Why these people celebrate Easter on the roof

Why these people celebrate Easter on the roof

Easter is a bright Christian holiday, on which it is customary to go to church for services. But only in 1908, all the churches in Moscow were closed, and people gathered on the roofs with friends and relatives to break the fast. Why did it happen?

Easter in 1908 fell on the 26th (13th century) of April. It was the height of spring, when everything melts, nature wakes up and a stormy life begins. The winter that year turned out to be snowy, and then it became very warm, which led to the unanimous melting of snow and the overflow of rivers.

Water in the Moscow rivers began to rise quickly and soon reached a peak of ... 9.5 meters.

“The flood of the Moskva River, which came extremely late this year, took on monstrous proportions that exceeded all expectations ... five sections on the right side of the Moskva River were especially affected: the second Khamovnichesky (Dorogomilovo), both sections of the Pyatnitskaya part and both sections of the Yakimanskaya. The flood of this year covered a total of 1/5 of the city, ”the report of the Moscow City Council says.

Hundreds of thousands of people were affected by the floods. And the number of victims could not be calculated, but most of them belonged to the poorest segments of the city's population.

The beginning of the flood fell on Good Friday, so the celebration of Easter distracted the townspeople from their problems a little and helped organize assistance to the victims.

Here is what the Russian Word newspaper writes for April 11:

“The picture of the river between the Moskvoretsky and Kamenny bridges was especially beautiful. On the one hand, the Kremlin walls, brightly lit by the electric lamps of both bridges, sank in the water, on the other hand, the beautiful houses and mansions of Sofiyskaya Embankment were reflected in it. Every minute there were boats with passengers returning from churches with lit candles.

Boats with passengers are captured in many photographs of that time.

From the Kremlin, from where a view of Zamoskvorechye opened, on the night of Bright Sunday, instead of the churches usually painted with multi-colored lanterns, a picture of a silent flooded city opened up to the gaze: churches subject to the elements did not open.

On the night of Easter, many citizens were left without electricity and food, as well as without the opportunity to leave their homes. On Easter morning, the residents of Ushakovsky lane decided to gather on the roof of the house, as a result of which they became the heroes of a historical postcard published after the flood.

After the flood, signs were installed on some of the capital's houses indicating the mark to which the water level reached during the flood of 1908. Some of them have survived to this day.