HOLY WEEK (Major Hebdomada, Hebdomada Sancta, Hebdomada Authentica). - It is the week preceding Easter, also called "greater" or "authentic," because it commemorates the Passion, Death, burial and Resurrection of Christ. Today the last three days (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) are called the sacred triduum and have their own Offices.
Originally, on the ferial days of Holy Week the Holy Eucharist was not celebrated. Even St. Leo I, pope (440-61), clearly distinguishes between the first days, including Thursday, called Lent, and the other three considered as a unit. The days of Good Friday and Holy Saturday were days of strict fasting (Hippolytus, Innocent I); together with the following Sunday of Easter they were called: "sacramentum paschale," "festivitas paschalis" (St. Leo, Serm. 47 and 48). At first only on Friday was there a gathering with readings and prayers alone; then the preceding Wednesday was also added, on which St. Leo continued his sermons on the Passion, begun on Passion Sunday, as the Sunday now called Palm Sunday was then named. On this Sunday the Passion of St. Matthew was read, on Wednesday that of St. Luke and on Friday that of St. John; the whole week was therefore called the week of the Passion (cf. in cod. Vat. lat. 316: Sunday "in palmis," "de Passione Domini"), at first without fasting. To these two aliturgical days the liturgical Thursday was added. In the time of St. Augustine (d. 430) at Hippo there took place, on Holy Thursday, two liturgical gatherings in honor of the institution of the Holy Eucharist, one in the morning for those who did not fast, the other for those who fasted ("mane offertur propter prandentes, quia ieiunis simul et lavarum tolerare non possunt, ad vesperam vero propter ieiunantes," Ep. 54, 9). At Rome too in the 5th century at least one eucharistic gathering was held, because on this day the reconciliation of penitents and the blessing of the holy Chrism were appointed. Holy Monday had its liturgy when the three days of Monday, Wednesday and Friday of every Lenten week had theirs, that is, in the time of St. Leo or shortly before (A. Chavasse, Le carême, pp. 331-34). In the year 546 and 550 (Cod. Epist. of Fulda of Victor of Capua and Capitulare evangeliorum Neapolit.) Holy Tuesday too was provided with a liturgy or with readings. Friday and Saturday (the primitive Christian Easter) never had, at Rome or elsewhere, the eucharistic celebration.
Holy Monday: it had the reading of Jn. 12:1-36 "Ante sex dies...," today reduced to 1-9.
Holy Tuesday: the Gospel reading was at first that of Jn. 13:1-32 (the washing of the feet and the denunciation of the traitor); it was still read in the 8th century (Comes of Würzburg), later replaced (9th century) by the Passio of St. Mark. The Gospel, reduced to Jn. 13:1-13 (instead of 1-32), is read today on Holy Thursday (the Capitolare of Würzburg marks no Gospel for this day). In the time of Egeria, the Passio of St. Mark was read on Good Friday (12th century, also at Monte Cassino) together with that of St. John; at Rome on Easter Sunday itself (Baumstark, Liturgie comp., cit. in bibl., pp. 183-84).
Holy Wednesday: at Jerusalem (in the time of Egeria) the Gospel passage of the betrayal of Judas was read. At Rome, at first an aliturgical day, it later had two services: one in the morning in the Lateran Basilica in which, with the customary readings, the Orationes sollemnes were also recited (today in use exclusively on Good Friday). As a rule there were three readings in the aliturgical synaxes: that of the Passio of Luke, attested in the Capitolari at the end of the 7th century, perhaps already in use in the time of St. Leo; or was the reading of that of St. Matthew continued, according to the words of St. Leo lectio dominicae passionis iterabitur? Even today on Holy Wednesday there are three readings (a sign of antiquity in contrast to Monday or Tuesday with two). The aliturgical gathering of the morning is the oldest. Another took place in the evening in the Liberian Basilica with the eucharistic celebration; it began with the Offertory, then followed the readings of the morning. To the morning gathering only the Orationes sollemnes were left; cf. Ord. Rom. XXVI, 1-7 (Andrieu).
