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.           

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