Swimming on Maundy Thursday: rules, conspiracies. Bathing on Maundy Thursday, how to wash properly, what kind of prayer is needed How to wash properly on Maundy Thursday
Swimming on Maundy Thursday at dawn is one of the main signs and rituals for this day. It is believed that on Maundy Thursday water has healing powers and, if you know exactly how to activate this power and how to use it, you can improve your health and remove negativity from your body and soul. So, let's talk in more detail about the tradition of why, why and how exactly you need to wash on Maundy Thursday.
I would like to immediately note that on this magical and mystical day there are many other rituals. There are also specific prohibitions on the topic of what should never be done. But we propose to sort everything out in order and start with exactly why and why, when and how to wash before sunrise on Maundy Thursday. On Easter day you can serve it on the table.
Clean Thursday, wash before sunrise (signs, rules)
To feel the full healing power of water on this day, in Rus' it was customary to swim in an open reservoir before sunrise. Of course, in modern city conditions, even on a working day, it is unlikely that this ritual will be performed in exactly this way, but the ritual can be changed.
For example, take a contrast shower. This is also done just before sunrise and ensures the person who performs the ritual happiness and health for the whole year. Water on Maundy Thursday washes away all sins, pain and resentment from the soul, and gets rid of unresolved problems, of which, of course, every person accumulates quite a lot. However, in order for the results to be clearly visible after such a bath on Maundy Thursday before sunrise, you must read prayers during the process and ask God for help.
Also, some sources write that it is best to take a shower while standing. You need to imagine that it is not jets of water that fall on the body, but jets of pure and bright color, which flows through the entire body and washes away the accumulated dirt and pain. This light purifies not only the body, but also the soul.
Important! When you wash off the soap, you need to say approximately the following words: “In confession they cleanse themselves, just as water washes away dirt on Maundy Thursday. Cleanse me, the servant of God, from all evil, from disobedience, from bad rumors, from vain conversations. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen".
Other rituals of Maundy Thursday
Wash your face with silver
You can pour water into any vessel on the evening of Great Wednesday, and then put something silver in it, maybe just a coin. Then in the morning on Maundy Thursday, wash your face with this water, be sure to wash sick people and children. Also, water charged from a borrowed silver object has special power for sick people.
Protecting your home by fire
You need to bring home a candle lit in church, with which you will celebrate the entire service on Maundy Thursday. Use this candle to light a lamp or other fire in the house. This ritual protects the house from misfortune throughout the year, as well as from fire.
Thursday salt
It is also customary to charge salt on Maundy Thursday. It also protects the home from everything bad and improves health. In general, it is an excellent amulet. You need to buy coarse salt without impurities, heat it in a frying pan, then sift and crush it, put it in a fabric bag. Storing this salt for a year protects the house from misfortune.
To cure a sick person, it was necessary to mix salt with coals from three birch firewood. The result is black salt, which has maximum healing properties. She needs to rub the sore spot or simply add salt to food.
We have already discussed why you should wash on Maundy Thursday before sunrise. Now I would like to note such a ritual as counting money. This ritual provides the family with financial stability throughout the year, but it is important to carry it out in strict secrecy from other family members. You should collect all the money in the house and count it in the morning at dawn, then at noon and then at midnight.
Attract money
Another great ritual for attracting money is to wash your windows with charged water. You will need to throw a pinch of change into the water that will be used for general cleaning on Maundy Thursday. Wash the windows and tell yourself to keep the money in the house and not transfer it. After this, drain the water into the street, and collect the money in a fabric bag and store it in a secret place throughout the year.
We talked about Maundy Thursday, washing before sunrise, why you need it and when. Now we propose to consider some prohibitions for this day, which you should definitely remember.
What not to do:
- You cannot bake Easter cakes until the house is cleaned. After this, all preparations for the Easter holiday are not prohibited.
- Do not break your fast: eat only foods of plant origin, avoid alcohol.
- When counting money on Maundy Thursday, the ritual must be kept secret from all family members and done so that no one sees anything.
- Do not lend anything from home; this prohibition remains until Easter itself. Otherwise, along with the borrowed item, you can give away your health and well-being from home.
Clean Thursday, washing before sunrise is not the only ritual that is closely associated with this day. On Thursday, you need to do a lot to protect yourself, your family members and your home from everything bad.
A variety of folk signs on Maundy Thursday say when to wash on Maundy Thursday before Easter, in the morning or evening. If we consider the Christian church tradition for this day, it is connected, first of all, with the establishment of the sacrament of communion among people by Jesus Christ in the last days of his life on earth. This happened during the Last Supper - the last meeting with the disciples. But it was not only the sacrament of communion that Jesus Christ gave to the disciples.
