Month: September 2017

Photos of the Day for September 20, 2017

Orthodox feast of the Transfiguration (Apple-Blessing feast – Jablychny Spas), August 19, 2017.  I/VIII It has now been my great fortune to celebrate the Orthodox feast of the Transfiguration (Apple-Blessing Feast – Jablychny Spas) for eleven years in a row with the parishioners of the church of the Holy Trinity in Azdamichy.  This was also… Continue reading Photos of the Day for September 20, 2017

Photos of the Day for September 19, 2017

Portraits of Polesia:  feast of the Maccabees (Makauje)/Honey-Blessing feast (Mjadovy Spas), Davyd-Haradok 2017:  V/V.  Партрэты Палесься:  Макаўе/Мядовы спас, Давыд-Гарадок 2017 г.:  V/V.      A mother with her one-month-old baby. Маці са сваім аднамесячным дзіцём.       After the blessing. Пасьля асьвячэньня.       After I photographed this boy… Пасьля таго, як здымаў… Continue reading Photos of the Day for September 19, 2017

Photos of the Day for September 18, 2017

Feast of the Maccabees (Makauje)/Honey-Blessing feast (Mjadovy Spas), Davyd-Haradok 2017:  IV/V.  Priests normally bless with water by snapping the brush forward and back over their head.  Here the priest uses a sidearm motion liberally to douse parishioners, causing much merriment. Макаўе/Мядовы спас, Давыд-Гарадок 2017 г.:  IV/V.           

Photos of the Day for September 17, 2017

Feast of the Maccabees (Makauje)/Honey-Blessing feast (Mjadovy Spas), Davyd-Haradok 2017:  III/V.  Parishioners focus on the actual blessing, and in the forecourt of the church in Davyd-Haradok they raise their bouquets with such fervor that one feels lifted off one’s feet.  The excitement and intensity of devotion has not been diminished by the decision of Davyd-Haradok’s… Continue reading Photos of the Day for September 17, 2017

Photos of the Day for September 16, 2017

Feast of the Maccabees (Makauje)/Honey-Blessing feast (Mjadovy Spas), Davyd-Haradok 2017:  II/V.  Parishioners eagerly await the blessing of flowers.   Макаўе/Мядовы спас, Давыд-Гарадок 2017 г.:  II/V.           

Photo of the Day for September 15, 2017

Feast of the Maccabees (Makauje)/Honey-Blessing feast (Mjadovy Spas), Davyd-Haradok 2017:  I/V.  August 14 is one of the clearest examples of syncretism, the overlapping or fusion of Christian and pre-Christian rites, in the Belarusian cycle of the year. From pre-Christian times, Belarusians have observed rites in August to mark the transition from summer to autumn, from… Continue reading Photo of the Day for September 15, 2017

Photo of the Day for September 14, 2017

Light in August:  Roman Catholic church of the Apostles Peter and Paul, Baruny 2017. Сьвятло ў жніўні:  касьцёл Сьвятых апосталаў Пятра й Паўла, Баруны 2017 г.