When and what date is Trinity Parents Saturday in 2021

Trinity Parents' Saturday is a Christian holiday celebrated by Orthodox Slavs. The date for it is not fixed, but depends on Easter Sunday and therefore changes every time. Every year it falls on the 48th day after Easter. There is no official day off for this reason.

Trinity Saturday - what kind of holiday is this for the Orthodox?

This is the oldest memorial day in history. It originated in the 1st century AD. On Ecumenical Parental Saturday, unrecognized and persecuted Christians gathered to remember fellow believers who were tortured to death or executed and then not buried as they should be.

From year to year, for many centuries, on this day during the service they remember the parable of the Last Judgment. This is done so that a person remembers that he will have to answer for all sins committed during his life. The Church gives everyone a chance for salvation. She allowed believers to ask for mercy not only for the living, but also for everyone who has ever died.

Trinity Parents' Saturday June 19, 2021: traditions and customs

Trinity Parental Saturday does not have a permanent date in the church calendar - the ecumenical memorial day is celebrated on the ninth day after the Ascension of the Lord, on the Saturday before Trinity or Pentecost.

Sputnik Georgia talks about the traditions and customs of Trinity Parents' Saturday.

Trinity Parents' Saturday

Trinity is the second ecumenical parental Saturday of the year; churches hold special services on this day. The funeral service on Trinity Parental Saturday is called: “Memory of all Orthodox Christians who have departed from time immemorial, our fathers and brothers.”

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What date is Trinity Parents' Saturday 2021? Church calendar

On Trinity Parental Saturday they especially pray for those who suffered an untimely death in a foreign country, in the mountains, at sea, from hunger or infectious diseases, in battle, during natural disasters, who did not have time to repent before death and for whom funeral rites were not performed .

The Holy Church established this general, universal commemoration to be performed, based on the apostolic teaching, so that no one, where, when and no matter how he ends his earthly life, is deprived of her prayers.

Traditions and customs

In Orthodox churches, on Friday evening - on the eve of Trinity Parental Saturday, according to tradition, they serve a great requiem. The funeral Divine Liturgy is held on Saturday morning, followed by a general memorial service.

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According to church tradition, during the service, they remember the parable of the Last Judgment of the living and the dead, so that every person remembers that they will have to answer for their sins during the Judgment.

Everyone has a chance to save their soul, which is why the Church has established to intercede not only for the living, but also for everyone who has died since centuries, especially those who died suddenly, and to pray to the Lord to have mercy on them.

On Trinity Parents' Saturday, in churches, according to custom, deceased parents are also remembered - parishioners submit notes with the names of the deceased and pray for the repose of their souls in the afterlife.

Parishioners, according to the old tradition, bring Lenten foods and wine to the temple, which are blessed during the service, and then distributed to everyone.

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After visiting the church, people, according to custom, go to the cemetery - they clean the graves and pray for the dead.

Those who cannot visit the temple and cemetery can pray for the dead at home. Another tradition of Trinity Parent Saturday is to distribute alms with a request to pray for the departed.

On Trinity Parents' Saturday, according to popular custom, you cannot work, clean the apartment, or even wash the dishes. Although the clergy say that the restrictions are necessary so that household chores do not interfere with going to church and praying. Therefore, you can do your homework after visiting the temple, praying for the departed.

According to ancient tradition, kutya was prepared on Trinity Parents' Saturday - an obligatory dish for the funeral meal. Sweet porridge, according to custom, was prepared from whole wheat grains with the addition of raisins, nuts and honey. Nowadays, kutya, according to tradition, is prepared mainly for funerals.

The material was prepared based on open sources

What do they do on this day before Trinity?

Before the adoption of Christianity, our ancestors celebrated the Semitsko-Trinity holidays. They believed that during this period the deceased ancestors left the afterlife and came to earth, where they hid in the thickets of grass and trees. According to tradition, the living were supposed to meet the dead with dignity and remember them.

On this day, the Slavs decorated their graves with greenery, held ritual meals and talked with the souls of the deceased. In some regions of the country, it was customary to fumigate livestock yards with incense to protect domestic animals from disease and buildings from fires. It was considered good form to apologize to older and younger family members.