The Office of Tenebrae during the Sacred Triduum, called in the 12th century tenebrae or matutina tenebrarum because it ends with the lights extinguished, from the 13th-14th century was anticipated to the preceding evening (Ord. Rom. XIV, 82). The Office of these three days, so different from the usual one, in reality reproduces the primitive Roman Office, just as other parts of the Sacred Triduum preserve the rite of ancient times. The introductory formulas admitted by St. Gregory I are omitted, as are the hymns (in the Roman Office there were none before the 12th century) and the Gloria Patri at the end of the Psalms (it was a very ancient Roman custom not to add the Gloria, against the monastic use coming from Gaul); it ends, as in antiquity, with the recitation of the Pater noster alone. The psalm Miserere with the collect Respice (from the Gothic Missal) is of private origin after the 12th century, recited in some churches sub silentio (Durandus). The readings, according to the ancient rule, are taken from the Old Testament, from the commentaries of the Fathers and from the New Testament. The Responsories are well chosen and composed; the historical ones, the oldest, derive from the Passio of St. Matthew; the others, more recent, are drawn from Wisdom or are of extra-scriptural origin. Lauds, like the Little Hours and Vespers, close, without Chapter, without versicles and without greeting, with the final Pater noster. The psalms of the Matins of Thursday are the same (68-76) as those of feria V of the ordinary Roman Office, while the psalms of Good Friday and Holy Saturday are more appropriate to the mysteries. At first (7th-8th centuries) there were no Vespers; the present ones came only with the 11th century, when the Mass or the functions were already held in the morning. There is to be noted the triangular candlestick, holding 15 wax candles, each of which is extinguished at the end of each psalm, except the last which is hidden behind or under the altar, but at the end of Lauds serves to light the assembly. Amalarius, on his visit to Rome (831), found in use this progressive extinction of the lights on Friday and Saturday, not on Thursday. The origin and meaning of this use is not clear. The use of extinguishing the six candles of the altar during the singing of the Benedictus, not yet mentioned by Durandus, is recent. The noise at the end was originally nothing but the signal of dismissal given by the Superior or president of the choir.
Holy Thursday commemorates the institution of the Eucharist. It is called Feria quinta in Coena Domini in Africa and in Italy from the beginning of the 5th century; also Natalis calicis (with the date of March 24) in southern Gaul in the 6th and 7th centuries; natalis sacramenti is read in a Preface of the Leonine (XXVIII, 4). In the Roman Sacramentaries, but of Gallican origin, there are found three Masses for Thursday
Thursday, the first, called of the reconciliation of penitents, the second, called chrismalis, of the consecration of the holy Oils, the third ad vesperam of the eucharistic institution. Mention of the reconciliation of penitents on Holy Thursday is found in the letter of Innocent I of 416 to Decentius. The consecration of the holy Oils, a Roman function of the "Gregorian," with a marked festive character, was performed following the ceremonial of the great feasts. Since the reconciliation of penitents preceded it, the Mass called Catechumenorum was omitted (Ord. Rom. XIV, 31: Andrieu, pp. 136-37; the oldest Capitularies do not have a Gospel proper to the day) and it began with the offerings of the faithful. Today's Mass, composed for non-cathedral churches and where the reconciliation of penitents was not performed, does not have original texts for the readings and the chant, but passages derived from the nearby Masses. Today, in every church, only one Mass is permitted, in which from the celebrant, as from Christ himself, all receive holy Communion; in Rome the station is at the Lateran Basilica. The consecration of the Holy