Trinity 2025: meaning, beliefs, customs and superstitions

Orthodox Christians celebrate the Holy Trinity Day in 2025 on 8 June. It is one of the most important holidays in the Christian calendar. In this article, Kyiv Online explains the meaning, beliefs, customs and superstitions of the event.

The Trinity is a historically important event for Christianity, symbolising faith in the Almighty in three hypostases – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In many countries around the world, including Ukraine, it is a day of prayer, enlightenment and reflection on spiritual life.

When is the Holy Trinity Day celebrated

Trinity is a holiday celebrated on the 50th day after Easter, which always falls on a Sunday. Apart from Easter, Pentecost has become the second feast day for baptism.

Trinity in Ukraine has not only religious but also philosophical significance. This holiday actually makes people understand the internal order and unity of the Deity, which, according to Christian doctrine, is one but at the same time exists in three persons. This notion reflects the inaccessibility of understanding the absolute God, who exceeds the limitations of the human mind.

According to church traditions and the Holy Scriptures (Acts of the Apostles, chapter two), on this day the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire, symbolising his arrival and filling them with it. After that, the apostles began to speak in different languages, which allowed them to preach Christianity in all the languages of the world.

Customs and superstitions

On Trinity Day, believers bring walnut or linden leaves, symbolising tongues of flame, to church as a sign of the descent of the Holy Spirit. They are blessed and distributed to the faithful.

According to popular belief, the Pentecostals are creatures similar to foresters who have been wandering the sky since the day of the Executions of Pentecost (Wednesday, the 25th day after Easter) and causing great harm to people: punishing, changing and driving mad all those who do not observe their days.

For this reason, women did not work on all Wednesdays from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. In order to protect the household from the invasion of these spirits, it is customary to place green linden branches at the gates, in arbours, on stairs or at the entrances to houses on the Saturday of Pentecost and today.

Clay or porcelain pots, mugs, drinking cups and wooden vases decorated with flowers and filled with milk, wine or water are given as gifts for the Trinity. Graves are cleaned and decorated in advance, and candles are lit during the service.

At the gates of the cemeteries, tables with loaves of bread and bottles of wine, decorated with greenery and flowers, are placed, and the village priest performs the service and then goes around the cemetery to bless each grave.

Villagers offer the blessed food to each other or share it with the poor.

Some branches of the linden tree from the Trinity are kept during the summer to be used in rituals to protect against storms and hail.

On the second day of Pentecost, groups of young men dance from house to house to ward off evil spirits. People greet them with walnut leaves, wormwood, garlic, water, salt or money.

A procession takes place through the streets of the villages, in which the main character, an ox decorated with flowers, is led to the church, where it is blessed by a priest. At a certain point, the animal is set free, and the young girl has to master it and go around the table three times. According to legend, the girl will get married next year.

On Trinity Day, the ‘pouring of wives’ is held. Traditionally, women have to be sprinkled with water to stay healthy and beautiful all year round.

What not to do on Trinity Day

No herbs are allowed to be picked for nine weeks after the Trinity. It is a Jewish custom to decorate houses with flowers and green walnut or linden branches.

Do not work on Holy Trinity Day or you may be punished, and do not go out to fields and vineyards, to deserted places, near woods or wells, as you risk meeting evil spirits.

Do not argue with others, because you may be punished by evil fairies.

Eight things not to do on Trinity Day:

• Do not go to the field
• Do not go into the vineyard, do not go to deserted and dark places, because you may meet evil spirits
• Do not work on Pentecost, for those who do will be punished because they do not honour and keep this day as it should be
• Do not collect healing herbs
• It is not good to quarrel on the Trinity, because you will have health problems
• Do not go ‘swimming’ on White Sunday, because there is a danger of drowning
• Do not climb trees, climb high places or travel far from home
• If you sleep in the open air or go to a well on the night of Pentecost, you will fall under the power of evil spirits, so it is better to avoid these actions

Holy Trinity Day in Ukraine is very important because it combines religious and cultural significance. It is a time for spiritual renewal, strengthening of faith and unity with nature. Observing the traditions and customs of this day will help preserve and pass on a rich spiritual heritage from generation to generation.

Earlier, we talked about the traditions, customs and superstitions of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday.