{{Infobox deity , type = Christian , image = Святая Параскева-Пятница.jpg , caption = The embodiment of the day of the week is Friday. The saint is considered by the Eastern Slavs as the healer of mental and bodily ailments, and the guardian of family well-being and happiness. The saint is commemorated {{{Commons category, 27, Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, , 14 (

Paraskevi of Iconium Saint Paraskevi of Iconium (also known as ''Paraskeva Pyatnitsa'') is venerated as a Christian virgin martyr. According to Christian tradition, she was born to a rich family of Iconium. Her parents were Christian, and Paraskevi was named as ...

) and (

Paraskeva of the Balkans Saint Paraskeva of the Balkans (also known as: Света Петка Българска, Petka of Bulgaria, Petka of Serbia, Paraskeva of Serbia, Paraskeva the Serbian, Paraskeva of Belgrade, Parascheva the New, Parascheva the Young, grc, Ὁσ ...

, venerated_in =

Folk Orthodoxy Folk Orthodoxy (russian: народное православие; sr, народно православље; lv, narodno pravoslavlje) refers to the folk religion and Religious syncretism, syncretic elements present in the Eastern Orthodox commun ...

, Indo-european_equivalent = Priyah , norse_equivalent =

Freyja In Norse paganism, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chario ...

, slavic_equivalent =

Mokosh Mokosh ( orv, Мóкошь) is a Slavic goddess mentioned in the Primary Chronicle, protector of women's work and women's destiny. She watches over spinning and weaving, shearing of sheep, and protects women in childbirth. Mokosh is the Mother G ...

Paraskeva Pyatnitsa / Levkievskaya E. E., Tolstaya S. M. // Slavic Antiquities : Ethnolinguistic Dictionary: in 5 volumes / under the general ed. N. I. Tolstoy ; Institute of Slavic Studies RAS . - M . : Interd. relations , 2009. - V. 4: P (Crossing the water) - S (Sieve). - S. 631-633. - {{ISBN, 5-7133-0703-4, 978-5-7133-1312-8 Page 631-632

Paraskeva Friday is an image based on a

personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their b ...

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth day ...

as the day of the week and the cult of saints Paraskeva of Iconium, called Friday and Paraskeva of Serbia.{{Sfn, Levkievskaya, Tolstaya, 2009 In folk tradition, the image of Paraskeva Friday correlates with the image of

Goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...

, Saint Anastasia of the Lady of Sorrows, and the Week as a

personified Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their ...

image of Sunday.{{Sfn, Levkievskaya, Tolstaya, 2009

Etymology

The word ''paraskeva'' ({{Lang-el, παρασκευη ''paraskeue'') means "preparation or the Sabbath preparation.{{Cn, date=September 2022

Representations of the Eastern Slavs

For

East Slavs The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor.John Channon & Robert H ...

, Paraskeva Friday is a personified representation of the

day of the week In many languages, the names given to the seven days of the week are derived from the names of the classical planets in Hellenistic astronomy, which were in turn named after contemporary deities, a system introduced by the Sumerians and la ...

.{{Sfn, Kruk, Kotovich, 2003 She was called ''Linyanitsa,'' ''Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, Paraskeva Lyanyanikha, Nenila Linyanitsa.'' Paraskeva Friday was dedicated {{OldStyleDate, 27, October, , 14 as Paraskeva Muddyha Day and {{OldStyleDate, , 10 November, , , 28 October as Day of Paraskeva the Flaxwoman. In the church, these days commemorate Paraskeva of Srpska and Paraskeva of Iconium, respectively. On these days, no spinning, washing, or ploughing was done so as not to "dust the Paraskeva or to clog her eyes."{{Cn, date=September 2022 It was believed that if the ban was violated, she could inflict disease. One of the decrees of the Stoglav Synod (1551) is devoted to the condemnation of such superstitions:

Yes, by
pogost ''Pogost'' (russian: погост, from Old East Slavic: погостъ) is a historical term with several meanings in the Russian language. It has also been borrowed into Latgalian (''pogosts''), Finnish (''pogosta'') and Latvian (''pagasts'') ...
s and by the villages walk false prophets, men and wives, and maidens, and old women, naked and barefoot, and with their hair straight and loose, shaking and being killed. And they say that they are Saint Friday and Saint Anastasia and that they command them to command the canons of the church. They also command the peasants in
Wednesday Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. According to international standard ISO 8601, it is the third day of the week. In countries which have Friday as their holiday, Wednesday is the fifth day of the week. In countries ...
and in
Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth day ...
not to do manual labour, and to wives not to spin, and not to wash clothes, and not to kindle stones. Chicherov, 1957, p.{{Sfn, Chicherov, 1957

The most common idol was the sculpture of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa – not only for Russians, but also for neighbouring peoples.{{Sfn, Chicherov, 1957 Previously, in the chapels in foreign areas "there were images made of wood rough work of St. Paraskeva and

Nicholas Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglicanism, Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the n ...