Oils, which in the time of Hippolytus took place in the pontifical Mass before conferring Baptism, was already performed in Rome in the 5th century on Holy Thursday; in Gaul, on the other hand, on Holy Saturday (Arles, 6th century) or on Palm Sunday (pseudo-Germanus, 7th century). The Mass is celebrated by the bishop with great solemnity in the presence of 12 priests, 7 deacons and 7 subdeacons, all wearing white vestments (white the veil of the altar cross); the Gloria is sung amid the prolonged ringing of the bells. At the end of the Canon, before the Per quem, the oil of the sick is exorcised and blessed. All the blessings or consecrations are performed before a special table near the altar. After Communion, in a solemn procession the oils of chrism and of the catechumens are carried. The bishop first blesses the balsam, then mixes it with a little chrism, then breathes in the form of a cross upon the holy chrism, followed in this by the priests, and consecrates it with a solemn Preface; after the mixture all the priests greet three times Ave, sanctum Crisma and kiss it (the greeting is of Roman origin, the kiss is a Gallican novelty). Similarly, but without the Preface, the oil of the catechumens is consecrated with a simple prayer, after an exorcism. In this Mass of Holy Thursday another Host is consecrated (in some regions of Germany still a third for the "holy sepulchre") for the "Mass of the Presanctified" of Good Friday. This consecrated Host is carried after the Mass with a richer ceremonial from the 11th century onward into a specially prepared little chapel; this chapel becomes the representation of the sepulchre of Christ, especially from Good Friday until the dawn of Easter.
Once Vespers has been recited (composed in the 11th century), one proceeds with the recitation of psalm 21 to the stripping of the altars, a very ancient ceremony, because it is a remnant of the primitive custom of removing the altar cloth each day. In the Middle Ages the washing of the altar was added, which is still done today in the Vatican Basilica and in monasteries. The last function of Holy Thursday is the Washing of the feet, called Mandatum from the first antiphon (Jn 13:34): an act of charity following the example of Christ (Jn 13:1-15), common in the Church (St. Augustine, Ep., 55, 18-33); from the Council of Toledo of 694 made obligatory for all bishops and priests toward their dependents. The washing is mentioned in the Ord. Rom. X, 12, and XII, 25, 27. Today, after the reading of the Gospel (Jn 13:1-15), the feet of 12 poor men are washed; while certain antiphons relating to the Gospel event are sung, and in particular the hymn Ubi caritas... (of Veronese origin from the 9th century, rich in a very simple melody, but very ancient and precious).
A peculiarity of these three days is the silence of the bells after the singing of the Gloria on Holy Thursday until the Gloria of the Easter vigil, already mentioned by Amalarius. In place of the bells and handbells, the signals for the sacred functions are given with a tabula, crepitaculum or crotalum, of wood, deriving from monastic use since the times of Cassian (De instit. caenob., I, 2, 17; IV, 12), in the Middle Ages from the Cluniacs (v. CREPITACOLO; CROTALO).
Good Friday (for St. Augustine and St. Leo) was still the first day of the sacred paschal triduum (St. Augustine, Ep., 55, 14: "sacratissimum triduum crucifixi, sepulti, suscitati"); it is called "parasceve," that is, "preparation," from the Greek (παρασκευή). It was an aliturgical day in the West and in the East; in Spain, in the 7th century, the churches were kept closed. Another custom of this day was the recitation of the entire Psalter, as Honorius III (1216-27) did, "primo diluculo una cum suis cappellanis totum psalterium ex integro"; in the same century the monks of Monte Cassino did so barefoot. In Rome the functions are held in the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme; in ancient times (as in the "Gelasian"), at the ninth hour of the day or toward evening.
