Maundy Thursday falls on a different date each year depending on when Christians celebrate Easter. It is known for sure that this is the last Thursday before Easter; it always takes place within the framework of Great or Holy Week. What are the customs for Maundy Thursday 2018 and what signs must be taken into account on this day?
This year, Orthodox believers will have Maundy Thursday on April 5, because Easter falls on April 8. It is worth preparing for this day in advance, because there are many rituals, customs and traditions that have been preserved for Maundy Thursday, the implementation of which can improve all areas of a person’s life. If, of course, you try and know in advance what to ask for from higher powers.
What rituals to perform
Why did this particular day of Holy Week receive such a name? All because on Thursday you need to bring your body, soul, and also your home into a good, clean condition in every sense of the word. The soul is cleansed by prayers and repentance, the body is cleansed by fasting and water, and the house is cleansed by cleaning. For cleaning the house and for one’s own body, there are certain Maundy Thursday rituals that will help improve health and other areas of a person’s life. You can also cook it.
Clean Thursday includes mandatory swimming in open water. If this is not possible, then before sunrise you just need to take a contrast shower. Be sure to complete all cleaning and laundry in the house on Maundy Thursday, because these activities will no longer be possible until the Red Hill holiday, which is still more than a week away from Good Friday.
To attract good luck to your home on Maundy Thursday, you need to add a little fines to the water for washing windows and doorways. Wash the windows, telling them to keep money in the house and not transfer it this year. After finishing cleaning, pour the water under the tree, and put the small change in a fabric bag and store it in the red corner.
As for the signs that it is simply impossible not to mention during this story, fortune telling for the next year should be noted. You need to get up early in the morning and look out the window. Depending on what you see, you can make predictions for this year. An old woman promises bad luck, especially if she carries an empty bag or bucket. If a man catches your eye first, it is good luck and good fortune. If there is a family, this means family well-being. Seeing a child means she is studying a lot this year, the young woman promises happiness in the family.
What not to do in:
During the church service on the evening of Maundy Thursday, you cannot sit. Because the Divine service is called “passion” or “great standing”.
You need to stand for the service with lit candles, and then bring them home. If the candle does not go out along the way, then you need to light all the lamps at home from it - this will ensure happiness and well-being throughout the year.
You cannot eat any animal products on this day, because Lent continues.
It is imperative to complete the general cleaning of the house, because, from Good Friday, cleaning the home will no longer be possible. If the house is dirty on Maundy Thursday, then it was believed that there would be dirt and quarrels in the house throughout the year.
After cleaning, dirty water should be poured outside the house so as not to accumulate negative energy. It is best to pour this water in a place where nothing grows.
You cannot leave unwashed dishes or unwashed clothes in the evening.
Until the whole house is cleaned, on Maundy Thursday you cannot start preparing Easter cakes and coloring eggs. Although, after completing the cleaning on this day, it is possible and even necessary to prepare a festive table.
The signs for Maundy Thursday, as you can see, are quite extensive. If you don’t try in advance, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to do everything in time. I would like to remind you that you can clean the house and do a lot of laundry before Maundy Thursday throughout the beginning of Holy Week. If you plan everything correctly, starting from Holy Monday, then you will definitely be able to get a lot done before Good Friday.
Since ancient times, it has been customary to clean the house on Maundy Thursday. Housewives must not only wash the floor and wipe off the dust, but also get rid of unnecessary things and, most importantly, cleanse their home of negativity. Mentally say goodbye to all quarrels and insults and greet the holiday with a light soul.
Wash
In addition to general cleaning, on Maundy Thursday it is customary to do a lot of laundry. Be sure to change bed linen, wash curtains, bedspreads and other textiles. After such a ritual, you will immediately notice how light it is, how your home has changed.
Bake Easter cake
On Maundy Thursday you can and even need to bake Easter cake. It is believed that you need to do this with bright thoughts, only in this case the result will please you. In some countries, it is still customary to bake large quantities of paskas in order to treat relatives, friends and neighbors with them on Maundy Thursday.
Color the eggs
Along with baking Easter cakes, one of the main traditions of Maundy Thursday is the painting of Easter eggs. Be sure to involve your children in this activity. We are sure that the kids will be delighted. Moreover, there are a huge number of ways.
Get a haircut
Many of you are probably wondering whether you can get a haircut on Maundy Thursday. It turns out that haircuts on this day have magical properties. It is believed that when you cut your hair, you get rid of failures and accumulated negativity. In addition, some mothers prefer to cut their child’s hair for the first time on Maundy Thursday. According to beliefs, this will contribute to the baby’s growth and rapid development.
Take a bath
After all the household chores, do not forget to take time for yourself. Be sure to take a bath, because water on this day is considered very beneficial. At the same time, do not forget to think about the good, and drive away all bad thoughts.
