Tomorrow is a red letter, the holiday Good Friday.
The Orthodox Church and its believers celebrate tomorrow Big Fridaythe day when Jesus Christ was crucified on Golgotha. As Jesus prophesied at the Last Supper, before Friday morning the apostle Peter, fearing that he too would be imprisoned and punished, denied his Lord three times. Realizing what he had done, he immediately repented in bitter tears. The traitor Judas, when he found out that Jesus was sentenced to death, was tormented by a guilty conscience and hanged himself. On that day, the church remembers the events that immediately preceded the crucifixion.
Starting from the bringing of Jesus Christ before the court of Pontius Pilate, the failed attempt to accuse him, until the loud shouting of the Judean people: “Crucify him
a!” Then, carrying the cross through the city, on the way to Golgotha, crucifixion and forgiving the executioners with the words: “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing”.
Egg painting
There is no liturgy on Good Friday, unless it is the Annunciation. He fasts strictly, and only eats dry bread and drinks water. It is customary to paint Easter eggs, usually red, which symbolizes the blood of Christ.
There is also no singing, no rejoicing, and from Maundy Thursday to Easter, the Sunday when Jesus was resurrected, the church bells do not ring, because in the Orthodox Church they are a sign of joy, but the time of worship and announcement of the dead is announced with a wooden clapper. On this day, women traditionally paint Easter eggs and prepare a rich family meal for the upcoming holiday. The housewife first crosses herself and prays to God, then adds a little holy water, Easter or Epiphany, to the vessel with water, in which she will cook and dye the eggs. The first colored egg is set aside until the next Easter and is called the “keeper’s egg”.
Nothing is done from housework
Good Friday is strictly observed. That day is a red letter, so that’s why he does nothing either from household or field work. Women on that day, at any cost, they must not pick up a needle, because it is believed that blisters will break out on their hands. On that day, a strict fast is observed, no fire is lit in the house, no cooking is done, and even bread is not kneaded that morning. However, Serbs believe that the saddest day in Christianity is the best for grafting fruit because “everything that is grafted on that day is accepted.” They also believe that on Good Friday you should not eat nettles, and apart from this there are even more strange non-Christian customs and beliefs, such as the one that anyone who has been stabbed in the stomach should put the skin of a newly killed rabbit on the sore spot on that day, as well as that a barren woman who wants children, he should drink some blood (?!) of a rabbit killed on that day?!
In some parts of Serbia, it is believed that girls who steal flowers from the church gate on Good Friday and put them under their pillow on the night before Holy Saturday will dream of their future husband. It is also believed that the one who washes his hair on Good Friday will not have a headache for the whole next year, as well as that the house should be swept a little with a broom, and then throw the broom away, and with it all the evil from the house and household.
(MONDO/Kurir)