REPORT: "Let's press kopachak yak in the sky zorachak": how the first sheaf was sown in the Mogilev region

Both for our ancestors and for modern people, especially those employed in agriculture, suffering is the hottest and most exciting time. After all, the well-being and food security of every inhabitant of our country will depend on how the harvest will go. Every year, before the start of the harvesting campaign in the Mogilev region, women with sickles are the first to go out into the field - the rite of "Zazhinka" inherited from our ancestors is still relevant today. BelTA correspondents went to the fields near the agricultural town of Polykovichi, Mogilev region, to continue their acquaintance with folk traditions and rituals.

"All folk holidays and ceremonies are interconnected. On February 15, women gathered in one of the houses and made a huge candle to ward off evil spirits. It is believed that such a candle protects livestock, a house from thunderstorms and crops from troubles," reminds the head of the Polykovichi KFOR Tatyana Zhigalina - And already in the summer, before the start of the harvesting of grain, women took this amulet candle, icon, bread and salt and went to the field to ask for blessings for harvesting, to thank for the harvest. It was believed that in this way all the troubles from the harvest could be averted. if there is bread, you will not know troubles.So began "Zazhinki".

Women of different ages gather at "Zazhinki" - from the oldest to the youngest. “First, the mother earth must be thanked for the harvest - with bread and salt, a low bow. After that, the oldest woman in the family went out into the field, she zazhivana first sheaf - they didn’t thresh it, but kept it until next year. This was considered both a talisman and a symbol of a good harvest. This sheaf was passed to the owner of the house where the woman came from. He stood until the First Most Pure on August 28 (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) at the icon in the house. Later, his grain was consecrated in the church. If someone started to get sick at home, they added these grain. It was believed that this would help to recover. They fed the cattle with straw so that they would not get sick. They also added the grain of the first sheaf for the next year to the sowing so that the land would spoil, "said Tatyana Zhigalina.

"Oh, let's hit it, let's hit the kopachak

yak in the sky zorachak!"

Today, Maria Stepanovna Chmyreva, who is 91 years old, was the first to enter the field. “When I was little, I helped my mother in the field. I saw what and how the elders did. And I remembered all this. Then there was a war, it was no longer up to rituals. And after that they restored everything, worked, created their own families. it’s already forgotten, but our young people help to remember, and we tell them something. I told my children and grandchildren all my life, about all the holidays that we celebrated. Now it’s their turn to store this knowledge and pass it on so that it won’t be forgotten. " - shared Maria Stepanovna.

"Reaper, reaper zhizeyka,

Reaper, reaper, not a page!"

Among the oldest - Anna Sergeevna Katulskaya. The woman shared that even though it’s hard sometimes because of her age, she tries to participate in all holidays. “This was our life then. We worked a lot, we believed that everything would work out. Now everything has changed: what kind of harvesting equipment works in the fields, and then everything was done by hand. But it’s good that the customs of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers continue to live. I try to tell the youth I remember that, and all my relatives too. They should protect it - after all, it is from such rituals that an unusual Belarusian culture is formed," Anna Sergeevna noted.

Anna Sergeevna tied her second sheaf to her belt so that her back would not hurt during field work. “You have to work with your hands and bend over, and this is hard, especially at an older age. And so you ask for strength from a zhit,” the woman added.

After the older women clamped their sheaves, the rest went out into the field. “Young girls, especially those who were preparing for pregnancy, took with them a doll-amulet, which they call “stubble”, to Zazhinki. The basis of the amulet is an apple knot as a symbol of fertility and health. salt, in another grain. And on the back - two children, a boy and a girl. It was believed that such a talisman would help a young woman gain strength and health from the field, so that in the future mother and children would be healthy, - Tatyana Zhigalina emphasized. - During " Zazhinok" was tied to the belt of the amulet by three spikelets of a new crop. The amulet doll was a symbol of not only women's health, but also the fertility of mother earth."

At "Zazhinki" women always zazhinki 9 sheaves, then put them in the field. The first sheaf was invariably decorated with ribbons and towels. “Such small sheaves were called “grandmothers.” They were gathered into one large sheaf, which is already called “gaspadar.” After it was decorated, women brought bread, broke off a piece and put it inside - thanks to the field and the earth for the harvest,” Tatyana noted Zhigalina.

"Atrymaўsya snap - our gaspadarok are clear,

Like a month are red.

Yashche higher hell fee

Darazhey for gold."

Work in the field for women occupied the first half of the day. Then, according to tradition, they would definitely sit down to dine near the "snapa-gaspadar". “They took milk , bread, lard, boiled eggs with them into the field. During lunch, they sang songs - they always accompanied our ancestors,” said Tatyana Zhigalina. “The work was very hard, and the songs helped to keep the mood up. they cleaned up with her, they also rested with her.

This year, the women of the Mogilev region handed over their first sheaf of harvest to Gennady Davydov, First Deputy Head of the Department for Agriculture and Food of the Mogilev District Executive Committee. The women wished a high harvest and health to all who are engaged in harvesting.

"This is already my 38th harvesting campaign. And every time you worry about how everything will go, what the harvest will be like. We must not lose time: work in the fields begins still dark. After all, our common loaf will depend on how we work, - shared Gennady Davydov. - The beginning of the harvest is always a holiday, the crown of all previous work. In the Mogilev region, it is a tradition to start harvesting grain with "Zazhinki". I don't know if we can be called superstitious, but our ancestors didn't just believe in it. "This is some kind of mystery. And, of course, it's great that all this continues to live. After all, this is our culture, our history. If you don't remember and honor the past, you won't build a successful future."

Anastasia GUZOVSKAYA,

photo by Oleg FOYNITSKY,

BELTA.