Gromna

"Grand candle"Gromnitsa is a winter holiday that has come to us since pagan times. In the national calendar, it is celebrated on February 2 for Catholics, and 15 for Orthodox. This is a very ancient holiday, it goes back to the days of paganism, on this day sacrifices were made to the god Perun (Romovnik).

After Gromnitz you can hear the first thunder, foreshadowing the imminent arrival of heat. With the first thunder was associated with the belief that “if the thunder roars on the gray leaf, then the Budze Bagata dicks”. A year will be hungry if the first thunder falls on the bare forest. Hearing the first thunder, it was said that Perun would be driven out of the earth by evil spirits.

Later, Gromnitsa coincided with the church feast of the Lord’s Sretenye. However, in the folk tradition, the church "Strechanne" received a bright additional shade and began to be perceived as a meeting of winter with spring:

And on the sonna of Strachanne, Strachanne,
In the winter, I was shooting.
I puffed winter.
I rang a knife.
Weeping in the winter,
Summers are horse racing, horse racing.

On this day, candles were lit in the church or church. After consecration, candles were called "literary", they played a large role in many customs and ceremonies throughout the year.

After the owner returned home with a huge candle, the hostess lit it. The head of the family scorched the hair on his head, and then did the same with the hair of all family members by seniority. Then the whole family went to the barn, where the owner cross-scored the hair of each animal, touched the fire to the walls and doors. This ritual was repeated in every building. It was the rite of the "agnistag of the goose."

The candle was kept behind the images. No matter what happened in the family event, joyful or sad, a huge candle was lit.

Alloys of huge candles were worn as amulets on the body and even given as medicine. It should be noted that a huge candle was never loaned to anyone.

On Gromnitsa, the weather was observed: a strong frost, for example, meant a rapid melting of snow in the fields, a sharp warming - a poor harvest, and a snowstorm - a long winter.

After a long break in the 1990s. Gromnitsa was revived in the family life of residents of the village and the city, especially believers who go on this day (Catholics – February 2, Orthodox – February 15) to the church (church), consecrate candles there, and then store them at home as a talisman from all misfortunes. In rural clubs and schools began to celebrate this holiday as a holiday of meeting winter with spring, holding various games, contests, attractions, performing ritual songs with the participation of the characters of Spring and Winter.