Russian ceremony stuff from Olearius
Mar. 29th, 2005 12:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyjadwigaFrom The travels of Olearius in Seventeenth Century Russia. Translated and edited by Samuel H. Baron. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1967), p. 52-53. It refers to events in 1634:
"The next morning, July 28th, we at last arrived at Great Novgorod. . . . To welcome us the voevoda sent our inn barrels of beer and mead and a cask of vodka. He was sent a gilded silver cup in return..."
"On August 1st, as we brought our things ashore at Bronnitsy, a procession of Russians came to sanctify the water. First came two men carrying long poles; on the first pole was a cross with apostles depicted on the four ends; on the other was an old ikon covered with a white cloth. After them came a priest in ecclesiastical vestments, carrying in both hands a wooden cross, a span [about 20 cm] long. He sang in unison with a boy who followed him carrying a book. Then came all the peasants with their wives and children. Each adult carried a burning wax candle; behind them went the sexton, holding more than ten candles twisted together and burning. When the priest had sung and read for a good half hour on the shore, he took the twisted candles and plunged them into the water. Then all the others extinguished their candles too. The priest then immersed the candles in the water three times and collected the runoff in a vessel; this is considered the holiest water. When he had finished, the women grabbed their children, large and small, in their nightshirts or without, and submerged them three times in the stream. Some of the adults also jumped in. Finally, they brought the horses, too, to drink of the holy, health-giving water. Afterward, they returned to the church to be blessed. Noise and shouts, of young and old people alike, such as one might hear in common bathhouses or taverns, issued from the church."
"The next morning, July 28th, we at last arrived at Great Novgorod. . . . To welcome us the voevoda sent our inn barrels of beer and mead and a cask of vodka. He was sent a gilded silver cup in return..."
"On August 1st, as we brought our things ashore at Bronnitsy, a procession of Russians came to sanctify the water. First came two men carrying long poles; on the first pole was a cross with apostles depicted on the four ends; on the other was an old ikon covered with a white cloth. After them came a priest in ecclesiastical vestments, carrying in both hands a wooden cross, a span [about 20 cm] long. He sang in unison with a boy who followed him carrying a book. Then came all the peasants with their wives and children. Each adult carried a burning wax candle; behind them went the sexton, holding more than ten candles twisted together and burning. When the priest had sung and read for a good half hour on the shore, he took the twisted candles and plunged them into the water. Then all the others extinguished their candles too. The priest then immersed the candles in the water three times and collected the runoff in a vessel; this is considered the holiest water. When he had finished, the women grabbed their children, large and small, in their nightshirts or without, and submerged them three times in the stream. Some of the adults also jumped in. Finally, they brought the horses, too, to drink of the holy, health-giving water. Afterward, they returned to the church to be blessed. Noise and shouts, of young and old people alike, such as one might hear in common bathhouses or taverns, issued from the church."
