It was on January 25, the day of the Great Martyr Tatyana Epiphany in 1755, that the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna created a university in Moscow.
Therefore, the holiday is associated with student day. Students are generally lucky - they have two holidays of their own: November 17 - International Student's Day and January 25 - Tatyana's Day.
It was on this day in 1755 that the decree on the founding of Moscow University was signed. The project of the first university in Russia was developed by Mikhail Lomonosov. Everyone who is close to this date says that it is imbued with a spring-like joyful mood, despite the January frosts or thaw ...
Martyr Tatiana was born in Rome into a noble family. Her father held a high position and at the same time was a secret Christian. He raised his daughter in love for Jesus Christ and introduced her to the Holy Scriptures. When the girl came of age, she decided to devote her life to God. Deaconesses were appointed for their charity. However, she suffered for her faith.
And in 222, a sixteen-year-old young man Alexander began to reign in Rome, whose mother, mother, was a Christian. From her he learned about Christ, but continued to worship the pagan Roman gods.
Alexander was still young and other people who hated Christians ruled instead of him. They forced them to worship pagan gods. The disobedient were severely punished. Saint Tatiana was also brought to a pagan temple to bow to Apollo, but the Christian woman prayed to her Lord. According to legend, the same hour there was an earthquake. The temple was destroyed. Its fragments crushed pagans and priests. Tatyana began to be mercilessly tortured, but her body remained invulnerable. The executioners themselves were more tired than she, because angels stood next to the saint and beat the tormentors. Tatyana prayed and asked the Lord to open the light of truth before them. And this happened: they saw four angels near the Holy One, heard the voice of heaven addressed to her. Then they began to beg Tatyana to forgive them.
The next day, Tatyana was again brought before the judge. He began to persuade her to sacrifice to the pagan gods. But Tatyana was adamant. Then all the executioners began to cut her body. She again had angels and beat those who tormented her.
In the evening, Tatyana was thrown into prison, and in the morning they found her healthy and even better. They began to beg the Christian to make a sacrifice to the goddess Diana, and she pretended to agree. Then she was brought to the temple of Diana. When she began to pray, immediately the heavenly fire burned the palace with idols and killed many pagans. They began torturing Tatyana again, and in the morning they released a terrible lion on her, then they threw Tatyana into the fire, but the fire did not touch her either. The pagans imprisoned Tatyana in the temple of Zeus. For two days she was there, and on the third the priests came with the people to offer sacrifice to their god. They found their idol broken, and they saw Tatyana healthy and cheerful.
And then the judge pronounced the final verdict: to kill her with a sword. Together with her, her father was also killed, because they learned that he was a Christian. Part of the incorruptible relics of the martyr Tatyana is kept in the Mikhailovsky Cathedral of the Pskov-Caves Monastery.
Initially, this is the day of veneration of the holy martyr Tatiana of Rome, but after in 1755 on January 12 (according to the Julian calendar) Empress Elizaveta Petrovna signed a decree on the opening of Moscow University, "Tatiana's Day" began to be celebrated first as the birthday of the University, and later - as a holiday of students. Since then, Saint Tatiana has been considered the patroness of students. The very ancient name "Tatiana" in Greek means "organizer".
In the 60-70s of the 19th century, Tatyana's Day turns into an unofficial student holiday. Student holidays began with it, and it was this event that the student fraternity always celebrated cheerfully and noisily. The celebration of the "professional" day of students had traditions and ritual - solemn acts were arranged with the distribution of awards and speeches.
Then followed the Decree of Nicholas I, in which he ordered to celebrate not the opening day of the university, but the signing of the act of its establishment. Thus, by the will of the monarch, a student holiday appeared - Students' Day. The Church of the Great Martyr Tatiana was opened at the University. Students still run to her to ask for help before exams.
How was the holiday celebrated?
The history of the holiday has its roots in the distant past, traditions have been preserved to this day. Students arranged wide festivities more than a hundred years ago, then all night long students walked and sang songs, it was a matter of honor to rhyme the words "Tatiana" and "drunk" wittily.
On that day, in the prestigious Hermitage restaurant on Trubnaya, carpets were hastily rolled up and sawdust was sprinkled on the floor, and instead of elegant chairs, benches were placed and tables were moved together - the main feast of students traditionally took place there - after drinking, they bellowed:
"Long live Tatiana, Tatiana, Tatiana,
All our brothers are drunk, all drunk
On Tatyana's glorious day!