What should you not do on Maundy Thursday?
As throughout Lent, you should not eat meat or other prohibited foods on this day. In addition, excessive fun is not encouraged on Maundy Thursday. Try to spend the day as calmly as possible - do household chores, go for a walk with your child and be inspired by the beauty of spring nature.
Many people know that before Easter an important day of the week is celebrated, which is called Maundy Thursday. Such an event is not distinguished by its brightness, but at the same time it is considered a rather significant event for Orthodox Christians. This holiday is very important for many, so it cannot be said that it is a simple holiday.
The importance of this day is endowed with special signs, which we will talk about later, but first of all, I want to know what to do on Maundy Thursday? For example, on this significant day you need to forever abandon your fears and any worries. Bad and sinful thoughts, as well as selfish goals, should forever remain in the past. After all, you cannot enter into the Bright Day of Easter with “this.” But how can we separate ourselves from such problems, because sometimes it is not so easy and what needs to be done for this?
This Thursday is considered a special day; it is endowed with unusual magical powers, and also has its own customs and traditions, which have deep roots of their origin. It is not without reason that people carry out with great responsibility some superstitions that have been around for a long time.
Washing
Waking up early in the morning on this day, you need to wash your face “with silver,” that is, with any silver utensil, even if it is a simple spoon. When performing such actions, it is believed that a person will not get sick all year. Sick people should be washed with borrowed silver coins. A stolen or borrowed coin is believed to lead to a quick recovery.
Cleaning
Of course, almost everyone knows that on this Great Day there is a general cleaning of the house. Clean the floor well and wash all corners. Fulfilling such an Orthodox task leads to purification. They take out all the rubbish, old trash, it is necessary to remove all the cobwebs and clean all the corners in the house.
If something has been lying around for a whole year, then it must be given to the poor or needy people. This procedure removes negativity from the house. Frees from evil spirits and removes negative energy.
Even in the old days, they noticed that in a house in which there is litter, various quarrels, discords and squabbles often occur. This happens due to the accumulation of negative energy, which allows bad thoughts to arise. As a result, bad words and plans appear. People begin to quarrel and think badly of each other, resulting in discord.
Bathing
It is believed that it is necessary to swim just before the sun rises. To stay in good health and achieve success in everything, you need to properly cleanse your body. After all, in the morning, even that water that is considered simple is endowed with special power.
Before you start bathing, you must read a prayer, you can do this silently or out loud, then repent and give thanks for everything that a person has at the moment. While bathing, you need to imagine how the water takes away with it all the negativity that is washed off from the body. Many people perform such procedures at home in the bathroom. To do this, get into the shower and imagine how all the negativity goes away along with the dirty water. Then they are doused with cool water from a ladle.
The main custom of Maundy Thursday
This custom involves baking the well-known Easter cakes. Previously, the dough was put out in the morning, and then in the late afternoon prayers were read and the housewives began baking. At the moment, there is fast-acting yeast, so the dough does not have to be made early in the morning. It needs less time to ferment. But be that as it may, baking should be done in the evening of this day. Therefore, everyone decides for themselves when it is convenient for them to knead the dough.
This custom is fraught with special secrets. It’s not in vain that this particular day was chosen for baking. The fact is that it is by the resulting Easter cakes that one judges how a given year will go for a person, that is, if they turn out beautiful, fluffy, rosy, then the year promises joy and prosperity, and if not, then the year will be unsuccessful.
Signs of a special day
One of the surest signs is a “deep” cleaning of the entire home. In the old days they said that if there is no purity, there will be no good. Based on this, you cannot celebrate Easter without cleaning the house. In addition, cleaning is carried out until Maundy Thursday. Because the rest of the days are spent in prayer, being in strict fasting.
Also, the beliefs of the people, which have been observed for years, say that on this day it was impossible to give away anything from one’s own home. Because it was believed that you were giving away your wealth and well-being.
On this special day, you need to bring a candle from church, which will protect the health of all family members living in this house. Also, many who know prepare special salt; for this they take simple salt and bake it in the oven or any oven. After this, she is taken to the church and illuminated there. Such salt will have healing powers that will help in getting rid of certain diseases.
For a long time in Rus', on such a day, they brought a candle from the church, went up to the attic and called upon otherworldly forces in order to find out what kind of year they were promised, that is, rich and fertile or meager and poor. As people believed, this place where the brownie lived was special, and if a person saw a shaggy brownie, then the year promised to be rich, but if it was the other way around, that is, the brownie was bald, then the year would be hungry.
It was not uncommon for many daredevils to go into the forest to find out from the devil about their future. To do this, it was necessary to climb an aspen or birch tree, since it was believed that aspen is a cursed tree, and birch is closely connected with dead souls. After which they took off their cross and called the “forest spirit,” who appeared and answered the questions put to him. Many people were afraid to go into the forest that day, but the brave ones received answers to all their questions.
