Spas a Russian Festival at Russian.Net Home of everything to do with russia. Russian.Net Home. Russian Festivals Spas: In August, the last month of the summer season, when the harvest is sown, is the time they usually celebrate the three holidays called 'Spas'. Harvest is the time to enjoy autumn’s fresh air with friends and family, acknowledging all that the seasons provide them. Join the Fort Ross Conservancy for a day of apple and pear picking in the historic Fort Ross orchard. Enjoy pumpkin carving, making apple juice, interpretive talks and walks, and the Russian group Kedry in traditional costume singing and performing seasonal games.
The Apple Feast of the Saviour[1] (sometimes the Feast of the Saviour on the Hill)[2] is an Eastern Slavic folk name for the Feast of the Transfiguration, which is observed on August 19.
It is the second of the three Feasts of the Saviour. The others are the Honey Feast of the Saviour, which is celebrated on August 14 (or August 1, Julian Calendar) and the Nut Feast of the Saviour, which is celebrated on August 29 (or August 16, Julian Calendar).
The holiday has a pre-Christian origin and is associated with harvesting of ripe fruits, especially apples. In the Byzantine Empire there was tradition to bless harvested grapes during the Feast of Transfiguration. In Russia, apples are more common than grapes, hence the name of the feast. There are processions and blessings of harvests. Usually, on that day, people from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus eat apples, apple pies, or other dishes containing apples, even if they are not Orthodox Christians.
References[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Savior of the Apple Feast Day.
^'August 6/19 - Holy Transfiguration of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ... Second ('Apple') feast of the Savior'. 19 August 2011.
^Ivanits, Linda (1992). Russian folk belief. M.E. Sharpe. p. 24. ISBN0873328892.
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