The writer Anton Chekhov described the festivities that were held in honor of the holiday: “Everyone drank, except for the Moscow River, and that was due to the fact that it was frozen.” On this day, even extremely drunken students were not touched by the quarters. And if they approached, they saluted and asked if Mr. Student needed help ...
People say that on this day the sun turns to summer, and winter turns to frost. If the day is sunny, then the birds will return early, if it snows, then the summer will be rainy, and if frost hits, then the summer will be warm.
The Holy Martyr Tatiana is remembered by Orthodox believers on January 25 - it is then that the day of students is celebrated, of which she is the patroness. Sputnik tells about the history of the holiday, as well as signs and traditions that are customary to honor today not only by students, but also by many others.
Martyr Tatiana - patroness of students
Tatyana's Day or the Day of Russian Students is associated with the name of the early Christian martyr Tatiana of Rome, who is remembered in the Orthodox Church on January 25: on this day the Divine Liturgy is served in churches.
For believers, the martyrdom of the saint is important. Tatiana was born into a noble Roman family of secret Christians and devoted herself to the service of the church. During times of persecution, tortures tried to force her to renounce her faith. Her life describes many miracles that occurred during the torture. For example, it is said about eight tormentors who, amazed at her steadfastness, asked for forgiveness, after which they saw angels behind St. Tatiana's back and believed in Christ with all their hearts. Three times she destroyed temples with the power of faith and words. The martyr was not burned by the fire into which she was thrown, and the lion in the arena only licked her feet. In the end, she was still executed for disobedience.
The history of the celebration of January 25
The holiday began to be celebrated as the birthday of the University of Moscow: Empress Elizaveta Petrovna established it back in 1755. Subsequently, in one of the outbuildings of the old university building, a house church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana was created, and she herself was declared the patroness of all Russian students.
© Sputnik / Viktor Tolochko
By the middle of the 19th century, the day, solemn for professors and students of Moscow University, grew into a large-scale celebration of the city intelligentsia, then went beyond the capital, and eventually transformed into a student's day, which gathered all members of the student fraternity (including in Belarus).
In the Russian Empire, celebrations were traditionally noisy and cheerful: after official ceremonies in educational institutions, festivities were held everywhere. The Frenchman Olivier, who was the owner of the Hermitage, even gave the restaurant hall for student festivities. Even the royal gendarmes that day, having met a drunk student, offered him their help.
© Sputnik / Ruslan Krivobok
After the October Revolution, Tatyana's Day was forgotten for more than half a century, but they began to celebrate it again in 1995, after the second opening of the mentioned temple at the university. And they began to officially celebrate the Day of Russian Students only in 2005, when a federal law came into force to consider it a memorable date for the country.
What is symbolic, the date of the celebration - January 25 - falls just on the last day of the 21st academic week and the end of the session of the first semester, followed by the winter holidays.
Traditions and signs on Tatyana's day: student and folk
On this day, it is customary to pray to the martyr Tatiana: to ask her for success in difficult teaching, for enlightenment.
One of the popular student traditions says that on the night of January 25, you should call for good luck by sticking your grade book out the window. According to another tradition, you need to draw at the very end of the student's record book a house with a chimney from which smoke is pouring out: supposedly, the longer the plume of smoke, the easier it will be for the upcoming exams and the school year. It is considered great luck if the next day after the holiday, on January 26, an exam falls out: they say it passes easily and quickly. By the way, during the holiday itself, in no case should you study notes. There is an opinion that success in exams can be achieved by loudly celebrating the holiday.
There are also remarkable folk omens. For example, in the old days on Tatiana's Day, girls lured suitors: they hid feather panicles in the homes of young people - it was believed that after that the lover would marry the girl, and the marriage would be strong. Also, a tradition has survived to this day, according to which people who wipe their feet on a doormat laid at the door will be frequent guests in the house. According to popular beliefs, it is on January 25 that the sun turns towards summer.
There are also prohibitions: quarrels with loved ones are unacceptable on Tatyana's day, as well as a refusal to help those who ask for it. It is worth celebrating the holiday in a clean house, otherwise you can bring trouble on yourself.
