Honey Feast of the Saviour

It is believed that the name Spas was given in honour of Jesus Christ the Savior. According to N.V. Solodovnikova, the word Spas which translates as "saved" means "saving yourself".^{[citation needed]}

Folk etymology on the other hand links the feast to the Papaver poppy, which ripens by this time.^{[citation needed]}

It is traditionally believed that the two weeks of the Spas festival from the Honey Saviour to the Nut Saviour were 'cut off' by God from Great Lent. In fact, these three feasts are known as Second Spas in comparison with the First Spas which are the major feasts of Jesus Christ.^[1]

The divine liturgy is usually celebrated with pomp and circumstance and followed to a procession to the local well.^{[citation needed]}

After the liturgical celebration, young people dance with the song “Oh, poppy on the mountain”, («Ой, на горе мак») with playful round dances, the girls showered the boys with poppy seeds: singing: “Poppies, poppies, poppies, golden heads!” («Маки, маки, маковицы, золотые головицы!»).^{[citation needed]}

The holiday of the Honey Saviour has a pre-Christian origin and is associated with harvesting of honey.^{[citation needed]}

The first Spas is called the Honey Saviour, because the honeycombs in the hives are usually already filled by this time, and the beekeepers begin to collect. It was believed that if the beekeeper did not break the honeycomb, then the neighboring bees would pull out all the honey. According to tradition, it was allowed to eat consecrated honey from that day.^{[citation needed]}

The festival also corresponds to the time when sowing winter rye usually begins.^[2]

Sergei Tokarev relates these traditions with an ancient ritual of consecrating the first fruits of the earth to a pagan deity.^[3]

In the Orthodox tradition, this festival is also the liturgical celebration of the woman with seven sons who died as martyrs in 166 BC according to the Second Book of Maccabees.^{[citation needed]}

The Honey Saviour Day was established following the recognition of miraculous signs during the battle of prince Andrey Bogolyubsky against the Volga Bulgars in 1164.^[4] According to tradition, ominous signs of victory came from icons of the Saviour and the Holy Virgin during this battle.^[5]