Euchological service. - This first part of the present functions is a fine example of an ancient aliturgical assembly. As in the time when the Introit was not yet sung, the ministers prostrate themselves on the floor praying in silence; meanwhile the altar is prepared. Then the readings begin at once; the first from Hosea (Hos 1-6 of Gallican origin), with the responsorial psalm of Habakkuk (Hab 3:1-3; the verse in medio duorum animalium is referred to Christ crucified between two thieves); the second from Exodus (Ex 12:1-11) alludes to the symbol and figure of Christ's sacrifice in the paschal lamb of the Hebrews. The third reading follows: in the church of St. Augustine the Passion of Matthew was read; that of St. John is attested from the times of St. Gregory the Great. As a rule, the aliturgical assembly concludes with the Orationes solemnes, for all the people and for each individual class of them; a custom common in the holy Mass until the 6th century (in the 8th century still on Holy Wednesday, v. above). In the Oration for the Jews the genuflection usual after the invitation of the Oremus is omitted after the 9th century for symbolic reasons (cf. Ord. Rom. XII, 29). There followed the sermon of the officiating bishop (of St. Augustine 4 homilies delivered on Good Friday are preserved for us).
The adoration of the holy Cross. - It comes from Jerusalem, where, according to Egeria, it was performed at the relic of the true Cross, and was a simple rite without a precise liturgical character: the bishop held the relic, kissing it and applying it to the forehead and eyes; no singing, no prayer; everything took place in silence. This rite was introduced at Rome (the Ord. XVI, 33-34 does not have it) perhaps in the first half of the 7th century. According to the description of the Ordo of Einsiedeln (Ord. Rom. XXIII, 9-22) the pope went from the Lateran to Santa Croce in Gerusalemme; behind him the holy Cross was carried (A. Baumstark, Lit., cited in bibl., p. 153) by a deacon in a small box and placed on the altar; the Pope uncovers the holy Cross, prostrates himself to adore it; the faithful follow; but to the women, so as not to let them approach the altar, the sacred relic is carried. After the veneration one continues with the readings of the euchological service and the functions of the presanctified are added; the Pope himself and his deacons do not communicate.
In the other churches a double rite was performed, in the morning the euchological one, in the evening the veneration of the holy Cross together with the rite of the presanctified (Ord. Rom. XXIII, 29-38 [Andrieu]); the Cross was placed before the altar carried by two acolytes; then it was venerated by the Pope and the people; meanwhile the antiphon Ecce lignum was sung, with psalm 118; there followed the Mass of the presanctified (cf. Ord. Rom. XXVII, 41-50). The present rite of the adoration of the Cross was formed between the 9th and 11th centuries in Spain and in Gaul: the uncovering and showing of the Cross, the triple prostration, the Improperia, the Byzantine trisagion (in Greek and Latin), the antiphon (of Greek origin) of triumph Crucem tuam, the two hymns of Venantius Fortunatus Pange lingua and Vexilla Regis; all of it is found in the Roman Pontifical of the 12th century (M. Andrieu, Le Pontifical romain au moyen âge, I, Vatican City 1934, p. 236, nn. 8, 9).
The Mass of the Presanctified. - It is a simple rite of communion, made with the Sacred Species "presanctified," that is, previously consecrated, used on aliturgical days, as the Greeks did in Lent, etc., on Saturday and Sunday; at Rome only on Good Friday. It seems that at first the Roman Church (like the Ambrosian rite even today) did not officially have the use of the Presanctified, which entered the papal liturgy between the 7th and 8th centuries (Duchesne). The primitive rite contained only the Pater noster with the embolism, followed by the fraction and commixture recited aloud; then the offertory prayers were added, the incensation of the offerings and of the altar, the washing of the hands (Ord. Rom., XIV, 83; the elevation of the Host (Ord. Rom., XV, 77) at the words sicut in caelo et in terra (today after the embolism); a French custom of the 14th century, perhaps introduced at Avignon.
4. Deposition (burial) of the Cross and of the Host
A rite directed at commemorating in a more expressive manner the burial of the Lord, originating in the 10th century (cf. the biography of St. Ulrich of Augsburg [d. 973]), in use in almost all the Churches, except that of Rome; it continues in Germany and in Austria.
