Certain days are set in commemoration of dead during the church year. One of them falls for this day. In many regions of Ukraine the first Sunday after Easter is called ‘parental’. This day peoples go to bow to the memory of deceased relatives.
The Blessed Easter, as it is called in Moldova is not strictly canonical in different parts of the Orthodox world and it is celebrated from Monday after Fomyn Sunday (eight days after Easter) up to Trinity. Its celebration is widespread in the eastern part of Slavs (Russia, Ukraine) and it is called Radonitsa, and less spread in Romania. However, in Moldova, where the Romanian traditions overlap with Slavic, the Blessed Easter is a bank holiday and Monday is day off.
People bring donations to the cemetery and after its sanctification give them to the relatives or disadvantaged by adding ‘for the rest of the soul…’. But even the noble purpose leads to the negative consequences. Some people use this opportunity for demonstration of their own welfare: their donations are too expensive and the Memorial Day turns into a luxurious picnic.
However, usually people clean the cemetery the day before the holiday, bake Easter breads, decorate eggs, come with the wine and pray for the souls of the dead, remember their good deeds. Traditionally, people from everywhere arrive to spend some time beside the graves of their relatives. This is the opportunity for families to meet after all. Therefore no matter how far Moldavia citizens work abroad, they all return to their homes at the Blessed Easter.
This day is called the Blessed Easter (from Slavic ‘blazhennyy’ (‘blessed’) means ‘shchaslyvyy’ (‘happy’). It is believed that the dead are really happy in comparison with alive, because they have eternal life where there is neither pain nor sorrow, nor anxiety, nor fight nor defeat.
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