was responsible before God for the well-being and health of all family members. After prayer, she took a clay vessel with thick walls. Clay symbolized the connection with the land, which was important in the system of peasant beliefs. In a vessel with a wooden pestle (it was made from linden), the seeds of the plants were ground until the juice was secreted, hence the name of the dish - juicy.
This process took place in complete silence. A woman rubbed poppy or nuts in a circular motion clockwise. Poppy symbolized prosperity, nuts - prosperity, mortar movements in a circle included the family in the cycle of life on earth. In Ukrainian, the pestle is called "mogogon". Grinding the ingredients, the woman represented each member of the family, starting with the elder. She represented her native man as healthy and strong, asking God to bless him. She did so until everyone remembered, even distant relatives. Then the resulting mass was combined with boiled wheat seeds and honey. This dish, which was being prepared on the Epiphany Eve, is called “hungry kutya,” and they tried to make the feast this evening as modest as possible.
The presence on the table is juicy, the injunction not to eat food on the eve of the holiday and a family feast. These signs combine Epiphany and Christmas Eve. After a family meal, adult family members gathered for service.
There were many traditions that were committed on the Epiphany Eve. Snow from the stacks was considered a universal tool for bleaching linen canvas, and the girls used it to make the skin snow-white. It was believed that several handfuls of such snow thrown into the well would protect the source from drying out. Epiphany snow was collected in a special closed container and put in the dark, for the image - it was considered a powerful medicine.
The most interesting was how believers determined the moment of the coming of the Feast of the Epiphany. Toward midnight, a wide bowl of water was placed on the table, near which they tried not to talk or to make sudden movements. It was believed that at the very moment when God opens the heavens in order to shed grace on the earth and sanctify water, the water surface in the vessel comes into motion. People say: "At night, the water itself ripples." It was believed that after this, for several minutes, the heavens remain open, if you have time to make a secret desire, looking into the sky, it will certainly come true.