As part of one of the principal Christian holidays, the A.N. Radishchev Museum held a museum program “Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary”.
Visitors were told that the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church, celebrated annually on April 7. It was established in remembrance of the announcement by the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary of the good news of the conception and of her giving birth to the God-Infant Jesus Christ. In terms of popular veneration and the scale of observance of Christian holidays in rural life, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary has traditionally ranked third after Christmas and Bright Easter.
Program participants were informed that in the ancestral church of the Radishchev family, the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, in the main sanctuary, among the twelve scenes of the fourth tier of the wall frescoes, there is a composition titled “Annunciation”.
Listeners also learned about ancestral traditions and about what may and may not be done on this day. In the everyday life of the working village, this holiday was regarded as a day of complete rest. In many villages whole families would go to the mills in the evening at sunset and sit on the straw for a peaceful conversation about what the coming spring would be like, how the sowing would go, how plowing would be, and what the harvest would be. The Annunciation was considered a day of blessing for every good deed, especially agricultural work. According to folk belief, on this day, as on Easter, the sun “plays” at dawn and sinners in hell are not tormented.
‼ Events are held by prior arrangement.
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