Today we’re celebrating a wonderful holiday in Russia – the Day of family, love and faithfulness! Sometimes we call it Lover's Day. It is observed on the 8th of July and commemorates the happiness in marriage. It’s common knowledge that having a friendly and safe family is the dream of every person. Family is the most reliable form of living, which gives a sense of security, warmth, comfort and support in life. So, the holiday unites people under the main value of any human being - the family
The history of this holiday is very interesting and goes back to the story of Duke Peter and peasant woman Fevronia who healed the Duke from a deadly disease (XIII century, the city of Murom). They fell in love and got married. But the aristocrats were unhappy with the new duchess and tried to get rid of her by asking her to leave their town and take whatever riches she wanted. She agreed to leave but instead of riches, she took her husband. After the couple left the aristocrats spent years fighting over the reign of the Murom town and eventually they were forced to return the Duke and Duchess.
The last days of their lives the Duke and his Duchess spent in monasteries. The couple prayed to die on the same day and asked to be buried in the same grave. They did die on the same day on the 8th of July, 1228. But according to the Russian Orthodox Church a monk and a nun could not be buried in one grave and therefore their bodies were buried in two separate graves. Then a day after the funeral their bodies were found in one coffin. People tried to separate them again, but the very next day they were found together again. Today, they are still in one grave. In 1552 they were canonized. The couple is considered to be the patrons of marriage and family. On Lover's day it is a custom to go to the church to pray for love (amongst younger people) and for happiness in marriage (for married people).
The symbol of the celebration is camomile (daisy). This wild Russian flower is the sign of loyalty and purity!
The holiday is traditionally accompanied by a wedding dash. Couples who get married on July 8th are said to be patronized by Saints Peter and Fevronia.
There’re 37 monuments to Peter and Fevronia in several cities of Russia.
Dear friends, family is the source of love and respect! I wish all of you happiness, family well-being, love and understanding, warmth, and care FOREVER!
This is a very beautiful song “Give camomiles to the people you love”. It is about praying to Peter and Fevronia to ask to give people hope love and faith. (Sorry, it's in Russian, but very beautiful).
“Light a candle today
And ignite the hearts of love
Try to be together for ever
Ask for intercession!
Give camomiles to the people you love
They’re the symbol of
Loyalty and purity!”
Do you have a similar holiday in your country?
Comments
Helloooo, my dear Hala!
What a great start of the day! Today in the morning I’ve signed in EC and seen your lovely comment! You can’t imagine, Hala, how glad I am to hear from you! For me it’s like a miracle to see all of our friends here commenting, discussing! I always remember the days when we all were active and had fun here on EC. I still hope that Gabriel and Tawfeeq and you and Rajesh and all our friends will come up with some interesting ideas, blogs, maybe in Rajesh’s virtual classroom. Hala, maybe, you’ll start some class if you have a free time, of course.
As for the blog, I’m very glad that you like this beautiful and important tradition. There’s a lot of violence nowadays in the world: in your country, in Iraq, in Ukraine ( near Russia – have you heard about it?). So, observing such traditions will help us to keep peace, as family, children, love and beauty are incompatible with terrorism, war and violence.
I wish you, Hala, peace, happiness, love and friendly family from the bottom of my heart!
Hello Galina!
I'm so happy to see you here again with a wonderful blog as usual . Your presence always makes a difference by your informative blogs and your kind and encouraging comments .
It's so nice to know this important celebration in your country , the day of family and love I believe that the strong bond of love between people and the well-built family are the essence of building any good society . Thank you so much Galina for sharing the great history and information about this day ! Best wishes, dear!
Thank you, thank you so much! :) I am also glad to see you here again. Have a lovely day!
Wow! Rajesh! What a pleasant surprise! You've come back! Aa far as I remember you were not active on EC even more than I! I'm glad to see you again here!
You're absolutely right about young generation and especially boys. Some of them even don't know about this holiday. The reason is that during 70 years of the USSR most of religious traditions as well as churches were destroyed. Now we can observe the revival of some of them. This holiday has been celebrated since 2008. People congratulate each other and wish love and happiness. Some of them give camomiles to the girls! I think it's very beautiful! I'd be very happy to get a bunch of camomiles! Many young couples like to come up to the monuments of Peter and Fevronia and ask protection for their love. It's a very good tradition to do it during the wedding. In all cities there're concerts in the squares where we can hear songs about love and family.
I wish you to enjoy all the pleasures of real love!
Noas, I know you're a modest person. I always enjoy reading your blogs and I learn a lot from you!
Helloooo, Tawfeeq! I’m also so happy that we all have gathered after a long period of absence! It’s great to meet all of you here on EC again. I have a feeling that I’m communicating with some close people whom I know very well and appreciate a lot! I miss your poetic blogs. Of course, I understand that the situation in your country doesn’t inspire you to write them.
So, on this miraculous day I wish to all of us peace and harmony!
Tawfeeq, it’s not surprising you like this wonderful story! Having a poetic nature and rich imagination, you yourself is a great specialist in writing amazing blogs.
Thanks a lot for all your kind words and wish you love and happiness!
Interesting! I'd be glad knowing, how do the people of today's generation celebrate it, specially youth....? :)
Thank you for sharing this interesting info, dear teacher Galina! <3
Galina, I'm not a great expert on blogs. LOL. I wish I were. I am still learning. The number is crawling as compared to some other bloggers.
A wonderful love story .The love united Saints Peter and Fevronia’s hearts when they were alive and after their death too .They asked God to be dead in same day and God got their wishes .This was a great indication that God loved them as much as they loved Him .
No doubt , people when they celebrate in this day ,they remind each other that love is a great bond which makes them care for one another, to grow and dream together. The poem is so touching and moved me a lot .
Your appearance today and seeing Ha comments in your blog ignites my old memories when we were active friends in EC .
Thank you Galina for your very nice blog.
Hello, Noas!
I'm again here on EC after some break and I simply enjoy to see your comment like in good old times! It's great to meet friends and share with them some interesting things and learn some new things from them. I adore EC for this opportunity!
I'm glad you like the tradition, Noas! I consider you a great expert in blogs! How many of them do you have?
Wish you happiness in love and marriage!
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