ILYIN DAY

ILYIN DAY is a religious day for Slavic people. It is also a holiday of the summer cycle of Orthodox people dedicated to the Saint­ Prophet Iliya (Ilya). It is celebrated annually on August 2. According to the ethnic tradition, the prophet is a master of thunder, sky fire, rain, a protector of crops like Nicholas the Wondermaker. The believers thought that he rode the chariot in the sky, controlled lightnings, thunder and rain. I.d was considered to be a calendar delineation between summer and autumn. I.d. was the end of haymaking and people could start harvest work; they might take honey (in Duvanskiy, Mechetlinskiy, Belokatayskiy and other Districts) and eat potatoes from the new harvest. People forecasted the weather in autumn according to weather conditions in summer and defined the date of winter crop sowing (see Sign). The Maris celebrated the Holiday of new bread during the I.d. period with family prayers, baking bread using new flour, brewing beer; the eldest member of the family would kindle a candle on the edge of a plate with grain, thank the gods for the new harvest and asked for blessing for the new harvest. People held rituals to protect their houses, households and crops against heavy rains, hail and lightening. In I.d; it was forbidden to work so as not to make the prophet angry (see Taboos) and to swim after I.d. According to ethnic beliefs (Duvanskiy District) an evil spirit was banished after Trinity, but it came back in I.d.

S.I. Apsatarova, F.G. Galieva, I.G. Petrov