Today, the celebration of Parents' Saturday begins with a visit to church. There, believers submit notes with the names of deceased loved ones and pray for the repose of their souls. If desired, take Lenten food and wine with you for consecration. Subsequently, everyone is treated to them. After that they go to the cemetery. There the graves are cleaned and prayers are read for the repose of the souls of the deceased.

If it is not possible to go to a holy place, they pray at home. After this, alms are given with a request to pray for the dead. The size of the donation does not matter. The main thing here is purity of intentions.

What you can and cannot do on parenting Saturdays

Memorial days are associated with important rules and prohibitions, which, if violated, can bring disaster upon oneself. To avoid trouble, learn the dos and don'ts of Parenting Saturdays.

Commemoration of the dead is an important church tradition. There are several Saturdays in the Orthodox calendar when Orthodox believers can remember their loved ones and offer prayers for the dead. The clergy warn that each of these events involves observing special traditions and prohibitions. Anyone who neglects them risks getting into trouble. Experts from the site dailyhoro.ru recommend that you learn how to properly celebrate parental Saturdays.

What to do on Parents' Saturdays

On this day, believers need to pray for their loved ones whose souls have left the earthly world. On Parents' Saturdays, churches hold services, before which you can give a note with the names of the deceased to the clergyman. All names will be read during the prayer service.

Visiting a cemetery is not a mandatory tradition, but it is observed by most Orthodox believers. At this time, you can visit the graves of deceased relatives and leave treats and fresh flowers.

After church, you need to remember your loved ones at home. You can prepare treats and invite those who knew the deceased to visit. A burning church candle should be placed in the center of the table. Before starting the funeral meal, you must once again say a prayer for the repose of the souls of the dead.

What is forbidden to do on parenting Saturdays

On parental Saturdays, it is strictly forbidden to scold and insult the deceased, otherwise they may become angry with you. The clergy note that these days there should be no quarrels in the house at all, since each memorial Saturday is intended for relatives to get closer and remember loved ones who are no longer among the living.

If you want to clean up the grave of the deceased, it is better to do this in advance. Parents' Saturday should be dedicated to the remembrance of the dead, and not to hard work and household chores.

It is better to eat funeral food at home, not in a cemetery. But you shouldn’t have a lavish feast and abuse alcohol. It is also prohibited to sing songs and have fun during the funeral meal. Do not forget that Parents' Saturday is a time dedicated to prayers for repose, and it is best to pray in a calm environment.

On memorial Saturdays one cannot refuse to help people. When giving alms to the poor, be sure to ask them to pray for your deceased relatives.

When a person’s soul goes to Heaven, the task of loved ones is to take care of its future fate and peaceful stay in another world, as well as to protect other relatives. Proven superstitions and signs will help you with this. We wish you well,

What not to do on Trinity Parents' Saturday

The question of whether it is possible to work in the garden, wash and clean on Trinity Saturday cannot be answered unequivocally. According to folk tradition, any physical labor should be excluded on holidays. However, the official church has a different opinion on this matter. The Holy Fathers assure that the restrictions were invented so that household chores would not interfere with prayer and going to church. Thus, after the service on Trinity Saturday, you can work in the garden, wash in the bathhouse and do any other things.

During a visit to the cemetery, many leave food on the graves of the deceased, hold banquets near them and drink alcohol. These traditions have been preserved since pagan times, but from the point of view of the church they must be eradicated. On memorial days, you cannot speak badly about the dead. They can only be remembered in a positive way. On this day, you cannot remember unbaptized people and suicides (unless they were pushed to death by mental illness).

Weddings are not held on Parents' Saturday. However, marriages are allowed in registry offices. If the memorial holiday coincides with a birthday, the latter is celebrated modestly or postponed until later. A lavish feast and fun are unacceptable. If someone died on this day, the funeral ceremony is carried out according to the general rules.

Why is Saturday considered a special day among Christians?

Saturdays are not without reason chosen as the day when people should remember their deceased relatives. If you look at the Bible and remember that the Creator created the whole world in seven days, then everything will become clear. In ancient times, the first day of the week was Sunday. Thus, the seventh day, when God rested and enjoyed the work of his hands, is precisely the Sabbath.

Sabbath means rest in Hebrew. That’s why many people think that you can’t do cleaning on Saturday, especially if it’s a special Saturday, parent’s Saturday. However, in this sense, Orthodox Christians honor Sunday, not Saturday. Every Sunday is a little Easter. And all the superstitions regarding the fact that you can’t work and clean on Saturday, including parents’, come from branches of Christianity, that is, from sects.

