Saint Mary Little 2023 is celebrated on September 8. For Orthodox Christians, this is a very important holiday. Do you know that under no circumstances should you do St. Mary’s Day 2023? Well, this only attracts bad luck and trouble.
Saint Mary the Little – Nativity of the Virgin Mary
As the time approached for the Redeemer of the world to be born, there lived in the city of Nazareth in Galilee a man named Joachim with his wife Anna.
Joachim was a direct descendant of King David, but he lived a very modest and simple life. Both he and his wife were religious people and enjoyed a reputation for humility and compassion.
They had no children and, being of advanced age, the chances of having one were very slim. However, without giving up hope, they continued to ask God to send them a child.
They even made a vow that if they had a child, they would dedicate it to the service of God. At that time, childlessness meant that people were being punished by God for their sins.
Infertility was all the more difficult for Joachim to bear because, according to prophecy, the Messiah was to be born in his family line.
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Thanks to their patience and faith, the Lord finally sent them a great joy: Ana gave birth to a daughter. The newborn child was given the name Maria, which in Hebrew means “Lady-Hope.”
When the Virgin Mary turned three years old, her parents prepared to fulfill their vow: they took her to the temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God.
Maria stayed to live in the temple, in a special school for girls. There, together with the other young ladies, she learned the Law of God and household crafts.
She prayed and read the scriptures. The Blessed Virgin lived in the temple for about eleven years and grew up as a pious and obedient young woman, as modest and industrious as her parents.
She made a vow never to marry and to remain forever a virgin.
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At the age of fourteen, according to the law, she could no longer remain in the temple and had to marry. The high priest, aware of her vow but reluctant to break the marriage law, formally betrothed her to a distant relative of hers, an elderly widower named Joseph, who promised to care for her and protect her virginity.
In his first year in the house of Joseph, about six months after the Angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, as the birth of the prophet John the Baptist approached, the same Angel was sent by God to the city of Nazareth to the Holy Virgin with the glad tidings that the Lord chose her to become the Mother of the Savior of the world.
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What not to do under any circumstances on St. Mary’s Day 2023
Along with Saint Mary the Great (Assumption), Entry into the Church of the Mother of God and Annunciation, Saint Mary the Little (Nativity) is one of the four feasts dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Orthodox Christians care a lot about traditions and respect them with sanctity on every holiday.
If you are wondering what not to do under any circumstances on St. Mary’s Day 2023, then here is the answer:
Believers do not work on this day. Do not do housework, do not wash clothes and do not clean, because you attract evil.
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Do not light the fire in the stove because you will attract trouble and bad luck. The villagers do not work in the fields, because they will not have a good harvest all year.
Also, don’t light the fire two days before the Little Saint Mary, because you will get sick.
It is the day when people should avoid arguing with others or lending money, these things are seen as inauspicious.
People still follow these traditions, customs and superstitions, but the most important thing is to spend this day in prayer, attend service and love your neighbor.