At the end of the meal, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, and this is where tradition and the belief that water on Maundy Thursday has special healing powers comes to the fore. Especially if you have to say special prayers over it, take a bath, or even just wash your face. You definitely need to wash yourself, but we’ll look at how to do it correctly from a popular point of view further.
How to properly bathe on Maundy Thursday
Swimming should not be done at night; everything needs to be dealt with either at dawn, or later during the day, as it turns out. It is recommended to go to the bathhouse or just take a bath or shower on this day. Moreover, whether to wash or not, the answer will be more likely positive. Because, often in popular beliefs on this day you can find legends about lush soap foam, washing away not only dirt from the body, but also sins from the soul.
Folk tradition says that, even if you do not read certain prayers and spells over the water, on this day a priori it will be healing, cleanse the body and protect the soul, wash away negativity and illness. But it is important to take water procedures with sincere faith in your soul, with a prayer to the Lord God, with joyful and kind thoughts.
How to speak water
If you don’t just need to wash, but definitely give yourself youth and preserve your beauty, then you’ll have to add some extra water. There is nothing complicated about it. You will need to get up before the sun rises on this day, fill a bowl with cool water and, using a special spell, wash your face.
Confess and take communion
By washing on this day, of course, you can cleanse your body and even take specific important steps to cleanse your soul. But in the church they will say that you can cleanse your soul from sin and negativity only if you partake of the Sacraments of Christ. Therefore, it is on Maundy Thursday that there are large queues in churches for sacraments that are so important throughout the year for every Christian, such as communion and confession.
After the morning ablution on Maundy Thursday, people always went to church to confess and receive communion after the service. If during Lent the rules of strict nutrition were not observed, then on this day you must fast, which is an important preparation before these sacraments.
General cleaning of the house
In addition to the fact that on this day of Holy Week you need to cleanse your soul and body, in no case should you forget about the surrounding space. Because the things that surround a person influence his energy in one way or another. General cleaning on Maundy Thursday is a sure sign of proper cleansing of space, and not just getting rid of dust and debris.
She will bring a lot of joy and happiness. A clean house on the eve of Easter is also a religious moment. Because,
Already from Good Friday and then during the first holiday Easter week, religious people do not clean their houses. People also believed that cleaning on this day would help find long-lost items. During cleaning, such things are found in the most unexpected places. Other
Everyone knows that “Maundy Thursday” is a holiday when you need to wash and wash yourself. But few people thought about WHAT EXACTLY needs to be done on this day, and why it is so important.
Maundy Thursday is also called Maundy Thursday, which in itself emphasizes its importance for all Christians on Earth. They say that if you leave dirt in the house on this day, then the whole year will pass under the sign of disorder, quarrels and dirt.
But let's get down to specifics.
Starting from Thursday and until Easter, you cannot take anything out of the house, especially on credit.
Don’t give, no matter how much someone asks: neither money nor any things to “use.” This is a bad omen.
You cannot share kitchen utensils or food even with relatives or neighbors.
You cannot leave soaked laundry that you haven’t had time to wash or unwashed dishes overnight from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday.
As on the other days of Holy Week, this coming Thursday you cannot tell fortunes, have fun, celebrate holidays, sing or dance.
You cannot eat fast food on this day (from obsolete skorom, Old Slavic scrum - fat, butter).
But on the contrary, here’s what to do VERY desirable:
It is critically important to start cleaning on this day in the morning. So even if you don’t have time and you go to work that day, first clean up at least something at home! You can, for example, wash the dishes and take out the trash...
The bravest ones can take a swim on Maundy Thursday. Our ancestors believed that this ritual would help “wash away all diseases.”
Maundy Thursday is the best day of the year to cut your little children's hair for the first time. Peasants used to shear livestock even on this day for good luck.
So that you have money for the future, count it all on this day, three times!
If possible, you can also shoot a gun or at least rearrange the furniture...
This is the best day to remove the damage caused by enemies. You just need to wash your face early in the morning, before dawn. At the same time, you need to say the words of an elementary prayer: “I wash away what they put on me, what my soul and body toils with, everything is removed on Clean Thursday. Amen".
If you are a single woman, then in order to find your happiness, on this day when washing your body you need to say a prayer: “As Maundy Thursday is bright and red, so I, slave (name), will be beautiful to everyone. Amen".
Our ancestors always woke up on this day before sunrise to swim, wash their hands and body with clean water. Ablution performed on this day gives health to the soul and body. The ritual should be performed at dawn, when the dawn is just breaking on the horizon. It is better to do this near a river, lake, spring, well or in a bathhouse. However, even if only over a basin of water or at the washbasin. They believed that water on Clean Thursday gets rid of not only the visible dirt that sticks to the body, but also the dirt that settles in the thoughts, in the soul, sent by a malicious sorcerer.
