Christmas

It is impossible to understand a country and its people without understanding their religious beliefs. Many customs and cultural traditions are associated with religion, which for centuries has determined historical destinies and types of thinking, moral concepts and the calendar circle. Let's try to trace the annual cycle of the church's most significant Christian holidays based on the work of I. S. Shmelev (1873-1950) "The Summer of the Lord".

In literary studies and linguoculturology, the following definitions have recently been applied to Ivan Shmelev's works: Orthodox-colored texts and religiously oriented texts. The theme of historical and ancestral memory largely unites these authors.

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Whatever the plot of the later works of I. S. Shmelev, he evaluated all the events and actions of the characters from the Christian point of view, from the position of an Orthodox person. His "Summer of the Lord" and "Pilgrimage" transport the reader to the atmosphere of Orthodox Moscow at the end of the XIX century.

Let's go on a journey through the Orthodox calendar, but breaking the sequence of the festive cycle proposed by the writer, we will start with Christmas: "Our Christmas is coming from afar, quietly. Deeper snows, stronger frosts. When you see the frozen pigs being delivered, Christmas is coming soon...

And the frost is so cold that the air freezes. Frost stands, foggy, smoky. And the wagons are pulling - for Christmas...

Frosty Russia, a ... it's warm!..

It smells of polished floors, mastic, and Christmas trees. The lamps are not lit, but all the lamps are. The stoves crackle and burn. Quiet light, holy...

Shelter the Magi,

Holy strechayte,

Christmas has come,

Let's start the celebration!

A star is coming with us,

He sings a prayer..."

Christmas is one of the main Christian holidays and is considered the second most important holiday after Easter. Even in the second century, Christians did not know the feast of the Nativity of Christ, they celebrated only the winter January holiday of the "appearance and baptism of Christ". Since the middle of the fourth century, the Christian Church has modified the celebration of the "great sun God", turning it into the Nativity of Christ. The first to celebrate it were the Christian communities of Rome. In the tenth century, together with Christianity, the holiday began to spread to Russia, where it merged with the winter Old Slavic holiday in honor of the spirits of ancestors (Yuletide), the remnants of which have been preserved in" Yuletide " rites (mummers, fortune-telling) to this day.

The exact date of the Birth of Christ is not specified in the Gospel, so even in the first centuries of Christianity, the Church timed this day to coincide with the winter solstice, which symbolizes the victory of light over darkness.

Christmas is preceded by a forty-day fast, its last day, Christmas Eve , is Christmas Eve (sochevnik) - a day of particularly strict fasting, when until the evening star it is necessary to eat sochiv - soaked bread grains: "We fasted for six weeks and ate fish. Who is richer-beluga, sturgeon, walleye, navazhka; poorer-herring, catfish, bream... We have a lot of fish in Russia. But for Christmas -

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pork, everything. The meat shops used to have frozen pigs piled up to the ceiling like logs. The hams are chopped off, ready for salting. So they lay there in rows, pink streaks visible, powdered with snow...

On Christmas Eve, on Christmas Day, we used to eat until the end of the day. Kutya was made from wheat and honey; the brew was made from prunes, pears, and sears... They put it under a tree, on hay. Why?... As if it were a gift to Christ. Well ... like. He's in the manger in the hay. You used to wait for a star and wipe all the windows. There's ice on the windows, from the cold. Here, brother, is beauty!.."

Since the time of Peter I, the custom of decorating a Christmas tree with a star - the symbol of the Star of Bethlehem-has gradually become established in Russia: "Before Christmas, three days in advance, in the markets, in the squares, there is a forest of fir trees. And what Christmas trees! There is as much of this stuff in Russia as you want." With the image of the star, it was customary to go from house to house, singing carols - songs praising Christ and His Nativity.

On Christmas Day, a nightly service is usually held to help you relive the events of that long-ago night. A bright festive mood deeply sank into the soul of a believer and was reflected in many works of literature, fine art, and music.

In" The Lord's Summer " by I. S. Shmelev, the main idea is: Christ is at the center of life. And no matter how lavishly and colorfully the author draws Orthodox holidays, Russian cuisine, which he knew and loved , everything is subordinated to the main thing - "everything is for Him, He is everywhere": "To the all-night vigil. You will put on felt boots, a sheepskin coat made of sheep, a hat, a hat-the frost does not sting. When you get out, it's a melodious chime. And the stars. If you touch the gate,it'll crackle. Frost! The snow is blue, strong, and squeaks thinly. There are snowdrifts and mountains on the street. There are pink lights in the windows. And the air... "blue, silvery with dust, smoky, starry. The gardens are smoking. Birches - white visions. Jackdaws sleep in them. Fiery smoke columns, high, up to the stars. Starry ringing, melodious, - floats, does not stop; sleepy, ringing-miracle, ringing-vision, praises God in the highest, - Christmas."

Each holiday Shmelev depicted as if in three spatial points: in Moscow, in the church, in the family (which was repeatedly noted by critics). Festive time corresponds to the festive nature of the space of the house and the world around it. The concept of the unity of time and space is reflected in the circular frame of the text. It symbolizes the eternal movement of time in a circle: the cycle of holidays and rituals seen through the eyes of a child reflects the author's perception of the infinity of life: so it was before us and so it will be.

Space in the perception of I. S. Shmelev is both the world of nature and the world of a human observer. Both of them are animated and, in the author's understanding, are inseparable from each other, are equally significant for a person and are connected with the idea of eternity.

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A special feature of the chapter "Christmas" is that the method chosen by the author in other chapters - narration on behalf of a child-gives way to the narrator-an adult. Here the addressee is the writer himself, and the addressee is both little Yves (Yves Gentiliom-godson of I. S. Shmelev), and all of us, readers. The chapter is built on the principle of juxtaposition: "here and now", in Paris, and "then", in Moscow, in Russia: "Here it (snow) is rare, it will fall and melt. And here, when it's raining down , you can't see the light for three days."

I. S. Shmelev's description of Christmas reveals a special lyrical and at the same time solemn intonation: "You are coming from church. Everything is different. Snow is holy. And the stars - holy, new, Christmas stars. Christmas!"

The tradition of celebrating Christmas in old Russia will be supplemented by the description of Boris Zaitsev: "Christmas at the Vernadskys took place according to the exact ritual: on the first day priests appeared, sang "Your Christmas, O Christ of our God"; Natalia Grigoryevna fed them ham, treated them to liqueurs, madera... Then there were endless visits from various ladies... we ate cakes. All day they came to congratulate me from the back door. Natalia Grigorievna changed the little things in advance...

Professor (...) As he sipped his coffee, he told me at length that the custom of celebrating Christmas dates back to ancient times, pre-Christian. Its prototype can be found in Roman Saturnalia, where they also gave each other candles, nuts, toys "("Blue Star").

New Year, Christmas, and Yuletide are our people's favorite holidays. An amazing lyricist of prose B. K. Zaitsev, being far from his homeland, wrote: "There is always something exciting in the New Year's meeting-both sharp and bitter - a kind of monument to the passing life, opening the horizon of a new one. You count the wounds, the joys. You wait for new ones, and more clearly than ever, you feel the mysterious, sad and joyful flight of time..."

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