Babinden: customs and table

Babinden is celebrated on January 8 (January 21 old style). The holiday is dedicated to the health of children, grandmothers - midwives and women in labor.

Babinden Customs

Even before sunrise, mothers with children from one to three years of age go to the fountain to pour fresh water. A sprig of basil or geranium is placed in the cauldron with the water. They take a bar of soap and a new towel and head to the grandmother's house to "water" her. The ritual watering of the grandmother-midwife is performed under a fruit tree in the garden, on the lawn or in front of the stairs. Each woman hands the grandmother the soap, pours her water to wash herself, and presents her with the towel she has brought. The grandmother adorns the bride with a bunch of geraniums, tied with "martenichka" - red and white thread.

Often, when watering, the grandmother throws her handfuls of water up and jumps three times, saying: "Let the children squeal and turn white and red!" How many drops, so much blessing and health!" After the watering, the women present the grandmother with shirts, socks, cloth, which they throw over her right shoulder. For her part, the grandmother ties a red and white horse with a silver coin on the right hand of the children she has spawned ("caught") and also gives them stockings and shirts.

At noon, the brides and grooms gather for a festive feast at the grandmother-midwife's home. Each woman brings a fresh loaf of bread, a pie, a boiled or roasted chicken, and a bowl of brandy or wine. He kisses the grandmother's hand and hands her the tray of food. The grandmother's daughters and daughters-in-law arrange a long and rich table around which all those present sit. A merry and boisterous feast begins, accompanied by songs, dances and sometimes too peppery and wild banter and skits.

Often, the grandmother puts a string of red peppers around her neck and burns incense under the women's skirts with a tile so that they give birth to more children. Nicknames and choruses have, in most cases, a sexual symbolic meaning. After lunch, the men started coming to the grandmother's table. A culminating moment in the rite is the ritual bathing of the grandmother-midwife in the river or at the fountain.

The men and women take the grandmother outside and put her on a two-wheeler or a sled. Sometimes they put the grandmother in a large wicker basket. Men dressed as "oxen", with leather masks and horns, drag the car or sleigh around the village. If the brides meet a man on the way, they take off his hood and demand a ransom. The noisy party takes the grandmother to the river, and there the men overturn the two-wheeler or basket in which they carry the old woman. They bathe her in the water. This rite is known in our lands as "reptile" of grandmothers. In the evening of the village megdan, everyone joins in a common dance, with which the festive day ends.