Bathing on Maundy Thursday should begin with your hands, pouring water from palm to palm and saying: “Voditsa, our godmother! Wash the fool off my hands, grant me the purity of the dawn. Amen". Only then can you wash your body and head. The main verdict on this day is this: “What toils the body and soul, Clean Thursday washes away everything. Amen".
Also read: CLEAN THURSDAY - WHAT DAY IS IT, SIGNS, TRADITIONS, CONSPIRACIES
The cult of water among the Slavs was so great that simple hand washing as an elementary act of washing away dirt was only a small part of human interaction with water. In everyday life there were many magical ritual ablutions in which the hands played the main role.
“My right hand is honey, and my hand is fire”, - they said in the old days, meaning the sacred power of the supreme gods, who with their right hand (right hand) sent fertility, abundance and prosperity to the earth, and with their left hand (shuitsa) - physical, mental strength and victory over the enemy. People accompanied hand washing with magical whispers, remembering the holy veneration of water. Here's one option: “Water, water, earthly resin! Don’t let any dirt get to me and send me God’s grace. Amen". After washing, hands were usually not wiped, but exposed to the wind or sun, being confident that both the right hand and the left hand would absorb the power of the wind and the warmth of the sun. Another option: the hands will receive a piece of the power of such omnipotent gods as Stribog and Yarila.
Through water, through water, in water, people purified themselves from diseases, the consequences of witchcraft, and even from sins. The ancestors hardly knew about the energy channels running from the fingertips to the internal organs and regulating their work, but one thing is certain - they knew something like that. It is no coincidence that when performing a ritual washing of hands, designed to remove witchcraft spells (damage, the evil eye, illness, mortal melancholy, or even death itself), a person turned to water with the request: “Spring water, blessed seven times seven times by the powers of heaven! Wash my hands, remove through my fingers bodily illness (evil damage, black evil eye, fierce death, etc.). It was taken from the fingers, removed by water, crucified by the forces of heaven. Amen". Without wiping his hands, the man touched his forehead, chest and knees with his fingertips. Then he went home. If a disabled or sick person could not come to the water himself, relatives performed the ritual at home over a tub of clean water.
Washing is not just a hygienic procedure, but a magic that gives youth and beauty. So, washing their face and neck in the morning, unmarried girls said: “Whiteness - from a swan feather, blush - from the clear sun, from silk - smoothness, from pure water - a long youth, so that my girlfriends will marvel at me, and the guys will admire me. Amen". The older women whispered their own: “Water-bell, take the old age off your face. From time to time I will be a white-faced, ruddy young woman. Amen". They dried themselves with a clean towel with a short sentence: “I drain the water and restore beauty.” Water has long been revered as a talisman. To this day, when pouring clean water over small children after bathing, mothers say: “Water is off a duck’s back, but (name is given) is all thinness.”
Swimming before dawn on Maundy Thursday is an important ritual for every believer. In addition, on Maundy Thursday you need to clean up your home and enter a new happy life cycle with cleanliness!
The week before Easter is a special time. Therefore, people often wonder what needs to be done on each day of Holy Week, including Maundy Thursday. For example, is it possible to clean, how to wash properly, and in general what does this day before Easter mean – Maundy Thursday? Folk traditions and their modern understanding, comments from church representatives - all this can be found in our article.
In 2018, this day falls on April 5, and Easter Sunday, i.e. Easter itself is on April 8. Maundy Thursday is also called: Holy Thursday; Maundy Thursday. The thing is that this is the 4th day of the so-called Holy (Red, Great) week - the last time of Christ’s earthly life. After all, on Friday he will be unjustly accused and executed, and on Easter he will be resurrected. This will become the main event of Christianity, which has been solemnly celebrated by all believers for 2 millennia. Therefore, if we talk about what Maundy Thursday before Easter means, we can say that it is rather not a holiday, but the last day of the Savior’s earthly life.
And it is called clean because it was on this evening that Christ washed the feet of all his 12 disciples during supper. That is, he literally took a vessel with water, a towel and washed everyone’s feet. The Lord never performed such an action in his earthly life. And it is clear that there is some unique, even touching moment in this episode. By washing his feet, Christ wanted to show that he came into the world precisely to serve. Yes, believers still worship him to this day as the Son of God. But at the same time, the Lord himself wanted to be known as a servant who came to the aid of sinful humanity.
There is also a very delicate, elegant detail in this story. After all, as you know, the East is a delicate matter. Since ancient times, in the countries of this region, washing feet was considered a normal phenomenon, a unique custom. When a distant guest came to the house, the owner, as a sign of his goodwill, poured water, took a towel and performed this pleasant, relaxing procedure. Thus, Christ showed his affection for the disciples. And he clearly demonstrated the idea of serving people, giving an example to all of humanity.