The Cross or a consecrated Host or both together are carried into a kind of sepulchre, there incensed and sprinkled with holy water, finally the sepulchre is closed and sealed, to be venerated by the piety of the faithful. At the dawn of Easter Sunday they are solemnly brought out again to figure the Resurrection.
Holy Saturday. — In the first six centuries, both in the East and in the West, it was a completely liturgical day. The functions that took place, over the course of more than a millennium, on Holy Saturday were originally celebrated during the following night. In the time of St. Ambrose (397) at Milan and of St. Augustine (430) at Hippo, the paschal vigil was celebrated throughout the whole night; St. Jerome, on the other hand (419-20), alludes to a function that occupied only the first part of the Holy Night (ante noctis dimidium dimittere non liceus). The vigil of the first part of the Holy Night becomes the rule under Leo I (d. 461) at Rome, under Lupus of Troyes (d. 479) in Gaul, and at the same time in the Testamentum Domini for Syria. From John the Deacon in 523-26, the end of the solemnity seems already to be celebrated on the evening of Holy Saturday; the same emerges from a less edifying account of St. Gregory (d. 604) in Spain (sacratissimo paschali Sabato post ieiunium), and furthermore a second Mass "in the Holy Night" was said at the first light of Easter day. The older Gelasian (Bibl. Vat., Reg. 316), in a rubric after the Orationes per singulas lectiones in Sabato Sancto, determines the hour of the Mass in nocte: et ingrediantur ad missas in vigilia ut stella in caelo apparuerit, and contains a second Mass in the Dominicum Paschae. The Sacramentaries of the Gregorian type also have a Mass on Holy Saturday in nocte and another "in dominico sancto"; the following Sunday is considered outside the octave, die dominica post albas (scil. depositas; v. PASQUA, II, 3).
BIBLI: P. de Puniet, Du rite des processions à la consécration des saintes Huiles, in Rass. Greg., 2 (1900), p. 216 sgg.; A. Baumstark, Der Orient und die Gesänge der «Adoratio Crucis», in Jahrb. f. Liturgienrissensch., 2 (1922), p. 4 sgg.; L. Duchesne, Origines au Culte chrétien, Parigi 1925, pp. 260-71; A. Wilmart, L'Hymne de la Charité pour le Jeudi saint, in Auteurs spirituels et textes dévolts du moyen âge, ivi 1932, pp. 26-36; E. Eisenhofer, Handb. der hath. Liturgie, I, Friburgo 1932, pp. 311-50; A. Baumstark, Liturgie comparée, Chevetogne [1939], pp. 149-55; 183-84; M. Righetti, Man. di stor. liturg., II, Milano 1946, pp. 140-82; A. Chavasse, Le carême romain et les scrutins préhaptistiaux avant le IXe siècle, in R. de sc. rel., 35 (1948), pp. 325-87; A. Chavasse, La préparation de la Pâque à Rome, avant le Ve siècle, Jeune et organisation liturgique, in Bibliothèque de la Fac. cath. de théol. de Lyon, Mémoire I, Chaîne, 5 (1950), pp. 61-80; A. Stulber, Von der Pascha-Nachtsache zum Karsanstagsgottesdienst, in Katechet. Blätter, 75 (1950), pp. 48-107; M. Andrieu, Les «Ordines Romani» du haut moyen âge, III, Lovanio 1951; J. A. Jungmann, Die Vorverlegung der Ostervigil seit dem christl. Altertum, in Lit. Jahrbuch, 1 (1951), pp. 48-54; H. Vorgrinder, War die altchristl. Ostervigil eine ununterbrochene Feier?, in Zeitschr. für hath. Theol., 74 (1952), pp. 464-72.