You can, of course, not believe in the ancient signs of our ancestors, but as popular wisdom says, they accumulated over the years and were not fictitious, but very real. After all, many people, turning to signs, could be convinced, and then find out whether the goblin told them the truth. Maundy Thursday is still considered an important holiday for Orthodox Christians, who carry out with full responsibility many of the customs that came to us from their ancestors.
Maundy Thursday is also called Great or Holy Thursday. On this day, active preparations for Easter begin. On Maundy Thursday there are a number of customs that should be followed, but there are also things that are not advisable to do.
How to start the day right?
Clean Thursday is clean to wash away all the dirt. And we are talking not only about the body, but also about the soul and thoughts. On this day, it is customary to swim on Wednesday night or early in the morning, before sunrise. It is believed that water today has special powers, like at baptism, and therefore is able to cleanse the soul of sadness. And you need to ask God so that all diseases go away with water.
Why Thursday? This must have happened because of the custom of baptizing people on the eve of Easter - on Holy Saturday. In ancient times, cutting and washing were considered a lot of work, and you couldn’t work on holidays, so that’s how the preparation took place.
On the morning of the holiday, you need to go to church to confess and receive communion. After all, cooking Easter cakes and Easter cakes is allowed only with a pure soul and thoughts. You need to take a candle with you from the temple so that it provides comfort and protects family members.
Cleaning the house on holiday
You need to “redeem” not only yourself, but also the house. On this day, it is advisable to wash the floors from the farthest corners to the threshold, and dirty water should be poured as far as possible from the home. This way you will remove all negativity from your home. After Thursday, cleaning is no longer possible. It is believed that on Maundy Thursday, long-lost items can be found during cleaning.
You can make “Thursday salt”, which will protect your home all year long. To do this, after bathing, family members should throw a handful of salt into a bag and bake it. Previously, such salt was added to water when washing floors and used as a “cure” for diseases. It was believed that it had healing powers.
On this day you need to fast, because Holy Week is not over yet. And this is the strictest and most important post in the Orthodox faith.
What is prohibited?
You can’t try holiday dishes yet, and you can’t drink alcohol either. Also, during fasting you should not allow bad thoughts, become despondent and angry, swear and be offended. It is believed that Easter cakes should not be tasted until Sunday, even by those who do not fast.
You can’t cook Easter cakes or paint eggs before you’ve cleaned the house. Making Easter cakes is a serious ritual. Not only the heart must be clean, but also the house in which the food is prepared.
You cannot leave dirty dishes or soak laundry on Friday night. It is believed that whoever stirs up dirt in the house will live in quarrels all year.
But at the same time, you cannot clean at the expense of going to church or praying. Everything must be done in a timely manner: if you cleanse your soul, you can also cleanse your house.
You cannot borrow or lend money on this day. In general, it’s better not to give anything from home, not even salt to your neighbor. It is better to refuse, because it is believed that in this way a person gives away wealth and well-being.
Maundy Thursday (Maundy Thursday)
. H Maundy Thursday is a day of cleanliness. Whoever has dirt in his house on this day will be in dirt and quarrel all year.
. Small children get their hair cut for the first time on Maundy Thursday (if they are already six months old, or better yet, a year old). On this day, a little wool is cut off from all livestock for its well-being.
. IN Clean Thursday they clean up in the morning, wash everything, otherwise they will be surrounded by dirt, quarrels and illnesses all year. From this day until Easter, nothing is given away from home.
. To make money, you need to count all the money three times, shoot a gun (if you have one), and rearrange the furniture.
. IN Everyone in the family take a handful of salt and pour it into one bag - this will be called “Thursday salt.” It is removed and stored in case it is necessary to treat someone, make a talisman for the family, home, garden, etc. If there are often quarrels in the family, then they put it in the food with a curse: “Salt, salt, sprinkle, happiness and peace I'm returning it to the house. Amen". For the purpose of prevention and in minor cases, use this spell and ordinary salt.
. You can remove deliberate damage today. Wash before dawn, saying: “I wash away what they put on me, what my soul and body are tossing around with, everything is removed on Clean Thursday. Amen".
.H so that the fellows love and are not ignored, they say when washing: “Just as Maundy Thursday is bright and red, so I will be a beautiful slave (name) for everyone. Amen".
. On Friday night they do not sleep, but pray.
. N You should make a talisman against the sorcerer, in case he cannot pin his or someone else’s illness on you. Knead the dough and make as many flat cakes as there are people in your family. Before baking them, draw crosses on them and say: “I renounce with the sign of the cross, the bread given by God, from the deeds and illnesses of sorcerers of all stripes, from all volosts. Once this cake is digested in me, it will turn into shit, so whatever the sorcerer started against my family will turn into shit for him.” The flatbreads are eaten by family members.
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