... All carved images of Saints Paraskeva and Nicholas have the common name of Pyatnits".{{Sfn, Mozharovsky, 1903 In the Russians were widespread sculptures: " wooden painted statue of Pyatnitsa, sometimes in the form of a woman in oriental dress, and sometimes in the form of a simple woman in paneve and

lapti Bast shoes are shoes made primarily from bast — fiber taken from the bark of trees such as linden. They are a kind of basket, woven and fitted to the shape of a foot. Bast shoes are a traditional footwear of the forest areas of Norther ...

". The statue of Paraskeva "was placed in churches in special cabinets and people prayed before this idol".{{Sfn, Svyatsky, 1908 In eastern Slavic cultures, wooden sculptures of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa were also placed on wells, sacrifices were brought to her (clothes, kudel, threads, and sheep's wool were thrown down a well). The

rite Rite may refer to: * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite of passage, a ceremonious act associated with social transition Religion * Rite (Christianity), a sacred ritual or liturgical tradition in various Christian denominations * Catho ...

was called ''mokrida'' (

Silver hryvnias and quintuplets at the bottom of wells... various articles of women's free will be handed over or thrown directly, often with a loud declaration of the direct purpose of the donation: sewn linen as shirts, towels to decorate the corolla and countenance, combed out linen hemp or straightened ready threads, and wool (sheep's wool) ("To the Weasel for chulovki! ", "To Mother Friday for an apron!" - the women shout on such occasions).
- C. V. Maximov Maksimov, 1903, pp. 232-233.

In ancient times, special columns with a picture of the saint were placed at crossroads and on roads that were named after her. These monuments were like roadside chapels or crosses and were considered sacred places.{{Sfn, Kalinsky, 2008 The Russians prayed to Paraskeva Pyatnitsa for protection against the death of livestock, especially cows. The saint was also considered the healer of human ailments, especially devil's obsession, fever, toothache, headache, and other ailments.{{Cn, date=September 2022

Image

The image of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa according to folk beliefs is different from the iconographic image, where she is depicted as an ascetic-looking woman in a red maforiya. The carved icon of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa from the village of Illyeshi is widely known. It is revered in the Russian Orthodox Church as a miracle worker and is housed in the Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg. The popular imagination sometimes gave Paraskeva Friday

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

ic features: tall stature, long loose hair, large breasts, which she throws behind her back, etc., which brings her closer to the female mythological characters like

Dola Dola may refer to: * Dola (mythology), protective spirits in Polish mythology * Dola, Ohio, United States * Dola, Shahdol, India * Dola, Gabon, a department of Gabon * Dola, Burkina Faso Dola, Burkina Faso is a village in the Bilanga Department of ...

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, and

Mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

. There was a ritual of "driving Pyatnitsa" documented in the 18th century: "In Small Russia, in the Starodubsky regiment on a holiday day they drive a plain-haired woman named Pyatnitsa, and they drive her in the church and at church people honour her with gifts and with the hope of some benefit".{{Sfn, Lavrov, 2000 In the stories Paraskeva Pyatnitsa spins the kudel left by the mistress,{{Sfn, Levkievskaya, Fat, 2009 punishes the woman who violated the ban, tangles the thread, maybe skin the offending woman, takes away her eyesight, turns her into a frog, or throws forty spindles into the window with orders to strain them until morning. {{Sfn, Madlevskaya et al., 2007 According to beliefs, Paraskeva Friday also oversees the observance of other Friday prohibitions, including washing laundry, bleaching canvases, and combing hair.{{Sfn, Szczepanska, 2003 According to

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

beliefs, Friday walks are littered with needles and spindles of negligent hosts who do not honour the saint and her days. Until the 19th century, the custom of "leading Pyatnitsa" - a woman with loose hair{{{Sfn, Voropay, 1958 was preserved in Ukraine. In bylichki and spiritual verses Paraskeva Pyatnitsa complains that she is not honoured by not observing the Friday prohibitions - they prick her with spindles, spin her hair, clog her eyes kostra. According to beliefs, the icons depict Paraskeva Friday with spokes or spindles sticking out of her chest (cf. images of Our Lady of the Seven Spears or Softening of the Evil Hearts).{{Sfn, Levkievskaya, Tolstaya, 2009

In the folk calendar

{{OldStyleDate, , 27, October, , , 14 is celebrated everywhere by

South Slavs South Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, Hu ...

