This is an important holiday for Orthodox Christians

On the first Friday after Easter, the Healing Spring, a feast dedicated to the Mother of God. The celebration reminds Christians of a miracle performed by the Mother of God, in the 5th century. The water consecration service takes place at the Healing Spring in the churches. Agheasma is drunk in the morning, to strengthen the body and soul, writes tvrinfo.ro

The miracle would have happened in the 5th century, when the Virgin Mary appeared to the future Byzantine emperor Leo in a forest near Constantinople and showed him a spring with healing water that restored the sight of a blind man and healed many sick people. Having become emperor, Leon built a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary on that site and which received the patron saint “The Healing Spring”.

The water of the spring also cured Emperor Justinian of a serious illness, who built an even bigger church as a thank you. The church still exists today in Istanbul and keeps in the basement the spring with the water of which many sick people were cured, and thousands of pilgrims gather here every year.

The Healing Spring, says the Church, is a prefiguration of the Mother of God, the living Spring of our salvation.

On this day, all the churches hold water consecration services, or agheasma – a term of Greek origin that means both the work of consecrating water and its result, the holy water.

Traditions and customs of the Healing Spring

In the morning, the faithful usually go to church, for the consecration of the waters, and then the priests sprinkle the faithful with blessed water, the Little Agheasma, and sing the troparion:

“Save, Lord, your people and bless your inheritance, grant the victory of the good-faith Christians over the enemy, and with your cross, protect your people.”

In popular belief, this blessing song spoken by the priest has a purifying role, removing negative energies and damage.

The belief also says that if you drink the holy water on this day, people become strong and are protected from diseases for the whole year.

The householders also throw the holy water over the beasts of burden, so that they are healthy and work hard on the agricultural works.

Gardens and orchards are sprinkled with holy water to have a rich year, and to protect crops from the effects of hail.

In Moldova, people dress in traditional costumes and go to springs, where they take water that they sanctify. Young girls are sprinkled with aghesa for luck in starting a family.

The brotherhood, a covenant between boys, and the sisterhood, a covenant between girls, aim at mutual help between those who perform the ritual on this day.

And mature people fulfill this covenant, after which they call each other cousins, friends, cousins, and help each other until death.

On the day of the holiday, no work is done in the household or in the fields. Housewives don’t wash, don’t iron, and don’t sew a piece of clothing, because it will be useless and never finished.