Pietro Siffrin
FOLKLORE
The folkloristic cycle of Holy Week runs from Palm Sunday (v.) to Low Monday. Rather than describing the rites of Holy Week chronologically, day by day, it is better to classify the various folkloristic elements one after another, all the more so since these are concentrated by preference on the days of Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Resurrection Sunday. The cycle thus presents liturgical ceremonies to which the people have given their own colors and forms, without altering their character; propitiatory ritual ceremonies that are repeated at every yearly or seasonal beginning, and in particular for Easter indicate the beginning of spring, so much so that the period is also called "of the beginning of spring or of Easter"; and finally various superstitious beliefs and practices, whose individual meaning eludes us, but which are referred in their entirety to the sacred-exceptional value of those days.
The first group includes the dramatic processions, the sacred representations and other living relics of the medieval and Renaissance religious drama, as well as certain ecclesiastical prescriptions in which the folkloristic element has been added to the liturgical one. A place of first importance has been recognized for the procession in all the survivals of the sacred drama, it being observed that "the rhythmic advancing of masses of men, especially if the rhythm is intensified and marked by divisions into companies or groups dressed in special uniforms, as well as by songs and sounds, creates as it were an atmosphere of connection, of cohesion, of understanding among the masses and prepares their spirits to feel fully what will constitute the climax of the manifestation or of the rite" (Toschi). The Easter processions are characterized by the scenes of the Passion, called "mysteries," reconstructed by means of statues in wood or papier-mâché and sometimes by groups of living persons: foremost, for their pomp, are the procession of Seville in Spain, with the groups (paso) formed partly of statues, partly of living persons, and with the colors of the garments always the same (blue and white for the Virgin, green for St. John and yellow for Judas); in Italy that of Trapani, where the 18 mysteries carved in wood, life-size, are carried on the shoulder by the representatives of the various guilds (cooks, waiters, carpenters, etc.) and visit all the churches entering by the central door and exiting by the side one, that of Caltanissetta, where the mysteries are 15 groups modeled in papier-mâché which the people call le vare and designate according to the class to which they belong ("vara de li sulfatara," sulphur workers; "di livucci," butchers; "di li vinaroli," wine sellers, etc.); and also those of Sezze in Latium, of Grassina in Tuscany, of Romagnano in Piedmont and of Vértova in Val Seriana. At Bari the Easter procession takes on a penitential character: the confraternity members are called perdune and proceed two by two, barefoot, dressed in a wide white tunic, their faces covered, a crown of thorns on their heads and a long staff in hand; the triscola (called elsewhere raganella, scarabattola, etc.), a wooden instrument with small metal plates that makes a din and substitutes for the sound of the bells, is put up for auction the day before, and obtaining it (one even comes to pay a few thousand lire for it) is considered a penance performed by one who has sinned; the triscolare leads the procession, regulating its route, the stops and the pace, which is more or less slow according to the sin to be atoned for. In some villages of the Mezzogiorno, especially in Sicily, the singing of the lamentanza, a litany in dialect sometimes mixed with Latin, accompanies the cadenced advancing of the crowd. Among the sacred representations of the Passion of Christ the most famous is the one that is repeated every year in the small village of Oberammergau (v.). The preparation of the sepulchres, in use in parishes of the Roman rite, shows the folkloristic element in the variety of decoration, which is in relation to the tendency of the place: laden with statues, paintings and scenes evocative of the Passion are, for example, those in Spain; in some regions of France, such as Roussillon and Cerdagne, for the richness of ornament they are called monuments; in Italy those set up in Sicily are noteworthy, for example, in the church of S. Anna dei Lombardi at Monteoliveto; in Naples in the church of the Girolomini with very ancient cloths embroidered in gold and in the church of S. Francesco di Paola with the fourteenth-century urn of gilded bronze. A complete folklorization has been reached by the custom at Nantes, where the sepulchres are installed along the streets.