The opinion of the clergy

If you have any questions about certain church holidays - what you can do on these days and what you can’t do, it would be best to contact the church, your priest, whom you trust. However, all clergy agree on one thing: on holidays and on parental Saturdays, working, cleaning, and washing are not prohibited! Nowhere in the Bible are there direct prohibitions on all these actions, and these excuses are very convenient for lazy housewives.

Naturally, on parental Saturday, the main thoughts should be thoughts about deceased relatives. On this day, you should definitely go to church, light candles for the repose and pray for the souls of your parents, grandmothers and other ancestors. If it is not possible to go to church, you can carry out all these same procedures at home.

But after visiting the temple, it is quite possible to go about your daily activities. Cleaning, washing, cooking - all these are activities that do not cause any denial on the part of the Orthodox Church. On the contrary, work is never considered a sin, especially in modern conditions, when women work equally with men and have only two days off a week in order to have time to redo all their affairs.

There are restrictions on cleaning only because you must visit the temple first. This means that no household chores should prevent a person from praying for his deceased loved ones on Parents’ Saturday. So a direct ban on cleaning on Parents' Saturday is a superstition and a relic of the past.

Prohibitions on Trinity

According to the teachings of the church, many signs and superstitions are already unpalatable. Although they also warn us against doing wrong things on major holidays. For example, on Trinity it was forbidden to swim in rivers and lakes, go to the forest, work, or plant a garden. It’s quite reasonable, because the main thing on such a big holiday is to devote all your thoughts to God.

However, a Christian believer can perform the necessary types of work, if required, without harm to the soul, if he has first prayed and asked permission from the Lord.

Therefore, the main prohibitions on the holiday of Trinity, as on any other major church holiday, are foul language, resentment, anger, and bad deeds.

Traditions of Parents' Saturday on the eve of Trinity in 2021

The Feast of Trinity finally convinces us that the descent of the Holy Spirit is a promise of eternal life, salvation, which became possible after the Ascension of Christ into heaven. Therefore, on the eve of the holiday, it is customary to remember everyone who has already passed on to eternal life. On this day, the unity of everyone is felt - the living and the dead, but the one who is physically dead is still alive in God.

Since ancient times, people have gone to cemeteries and prayed for the souls of those who are no longer with us. It was also customary to clean up the grave and around it and decorate the cross with birch branches. Today, bouquets of flowers - fresh or artificial - are brought to the cemetery, lamps are placed, and church candles are lit.

The tradition of commemorating the deceased in a cemetery is very firmly rooted in people’s minds, so even to the church’s ban, many remain deaf, arguing that our ancestors also brought food to the burial places of their relatives. The priests tirelessly remind you that there is no need to leave food on a grave; it is much more useful to give it to those in need and ask them to pray for the repose of your relative. All funeral meals are held exclusively at home, after visiting the cemetery.

Traditional funeral dishes are primarily kutia, but also pancakes, eggs, and jelly. On the eve of the Trinity holiday, you can also put fish and meat dishes on the table.

What not to do

Naturally, you shouldn’t work hard on a memorial day, because it is intended for other work—spiritual work. However, our ancestors believed that there was an exception. The barley sown on parenting day sprouted well.

Today housewives completely refuse:

• washing;
• cleaning;
• sewing;
• knitting;
• cooking (this needs to be done the day before).

According to folk customs, you cannot swim in reservoirs on Trinity Saturday, because the merman and mermaids can supposedly drag the bather by the legs.

Under no circumstances should you say anything bad about the deceased, or speak loudly on any topic in general.

They don’t leave alcohol in the cemetery and don’t drink it there, because it brings torment to the soul.

Prayer for the departed on Trinity Saturday

“Rest, O Lord, the souls of Your departed servants: my parents, relatives, benefactors (their names) and all Orthodox Christians, and forgive them all sins, voluntary and involuntary, and grant them the Kingdom of Heaven.”

In your prayer, you must mention the names of all your deceased relatives. In order not to forget anyone, it is better to do this using a special memorial book. The names of deceased relatives are recorded in the memorial book. In Orthodoxy, believers usually conduct family memorials, according to which many generations of their deceased ancestors are remembered by name both in prayer at home and during church services.