On this day, older women in the family need to bake a loaf, symbolizing the heavenly body. You need to eat it with the whole family, so that everyone gets a piece of the sun, and it will soon return to people.
On January 25, students of educational institutions of Russia celebrate Student's Day. On hearing the second name of the holiday is Tatyana's Day. But who is Tatyana, and what does she have to do with higher education?
13 interesting facts about Tatyana's Day
Fact 1
Tatyana's Day is originally an Orthodox holiday. On this day, the church honors the memory of the Great Martyr Tatiana of Rome.
Her life story is amazing. Tatyana was the daughter of famous and wealthy parents, but as a child she adopted the Christian faith, for which she paid with her life. As a young girl, she served in the temple, helped the destitute and the sick. In those days, paganism dominated in Rome, and any heterodoxy was severely punished. The Roman mayors learned that Tatiana professed a foreign religion, and demanded that she publicly renounce Christianity. But Tatyana was adamant. She was tormented and tortured, but nothing could make Tatyana renounce God. Powerless to change anything, the executioners killed Tatyana, but did not kill her faith. And for more than one and a half thousand years, the church has honored the feat of Tatyana. Every year on January 25, services in honor of St. Tatiana are held in all the churches of the country.
Fact 2
On January 25, 1755, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna signed a decree establishing a university in Moscow. The idea and the draft of the order were prepared by Mikhail Lomonosov himself with his friend, Lieutenant General Ivan Shuvalov. Subsequently, the day of January 25 began to be celebrated annually at the university as his birthday, and then two holidays - St. Tatiana's Day and the day the university was founded - were combined into one - Tatiana's Day. Over time, the people renamed the day of the establishment of Moscow State University as Student's Day, and the celebrations spread throughout Russia. The Great Martyr Tatyana was given the status of the patroness of students, although initially Saint Tatyana had absolutely nothing to do with teaching.
Fact 3
Why did the empress sign the above decree on Tatiana's Day? Coincidence? Far from it. According to one version, Ivan Shuvalov, the founder of the country's main university, timed the day of filing a petition for signing a decree to his mother's Angel Day. In such an original way, he wanted to give her a gift.
Fact 4
The symbol of Moscow State University is the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana, built on its territory. It appeared in 1791, and since then every year divine services have been held in it in memory of the saint. Festive liturgies were not held except from 1812 to 1817, when the church burned down along with the university buildings, and during the Soviet era. But in 1944, Patriarch Alexy II held the first service during a long break, thus resuming the tradition of the university.
Fact 5
The founding day of Moscow State University was widely celebrated by students and teachers. The festivities acquired the greatest scope in the 60s. 19th century. First, the official part awaited everyone: congratulations and awards to the best students, a prayer service in the church at the university. Then the university brethren went to the bars and taverns of Moscow, and the extravaganza began! The capital did not know more noisy fun. In bars, the owners removed expensive furniture so that tipsy students would not spoil it. Students walked along with professors, the poor, ordinary residents: on this day, the boundaries were erased, everything was allowed.
Fact 6
Tatyana's Day is the only date in the year when the tsarist police did not touch the brawlers. On the contrary, on this day, law enforcement officers were so loyal to drunken students that they offered their help to them. If the students were so drunk that they could not get up from the ground, the gendarmes wrote the addresses on their backs with chalk and took them home.
Fact 7
Tatyana's Day is a peasant holiday.
St. Tatiana's Day - Tatiana Kreshchenskaya or Babi Kut. Women in families baked round cakes, symbolizing the sun, and treated them to all household members. People, tired of the protracted Epiphany frosts, in this way invited spring into the house. “To Tatyana” young girls went to the river, where they shook and washed rugs, which they then hung out in the yard. By the cleanliness of the rugs, people judged the hostess - whether she would make a good wife.
And on January 25, unmarried girls made bouquets of feathers, hay and rags, and hid them in the house of a potential groom. If they managed to do this, then marriage is not far off.
Fact 8
The student holiday has been celebrated for more than two centuries.
During this time, signs and traditions associated with this day appeared:
- On Tatyana's day, you can’t prepare for the exam - you will fail it.
- It is considered a good omen to celebrate the holiday with alcohol - the exam will be passed the next day.