What to do on Maundy Thursday before Easter: 5 traditions
That is why for several centuries (if not millennia), people have decided to go to the bathhouse with the whole family on Maundy Thursday before Easter and bathe, keeping their body perfectly clean. True, there is an interesting detail here: water procedures should be performed before sunrise.
It is believed that it is at this time that water acquires the greatest healing power, just as it does on the night of Epiphany. And in general, the anticipation of a holiday is sometimes the holiday itself. Therefore, they try to go to the baths on the night from Wednesday to Thursday.
It is believed that before bathing, even if it is purely symbolic, you must certainly say a prayer of gratitude, at least mentally. There is some truth in this: a positive perception of life really helps a person tune in to a pleasant wave and start his day, getting up, as they say, on the right foot.
Here’s what else they do on Maundy Thursday before Easter according to folk traditions:
Of course, not everyone can go to the bathhouse in modern conditions. But a silver spoon or other utensils made of this noble metal should probably be found in many homes. If you fill a silver bowl with water and wash your face with it in the morning (again, better before sunrise), you will receive a charge of vigor and health for the whole year. You can simply put a silver spoon in a vessel of water and wash your face.
You need to cleanse not only your body, but the whole house. On Maundy Thursday they try to get rid of all the trash, old things that have not been used for a long time. They remove garbage, wash the floor, sweep away small cobwebs. In a word, they restore perfect order. It is believed that it is no longer possible to clean the house until Easter, so it is better to try right away.
Housewives are not forbidden to sew, wash and do other household chores on Maundy Thursday, and it is better to do them before the evening.
And what else needs to be done on Maundy Thursday before Easter - boil eggs in the evening, color them, knead the dough, and then bake the Easter cakes. The pasochki will not go stale if you prepare them using the correct technology. But it is not advisable to cook on Good Friday and Holy Saturday - these are the most intense, dramatic days of Holy Week. On Friday, as already mentioned, the crucifixion of Christ took place, and on Saturday night the lifeless body of the Savior was placed in the tomb.
Also on this day, the so-called Thursday salt is prepared. It is prepared on the basis of ordinary salt - the crystals are mixed with the soggy crumb of rye bread or with the grounds that remain after the kvass has settled. It is believed that it will serve as an excellent amulet for the whole family, and will be valid for a whole year. Therefore, such salt should be stored in a place of honor.
On Maundy Thursday they also make peculiar conspiracies for money and for the betrothed. For example, you can put a silver coin in water overnight and then hide it in your wallet for a whole year. Or take a piece of soap and say the name of your loved one, saying: “(Name) sticks to me like soap.” Of course, these traditions are more likely to be folk than church traditions. However, there is nothing wrong with a person’s very desire to find love and live in abundance.
What not to do on Maundy Thursday before Easter
Of course, just by the name of the holiday you can certainly say that on this day you should not forget about your hygiene. It is very important to carry out general cleaning, because if the house remains untidy, the owners will not be able to recharge with the positive energy of freshness, cleanliness and prepare for Easter.
Here are some other prohibitions:
When the apartment has been cleaned, if possible, it is better to pour out the dirty water somewhere outside the house. The best place is on a rocky surface where nothing grows. After all, with dirt comes negative energy, which must leave the house for a long time.
There is also an interesting belief about what people do on Thursday before Easter. It is believed that lending, as well as borrowing, is undesirable. And in general, if on this day you give away something valuable (for example, a souvenir or a book), then this is a bad sign - it is better to choose any other day for gifts.
Of course, it is intuitively clear that since this day was the last in the earthly life of Christ, it is better not to arrange any lavish feasts, not to abuse alcohol and other earthly pleasures. After all, in a few hours Judas will betray the Savior, and then Jesus will be crucified. Therefore, it is better to wait until Easter if possible to have fun.
And here’s another interesting point - it is prohibited to take samples from Easter cakes, eggs and other holiday dishes. Of course, this rule applies to a greater extent to churchgoers who observe Lent. However, those who have not fasted can also heed the advice.
It is clear that Maundy Thursday is a pure, truly bright day, therefore there are no strict prohibitions as such. Each person can act in accordance with the circumstances and, of course, according to his own conscience.
What can you eat on Maundy Thursday?
From the point of view of fasting, Holy Week is considered the most strict - for example, on Friday and Saturday, eating food other than bread and water is generally prohibited. But on Thursday the requirements are a little softer. The so-called dry eating is allowed - you can eat plant foods without any oil (including sunflower, olive, etc.). Another important point is that hot dishes are prohibited.
That is, you can eat bread, unsweetened pastries, soaked fruits and vegetables, etc. And any meat, fish, or hot dishes are prohibited for fasting people.
At the same time, the church does not consider certain concessions for pregnant and lactating women, the elderly and children to be a sin. And also for everyone who suffers from diseases of the digestive system. That is, again, fasting is a matter of conscience and the real capabilities of the human body.