The sound of spring

**Гуканне вясны** is a Limited edition stamp in SLOWLY. This can be unlocked when you visit Belarus during this special day .

## Information

**Гуканне вясны** is an ancient holiday of saying goodbye to winter and meeting spring. It is of pagan origin. Abradavy is accompanied by spring songs and round dances. People call for spring to come soon, rejoice in the first spring sun and drive away winter. Researchers believe that the appeal of spring was most characteristic of the east of Belarus. In the western regions it was not clearly delineated and merged with the Maslenkavai rite.

Like many other pagan rites, Gukanne viasna did not have a specific date.

* In some places, Gukanne Viasny coincided with the end of Maslenkavag week. Perhaps this is due to Christian influence and the ban on dancing and singing during Lent.
* In some areas, viasnaya was called on March 1, on the holiday of Aydakei (Avdotya-vesnovka).
* On March 9, Magpies were celebrated — a holiday in which, according to beliefs, forty "vyrayay" (bird flocks) were supposed to arrive from the south.
* In other places, they began to call spring for the Annunciation (Annunciation), which was celebrated on March 25.
* Belarusian Neapagans call out spring on the solar calendar on April 5

After switching to the Gregorian calendar, all Orthodox holidays "shifted" 13 days ahead. Magpie "moved" on March 22 and spring is most often exclaimed in the 10th-20th days of March.

### Place of celebration

Most often, they gathered in an open place (a hill, river bank, forest edge, or even on the roof of a house or bathhouse). The fact is that it is the high places that are first released from snow in the spring. This is how Gukanne viasny is described in the Gomel uyezd (Mogilev province), in the book of P. V. Shane: "Usually the summoning itself takes place in us like this: groups of girls gather on the most elevated places in the village, near the rig; pastilayut straw there and, sitting on it in the garden, sing spring songs until late at night. These songs are then distributed to all the surrounding "assembly points". They often sing in turn: they will start and stop in one place, and continue in the second." In Polesie, it was a tradition to gather on the shore of a lake or river.

### Burning fire

The peasants made a bonfire out of various rags and sang around it songs-vesnyanki. Sometimes young people, as well as on Kupala games, arranged horse races over the fire. In the Chechersk district, they even set fire to an old wheel and let it float on a raft along the river (which is similar to the Kupala ritual). The burning of old clothes symbolized a farewell to winter, the restoration of peace, and the rejuvenation of nature.

### Baked "zhavaronki"

Most often, they baked forty pieces of cookies in the form of birds and distributed them to children. Sometimes the girls took the canvas and swung it, throwing up baked zhavaronkay on it. It was as if imit started the flight and was supposed to speed up the return of birds from warm countries. The lark was one of the first to arrive every spring. He was considered the" messenger " of spring.

### «Dance of spring»

This rite existed in the Soligorsk district of the Minsk region. It reminded me of Christmas and volochebny (ceremonial round of houses) rounds of the village. Young people gathered and walked around the yards. They wished the owners a good harvest and wealth, and then led a round dance in the yard. It was believed that, "where the round dance goes — there the life will give birth".

### Spring Songs

Abstract for the ancient people, the concept of the onset of spring was embodied in understandable human images — a beautiful, blooming girl, whose zeyaylene zvyazali with flights of birds from warm countries and therefore they were called-touted

Text from Wikipedia. Pic from LiveJournal.

## Method

This stamp is unlocked by logging into your account while inside the country during this special day. Any other local stamps will also be unlocked at the same time.

You will keep it and be able to send to other penpals even after you return from your trip.