One of the most beautiful holidays preceding Christmas, Materice, is celebrated today.
Materice is celebrated the second Sunday before Christmas. This is the greatest Christian holiday for mothers and women. On that day, children get up early and, with a prepared rope, string, scarf, shawl, or belt, they suddenly tie up their mother, by the feet, in the same way that their mothers tied them up on Detinci (a similar holiday).
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK:
The mother pretends not to know why she is tied up, while the children congratulate her on the holiday, and then the mother gives gifts to the children, and in that way, she is untied. All married women are tied up in the same way, and they are untied with gifts to the children: cakes or other sweets. In recent times, the holiday of Materice has also been solemnly celebrated in our churches, especially in cities. Pious women, in agreement with the priest, prepare a suitable academy with a program in which children participate with appropriate recitations and singing, and then the children tie up the older women present.
They are untied with gifts and prepared packages, books, crosses, etc. In some places, a visit to the hospital is organized, especially to children’s wards, where gifts are brought to children, which gives this holiday a full Christian meaning.
Selected children from the orphanage, and some other poor children, would be taken to the palace to “tie up the queen” and receive gifts. Her Majesty Queen Marija Karadjordjevic was very active in celebrating this holiday.
Materice is a holiday on which you should not clean the house, vacuum, or tidy up the house…
A newer, although informal, tradition dictates that men and fathers, together with children, prepare a Sunday lunch for mothers and grandmothers who should rest today, or whose only obligation is to provide gifts for the little ones.
Detinjci, Materice, and Oci are our folk holidays that every Orthodox child, woman, and man should accept and celebrate as their patron saint’s day. Especially during the fast leading up to Christmas, one should incense the house, pray together with the family, and on Materice, mothers also offer a special personal prayer, thanking God for the health and prosperity of their children and the whole family.
READ MORE:
Source: Kurir, Photo: Shutterstock