- Well, the favorite tradition of all students is the call of Shara: students open the windows, shout “Shara, come”, and if they hear an answer (as a rule, from the same students or passers-by), then you don’t have to worry: you will draw out the easiest ticket during the exam.
Fact 9
Currently, Tatyana's Day is an official holiday of all universities in the country. This event is most solemnly held at the main university in Russia - Moscow State University. Festive events take more than one day. Mandatory events include: a service in the Tatiana Church, the awarding of laureates of the Lomonosov and Shuvalov prizes, youth forums, a concert and, of course, the traditional ceremony of bottling mead by the rector.
Fact 10
Medovukha is a traditionally Russian low-alcohol drink based on honey, associated with Student's Day. Why mead? Tatyana's Day was celebrated with this drink in the 19th century, during the noisy festivities about the holiday. Not all students could buy wine and champagne. Medovukha is a completely different matter. It was the cheapest, and as a result, the most accessible alcohol of that time.
Fact 11
Few people know that the idea of bottling mead for Student's Day belonged to the rector of Moscow State University. In 1992, there were disputes among teachers at the university about the celebration of Student's Day. Many professors supported the idea of collective swimming in pools, as did students in America. But Viktor Sadovnichy remembered how he once witnessed an interesting scene: after the solemn inauguration, the rector of one of the German universities, at the request of the student, poured and served him a mug of beer. This episode was so remembered by the rector of Moscow State University that it became the prototype of a new university tradition - treating students to mead.
Fact 12
The student's day is marked on the calendar. In 2005, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the official status of the holiday, and in October 2007 Student's Day also became a memorable date along with such holidays as National Unity Day and Russia Day.
Fact 13th
The Russian Student's Day does not coincide with the International Day, which is celebrated on November 17th. Unlike the merry holiday Tatiana's Day, International Student's Day is not usually celebrated loudly. On this date, young people who paid with their lives for patriotism are remembered. In 1939, in Prague, students went to a demonstration on the occasion of the anniversary of the formation of Czechoslovakia, not being afraid of the Nazi invaders. Many of them were later shot or sent to concentration camps. All over the world on this day, November 17, the innocent victims of fascism are remembered.
Tatyana's Day is an unusual holiday. It so happened that both Orthodox and secular traditions organically merged in it. This day will allow everyone to plunge into the atmosphere of fun, carelessness and youth. On a cold winter day, this is exactly what you need.
January 25 is a religious holiday that honors the memory of the Christian martyr Tatiana, who paid with her life for her faith in Jesus Christ.
According to legend, in the III century AD. the pagans persecuted the young abbess of the Christian church Tatyana for her faith. They subjected her to inhuman torture, but thanks to faith in Christ, Tatyana's wounds healed every morning.
The pagans tried many times to take the life of the girl by beating her body with iron rods. They even decided to somehow throw Tatyana into the arena to the hungry lion. But he not only did not tear her to pieces, but humbly licked her feet. In addition, they wanted to burn the believer, but on the body of Tatiana, the marks of torture disappeared, as if they had never existed.
In addition, centuries later, on January 12 (January 25, according to the new style), 1775, Empress Elizabeth signed a decree on the founding of the first university in the Russian Empire. By her decree, Elizabeth supported the idea of the scientist Mikhail Lomonosov and Count Ivan Shuvalov. And the date - Tatyana's day on January 25 was not chosen casually. After all, it is on Tatyana's day on January 25 that Count Shuvalov's mother, Tatyana Petrovna, has an angel's day.
In 1791, on Easter, the temple of Tatiana the Martyr was solemnly opened. The details of the interior for him were selected by Empress Catherine herself. Permanent parishioners of the temple were Fonvizin, Griboedov, Turgenev, Timiryazev, Pirogov, Klyuchevsky, brothers Aksakov, Soloviev and others.
Later, Nicholas I issued a decree stating that January 25 should not be celebrated as the opening day of the university, but as the fact of signing the act of founding it. By the will of the sovereign, a student holiday appeared. So, Tatyana's day on January 25 became not only the day of the angel of all Tatyana, but also patronizes all students, while Tatyana's day on January 25 is Student's Day.
On Tatyana's Day, January 25, it is customary to go to church and light candles for successful studies. Saint Tatyana is prayed in a complex teaching and enlightenment.
