The Saturday of Lazarus (Mosii de Florii) or the Saturday of the Dead. The magical power of plants is revealed today

In Romanian traditions, an important day is Lazarus’ Saturday also called The Flower estates or Saturday of the Deadbecoming accustomed that, on this day, women do Lazarus pies and give them alms. In the Lazarus’ Saturday, in the villages, women do not purr at all, lest the dead, who are waiting at the gate of Heaven, return to earth. At the same time, the tradition of Lăzărel is practiced, a practice that recalls an ancient god of vegetation that died and was reborn at the beginning of each spring.

According to traditii-superstitii.ro, several legends circulate about Lazarus, each region having its own legend. In one of these, Lazar dies after he craved some pies that his mother couldn’t make, because she was purring.

In the southern area, in Floriilor Saturday went with Woe, which was originally a religious hymn. Tradition says that girls adorned with willows would sing from gate to gate and receive eggs.

In the the Saturday before Floriior there is the custom of the Easter Carols. These songs tell about the death and resurrection of Lazarus, a resurrection that heralds that of the Savior Jesus Christ.

In the Floriilor Saturday carol the girls, adorned with flowers on their heads. They sing about the unfortunate death and burial of a young man named Lazarus. One of the girls, nicknamed Lăzărita, dresses up as a bride. In the song it is said that he asked his mother to make him Azimut and she didn’t want it; he then went with the sheep to the forest, climbed a branch to shake leaves for the sheep, but the wind began to blow, the branch broke, and he fell and died. His three sisters found him, brought him home, bathed him in sweet milk and buried him.

In the Flower Saturday the children carol with willow twigs consecrated at the church by the village priest, then they go to each house, sing and wish for good and health. Clean children’s voices tell the story of Jesus, who was received with glory and olive and palm branches in Jerusalem by the same crowds that would crucify him in a week. As always, when the carolers come, the hosts welcome the children with love. They listen to them and together they decorate their house with holy willow, they rejoice and hope. I hope and I say with faith: “We are waiting for you next year!”. As the elders of the village remember, the payment for carolers was white, unboiled eggs, just right for preparing Easter.

At the same time, in the villages, in the old days, they used to practice the Flowers and some others pagan customs. to midnight from Florii, the girls boiled water with basil and threads from the tassels of a rag stolen from the funeral of an older girl. In the Palm Sunday, they washed their heads with this water, then threw it at the root of a fruit tree, hoping, in this way, that their hair would grow beautiful and rich. In other places, people do not wash their heads on this day precisely so that they do not turn gray like the trees in bloom.

Share with friends