#provody

Have you ever wondered why it is said: Feast, feast to Provodní (Hody, Hody do provody)? The Easter holidays used to last until the first Sunday after Easter. It was called White or also Provodní – after the old pagan holiday of Provodní, which was something like today's All Souls' Day.

In the past, believers celebrated Easter for a longer period. From Easter Sunday to the following Sunday, the so-called Easter Octave was counted . During this week, catechesism (education) of the newly baptized, that is, those who were baptized on the evening of Holy Saturday, took place. On the last day of the Octave, they could take off their white robes, which is probably where the name White came from. At the same time, this day has also been celebrated in the church calendar since 2000 (at the request of Pope John Paul II ) as the Feast of Divine Mercy.

Spring celebrations of the dead and the living

Like many other Christian holidays, this time was originally marked by pagan traditions. The ancient Slavs celebrated a kind of spring All Souls' Day. They remembered their dead, feasted and danced. At the same time, they praised spring and new life - budding nature and harvest . In the Christian tradition, this turned into ceremonial processions in the fields and meadows with a request for God's blessing, which were customary on White Sunday. Provoda is the Old Czech word for a procession, and there were several of them on this day . Even to the church, where the newly baptized put away their white clothes, people went in a procession. The first spring pilgrimages, weddings, fairs were also organized ... The name provodní is also explained as the "seeing off" of Easter, i.e. its end.

In villages, there are also a number of local customs associated with Whit Sunday . In some places, latecomers would go for pomlázka (a gift from a loved one tied in a scarf). And, as on the last day of Easter, it was necessary to finish everything that was left over from the previous feast. It was tradition that not even a crumb of the spread or a piece of stuffing should go to waste. The last crumbs were scattered in the fields or in wells to ensure a good harvest and clean water. Another superstition says that whoever dresses in white on Whit Sunday will look good all year long. So we recommend not only eating up the Easter leftovers, but also wearing something white on Whit Sunday . Just to be on the safe side...

Translated from this article:

“There were easily 150 people in the cemetery, and the droning sounds of distant conversation and laughter gave it a sense of life that was missing in the village itself. Some people sat right on the graves, but larger families usually gathered around picnic tables, making sure to include the dead by spreading a tablecloth over the grave and piling it with the deceased’s favorite foods as well as the occasional bottle of vodka and shot glass. But even on graves whose overgrowth of weeds and crumbling markers indicated an absence of recent visitors, someone had placed a single candy.”

Do you know the meaning of the garbled phrase from the well-known carol HODY, HODY DOPROVODY?

The phrase is correctly hody, hody do Provody!

And it means - let's feast until Provodní Sunday.

The Easter Octave is a week of the liturgical year that begins on the Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord or also the Feast of the Holy Easter (this year April 5) and ends on White or Provodní Sunday, i.e. the 2nd Sunday of Easter (7 days later, including Easter Sunday, a total of 8 days, hence the octave).

The name "Provodní" refers to the tradition when, after mass, the faithful went from the church in a procession to the cemetery to pray together for the dead.

I stumbled across this custom in my little book about the folk customs of Zjnomo (the area of Moravia that my slavic lineage hails from). But couldn’t find much more information on the practices in western Slavic culture. There does still seem to be a strong custom of visiting graves after Easter in traditionally orthodox countries where it is called Radonitsa or Provody.

The general idea of White Sunday seems to be a spring time version of Dušičky (All Soul’s Day) which is still widely commemorated.

The photos are all from my personal practice. I have either visited graves of family and friends on White Sunday in the past or left offerings on my altar.

White or Provodní Sunday is the first Sunday after Easter. The name "provody" has been documented since the 14th century and has also been preserved to this day in the opening verses of Easter carols, for example in the well-known "Hody, hody, provodory". In the past, White Sunday was apparently connected with the cult of the dead. Perhaps its name comes from "proceedings to the cemetery", the seeing off of the deceased, which used to be associated with gifts for the dead, feasts at the graves and devotions for the deceased.

White Sunday was also a milestone following the great pre-Easter fast and the Easter holidays. Dance parties and sometimes pilgrimages were often held in the villages, during which boys returned the gift of pomláz to girls.

Source:

“Provodí was a Slavic holiday, a remembrance of the deceased, similar to the carrying out of Morana and celebrations of the arrival of spring. Ancestors were remembered exuberantly and cheerfully, and feasts were probably even held directly on the graves. Then Christianity moved things around, but Provodí Sunday remained at least as a name.”

Source:

Visiting dead Smolensky cemetery, St Petersburg 1881 old antique print. Drawn by V. Been (1881).