Parents Day is the ninth day after Easter. At this time, the deceased relatives are commemorated. How does this happen? Believing Orthodox Christians visit the graves of their loved ones and relatives, bringing to the departed souls the joyful news of Christ's Resurrection. Since Easter is really good news, the parental day also began to have a 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 burial mounds. This was also done so that the soul, which is still on earth for up to forty days, would enjoy the respect shown to it by the living. After some time, the names of these goddesses began to designate a commemoration: the ancient Slavs called this ritual Trizna, and modern people began to callspring commemoration of deceased relatives with Radonitsa (the same as parental day).
Tribute to the memory of the departed
Orthodoxy knows several memorial days throughout the year. All of them are called parent 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 does not fall on Saturday, but always on Tuesday (Fomin's week).
Today it is customary to visit the cemetery on Parents' Day not only as a tribute to the memory of deceased parents or relatives, but also to clean up their graves after winter. People remove last year's leaves, weed weeds, plant new artificial flowers or plant live ones, straighten fences, screw back photographs that have fallen off monuments, etc.
Spring is a time of awakening and purification
Parents' Day, whose date falls on spring days, is not accidentally celebrated at this time. The spring commemoration of the dead is given great religious significance in the cultural studies of Orthodox Christians. After all, spring is the awakening of mother nature and the whole world from winter sleep. The living at this time need the support of their ancestors. So people come to "talk" with their dead relatives and parents, to clean up their "houses".
Since Radonitsa is directly timed to coincide with Easter, on this day it is customary to bring colored eggs, Easter treats and make a memorial meal oncemetery. Part of the meal is given as a memorial to the soul of the deceased relative to the poor. This is exactly how, according to religious ideas, "communication" with people who have left us takes place. Together with our dead 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!
Folk 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 ancestor cult.