Among the propitiatory rites classified in the second group, the custom of songs and egg-collecting should above all be noted. The egg has a symbolic value of fertilization, in relation also to the spring season: but historically the use of giving eggs does not go back in Europe beyond the 16th century (the oldest document is Alsatian); in the eighteenth century it was the rule that the largest egg laid in the Kingdom of France during Holy Week belonged to the king. In Paris, in former times, students and choirboys made the collection of eggs to the sound of little bells and drums. The shepherds of the Jura go around at Easter through the houses leading a young girl adorned with flowers and ribbons, called queen of May: with the same ceremonial the first of May is celebrated in Provence and elsewhere. On Holy Saturday, the mountain girls of the upper Val Brembana offer eggs, wrapped in embroidered handkerchiefs, to their sweethearts, who bring an olive branch joined to some object: the tree spirit, present in these rites, is a symbol of spring. And the same outings of Low Monday, so traditional for a very vast area, always have the appearance and meaning of spring rites. Folkloristic is the coloring of the eggs, with regard to the technique (in Anjou, for example, cardinal red is obtained with slices of onion cooked with vinegar), and to the interpretation (red held, almost everywhere, effective against every evil influence). With eggs various games are also played, of which the most specifically Easter and the most widespread in Europe are two: one consists in making two eggs knock against each other; the player whose egg does not break is the winner and takes possession of the opponent's egg (coccotta in the Marche, sobaz in Romagna, toguette in France, Eierspecken or Eierpicken in Germany, croquer in French Switzerland and Tupfen and Tütschen in German Switzerland); the other consists in rolling the egg down the slope of a meadow, the winner being whoever manages to send it farthest; to this game, called cutulello in the Marche, which proves to be widespread in France (roulée), in Scotland, in Germany (Eiervallen or Eierscheiben) and in all of Eastern Europe, some scholars have believed they could give a ritualistic explanation. Certain is the propitiatory character of both games for the opening of a new cycle: the roulée, for example, at Nanssous-Thil was also played at Christmas with walnuts, in Burgundy on the days of carnival and the winner was proclaimed queen of Jaudiau. Other transfers to Easter of carnival rites are documented by Fehrle in Germany, where the winner of certain horse races was called king; analogously one must recognize a last trace of the "carnival king" in the Romagnol custom described by Placucci: on Holy Saturday "a man is found, the clumsiest and least shrewd of the village; a box full of stones is placed on him, and he is ordered to carry it to the parish, telling him that they are the keys of the alleluja"; from the church he is made to go around here and there, until he notices the joke. Propitiatory is also the custom, documented in Romagna, of observing, on Holy Saturday, at an hour before the Angelus "to see the campioni, which are the winds that will dominate for the coming year; whence to predict the good, or the evil, that may happen in the said year to the products of the countryside": it is a rite typical of every yearly or seasonal beginning.
Finally, there are countless superstitious beliefs and practices, not properly tied to the Easter cycle as such but referring to it only insofar as it is an exceptional period. Common to the feast of St. John is the custom of bathing at dawn in the dew, held to be blessed. Generally, the water of Easter night preserves from ills and makes women beautiful: in Sicily sick people and animals immerse themselves in the sea; in Romagna, at the moment when the bells are untied, peasants customarily bathe their eyes to preserve their sight; in Saxony and Silesia young men hidden near riverbanks and fountains sprinkle water on the girls who come to draw it. Forms of ritual kinship are the so-called rites of fraternization performed in Ukraine with an embrace and among the Southern Slavs with the mingling of blood, on the day after Easter or even on another solemn day or fair day, called druzzicola, the day of friendship. Many other customs are connected with the silence of the bells: the people of Romagna, for example, when the bells are tied on Maundy Thursday, tie the trees to make them fruitful; others tie them on Holy Saturday so that the fog will not damage them; in many communes of Abruzzo and Romagna, from the tying of the bells to their untying a fast is observed (trapassato). Among the various taboos of Holy Week the most universally widespread is the suspension of all work, as during every feast: in some regions of Italy and France, in particular, women must not do the laundry, especially on Good Friday, which is a day of mourning.
Bibliography7 works
Giovanni Bronsini