It was customary on Tatyana's day on January 25 to bake bread resembling the sun. Thus, they called the solar luminary to return to earth and warm people. Each member of the family was given a slice of the “sunny” loaf without fail. It was believed that he would protect and warm him.
According to popular beliefs, a girl who will be born on Tatyana's day on January 25 will certainly grow up as an excellent housewife: "Tatyana bakes a loaf, and beats rugs along the river, and leads a round dance."
Students, according to the established tradition, on Tatyana's Day on January 25 organized noisy and cheerful festivities. In addition, even under the Russian Empire, quarter officers once again did not pull too drunk students, but bowed and asked: “Does Mr. Student need help?”
Politeka also wrote, Student's Day and Tatyana's Day 2019: what is celebrated on January 25th.
January 25 is Student's Day or, as they like to call it, “Tatiana's Day”. It is named after St. Tatiana, the patroness of students.
But, as you know, there are two student days. One has international status and is celebrated by students all over the world, while the second is known only in the countries of the former Soviet Union. As a result, a situation has turned out when all over the world the Student's Day is celebrated on one day, and in Russia on a completely different one. In Belarus, which is located at the junction of East and West, students are not averse to celebrating both of these holidays. But ... how does one day of a student differ from the second?
On January 25, 1755, the Russian Empress Elizabeth, on the day of memory of the holy martyr Tatiana and on the name day of the mother of Ivan Shuvalov (in the church calendar this day, the Russian Orthodox Church honors the martyr Tatiana and those who suffered with her in Rome (226) approved the petition of Ivan Shuvalov and signed a decree on the opening Moscow University, which later became the center of Russian advanced culture and social thought in Russia.Subsequently, in one of the outbuildings of the old university building, the house church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana was created, and the saint herself was declared the patroness of all Russian students.
It should be noted that then (1755) Belarus was part of a completely different state - the Commonwealth. And Moscow University did not matter to us in the slightest. Moreover, we had another cultural center - Vilna University, founded in 1579 by King Stefan Batory. And our university, unlike Moscow, was known in Europe, people came to study here from abroad, including from Russia.
By the middle of the 19th century, Tatyana's Day had actually turned from a holiday of students and professors of Moscow University into a holiday of the Russian intelligentsia. The celebration of the student's day in the Russian Empire was noisy and cheerful. At first, it was celebrated only in Moscow, but almost the entire city took part in it. The holiday began with official ceremonies in the university building. Then noisy and cheerful festivities took place around the city. The Frenchman Olivier, who was the owner of the Hermitage, even gave away the hall of the restaurant, where students and professors celebrated, for the student "party". At the celebration, as usual, they drank. But on this day, the tsarist gendarmes, having met a drunk student, did not touch him, but, on the contrary, offered their help.
After the October Revolution, Tatiana's day was rarely remembered. After all, Tatyana was a saint, and the church and the communists were not very at odds. Only after the opening in 1995 of the temple in honor of the martyr Tatyana at Moscow University, the holiday came to life again.
Since 2005, January 25 has been celebrated in Russia as the Day of Russian Students. In Russia, the symbolism of the holiday as a student holiday is emphasized by the coincidence with the academic calendar - January 25 is also the last day of the 21st academic week, the traditional end of the examination session of the first semester, after which the winter student holidays come.
What we see as a result - "Tatiana's Day" has nothing to do with our country. This is a holiday of Russian students and intelligentsia. Belarusian students were first formed in completely different universities.
But there is another student's day, International, which promotes not so much celebration as international solidarity.
On October 28, 1939, in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, Prague students and their teachers demonstrated to mark the anniversary of the formation of the Czechoslovak state. The occupying troops dispersed the rally, and Jan Opletal, a medical student, was shot dead, whose funeral turned into a protest. Dozens of demonstrators were arrested. On November 17, the Germans surrounded student dormitories early in the morning. Over 1,200 students were arrested and imprisoned in a concentration camp. Nine students and student movement activists were executed in the dungeons of the prison.
Two years later, an international meeting of students who fought against Nazism was held in London, at which it was decided in honor of the victims to annually celebrate the date of their death as Student's Day.
Of course, no one forbids celebrating two holidays at once. Just never forget that November 17 is a day of solidarity for students from all over the world, a day of remembrance for those who died in the struggle for freedom and independence. And January 25 is just the opening day of Moscow University.