In our region, even those who completely distance themselves from any religion encounter this holiday. One summer morning, the sun begins to shine brighter, and the air is filled with summer fragrances. Suddenly you meet people who are smiling. They carry wildflowers and green branches of trees in their hands. The sun warms, the smells from the fields intensify, bees buzz, the number of people in a good mood increase, bells can be heard. If you go to church on this day, all this will be magnified a hundredfold: greenery and flowers in bunches and bundles, the smells of incense mixed with floral ones, liturgical singing and bells ... And now you are already going somewhere with a bunch of something green, a smile on your face, and all things suddenly become not so important.
This is how religious holidays are combined with ancient folk traditions in Ukraine. This is how the Christian Trinity is combined with the Green Holidays – a cycle of bright and colorful celebrations that originates in ancient pagan traditions.
Holy Trinity Day [1] – one of the main Christian holidays – has no fixed date, it is celebrated on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of Christ. On this day, a significant event occurred, described in the New Testament: the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire, which marked the beginning of the spread of Christianity.
On the feast of the Trinity, it is customary to decorate churches and one's own homes with greenery - fragrant herbs, flowers, tree branches. During the service, believers stand in the church with flowers in their hands, thereby expressing joy and gratitude to God for our spiritual life. Greenery here is a symbol of spiritual awakening, peace, and blessing. On this day, people weave wreaths from meadow plants, go on picnics in the forest or to the river, and have fun in every way. On this day, you should not work physically, cut down trees (so as not to disturb the spirits of nature), swim in open water (because mermaids will pull you into the whirlpool), and go to forest thickets (because there may be mavka or other spirits there).
Well, the holiday is on the doorstep, we wish all the good people in the world only good news! May the holiday of the Trinity help to find a flower of hope in desperate souls seeking salvation and become a source for those who, having found support, are established in goodness.!
Pavel Polliul
[1] The Holy Trinity is an important concept in most Christian teachings. This concept unites three persons (three faces, three images, three manifestations) of G-d, considers the essence of G-d in three persons. This concept is used by most Christian churches. Belief in the Holy Trinity is the first condition for joining the World Council of Churches.