Annunciation 2023: what is celebrated on this day and what are the folk signs

Every year on April 7, Eastern Rite Christians celebrate the Annunciation, one of the most important church holidays after Christmas and Easter. This holiday is associated with a special event in the life of the Virgin Mary, when the Archangel Gabriel told her that she would give birth to the Son of God, i.e. bring good news. The Annunciation is celebrated 9 months before Christmas, which corresponds to the duration of pregnancy. On this day, the Virgin Mary learned of her pregnancy and gave birth to Jesus on Christmas Day.

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Traditions for the Annunciation

During the Annunciation, solemn liturgies are held in churches, during which priests wear blue vestments. After the liturgy, white doves are released into the sky as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. On this day, believers can also attend worship and pray, as it is believed that on the Annunciation the heavens open and the Lord hears all prayers.

The Annunciation is also celebrated with a communal feast. Although Lent is still in progress in 2023, fish and seafood are allowed to be eaten in honor of this holiday. Also, on the Annunciation, salt is blessed in the church, which is then used to salt dishes.

On this day, prosphora are blessed in the church. Then the beekeeper crumbles the prosphora and pours it into honey "so that the bees swarm," and the sower mixes it with the ground and sows it in the four corners of the field "so that the rain cloud does not pass over the field"; the prosphora is buried in the ground "so that the hail does not damage the crops."

Believers prepare for the holiday in advance: they clean the house, wash bedding and tablecloths, and take out old things. In the time of Kievan Rus, the Annunciation marked the arrival of real spring and the beginning of a new cycle of life. Therefore, cleaning from all negative and unnecessary things was considered a symbol of cleansing the body and soul before the holiday.

Traditionally, on the Annunciation, people are also treated to delicacies, including cookies in the shape of swallows, which are a symbol of spring and the coming summer. Swallows are considered to be the heralds of spring, so cookies in their shape symbolize the return of nature to life after winter dormancy.

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Folk signs for the Annunciation

• The weather on the Annunciation is the same on Easter;
• If there is still snow on the roofs on April 7, there will be snow in the fields on May 1 and 6;
• As this day is, so is the end of the month;
• If the sun rises in a clear sky on Annunciation, it is early spring, if it rises at noon, it is middle spring, and if it is clear in the evening, it is late spring;
• If on April 7 the sun shines until noon and then hides behind the clouds, the corn will be early, but if it looks out from behind the clouds only in the afternoon, the corn will be late. If it's cloudy or rainy that day, the corn will not yield any crops;
• The night before the Annunciation: if it is warm, the spring will be friendly; if a wet towel dries outside during the night, the year will be fruitful, if it is half dry, it will be an average harvest, and if it remains wet or freezes, it will be a wet summer;
• If it is very warm on the Annunciation, it will be cold on Easter;
• Annunciation without swallows means a cold spring;
• If frogs appear and then disappear, it will be cold for a long time;
• Good weather on the Annunciation means a good harvest;
• If there are stars in the evening, then hemp will grow;
• If it is snowing on the Annunciation, the summer harvest will be poor;
• If on the Annunciation the rooster drinks on the doorstep, St. George's Day the ox will graze.

Earlier, it became known when Ukraine will celebrate Easter 2023 and whether there will be an additional weekend for the holiday.

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