: {{Lang-bg, Petkovden, St. Petka, Petka, Pejcinden, {{Lang-mk, Petkovden, {{Lang-sr, Petkovica, Petkovaca, Sveta Paraskeva, Sveta Petka, Pejcindan, etc. Some regions of

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

and

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

also celebrate {{OldStyleDate, 8 August, , , 26 July, called ''Petka Trnovska, Petka Trnovka, Trnovka Petka, Mlada Petka, Petka Vodonosha''. In

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

( Frakia), St. Petka is dedicated to the Friday after Easter ({{Lang-bg, Latna St. Petka, Presveta Petka, Petka Balklia), and in Serbia (Požega) the Friday before St. Evdokija Day ({{OldStyleDate, 14, March, , 1){{Sfn, Levkija, Thick, 2009

Ninth Friday

The celebration of the ninth Friday after Easter was widespread among Russians. In

Solikamsk Solikamsk (russian: Солика́мск, Permyak: Совкар, ''Sovkar'', also Соликамскӧй, ''Sovkamsköy'') is a town in Perm Krai, Russia. Modern Solikamsk is the third-largest town in the krai, with a population of History The ...

, the miraculous deliverance of the city from the invasion of

Nogais The Nogais ( Nogai: Ногай, , Ногайлар, ) are a Turkic ethnic group who live in the North Caucasus region. Most are found in Northern Dagestan and Stavropol Krai, as well as in Karachay-Cherkessia and Astrakhan Oblast; some als ...

and

voguls The Mansi (Mansi: Мāньси / Мāньси мāхум, ''Māńsi / Māńsi māhum'', ) are a Ugric indigenous people living in Khanty–Mansia, an autonomous okrug within Tyumen Oblast in Russia. In Khanty–Mansia, the Khanty and Mansi la ...

in 1547 was remembered on this day.{{Cite web, title=The Ninth Friday after Easter in Solikamsk, url=http://blagosever.ru/novosti/devjataja-pjatnica-po-pashe-v, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002140634/http://blagosever.ru/novosti/devjataja-pjatnica-po-pashe-v, archive-date=2013-10-02, access-date=2013-07-18 In Nikolsky County, Vologda province, on the ninth Friday there was a custom to "build a customary linen": the girls would come together, rub the flax, spin and weave the linen in a day.{{Sfn, Chicherov, 1957 For the

Komi people The Komi ( kv, комияс, ' also ', also called Komi-Zyryans or Zyryans, are an indigenous Permian ethnic group whose homeland is in the northeast of European Russia around the basins of the Vychegda, Pechora and Kama rivers. They mostly ...

, the ninth Friday was called the "Covenant Day of the Sick" ({{Lang-kv, Zavetnoy lun vysysyaslӧn). It was believed that on this day the miracle-working icon of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa ({{Lang-kv, Paraskeva-Peknicha from the chapel in the village of Krivoy Navolok could bring healing to the sick. There is still a tradition of crucesion to the Ker-yu river, where elderly women and girls wash temple and home icons in the waters blessed with the icon of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa. The water is considered holy for three days after the feast, and is collected and taken away with them. Dipping icons in standing water are considered a sin.{{Cn, date=September 2022

References

{{Reflist, 3

Literature

{{refbegin, 2 * Пять // Толковый словарь живого великорусского языка : в 4 т. / авт.-сост. В. И. Даль. — 2-е изд. — {{abbr, СПб., Санкт-Петербург : Типография М. О. Вольфа, 1880–1882. * Параскева Пятница / Левкиевская Е. Е., Толстая С. М. // Славянские древности: Этнолингвистический словарь : в 5 т. / под общ. ред. Н. И. Толстого; :ru:Институт славяноведения РАН. — {{abbr, М., Москва : Межд. отношения, 2009. — Т. 4: П (Переправа через воду) — С (Сито). — С. 631—633. — {{ISBN, 5-7133-0703-4, 978-5-7133-1312-8 * '' Максимов С. В.'' Параскева Пятница; Вода-Царица // Нечистая, неведомая и крестная сила. — {{abbr, СПб., Санкт-Петербург: Товарищество Р. Голике и А. Вильворг, 1903. — С. 516—518, 225–250. * {{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501181106/http://indrik.ru/e-biblioteka/shchepanskaya-t-b-kultura-dorogi-v-russkoj-miforitualnoj-traditsii-xix-xx-vv {{refend

Links

Параскева Пятница
(hrono.ru)

// Российский этнографический музей
Пятница
// Энциклопедия культур * '' Успенский Б. А.'
Почитание Пятницы и Недели в связи с культом Мокоши
// ''Успенский Б. А.'' Филологические разыскания в области славянских древностей * '' Рыбаков Б. А.'
Двоеверие. Языческие обряды и празднества XI—XIII веков
// ''Рыбаков Б. А.'' Язычество Древней Руси

(dralexmd.livejournal.com) * ''Basil Lourié.'
Friday Veneration in the Sixth- and Seventh-Century Christianity and the Christian Legends on Conversion of Nağrān
�(англ.) Friday Pages with unreviewed translations Slavic legendary creatures Supernatural beings identified with Christian saints Folk Orthodoxy {{Slavic mythology