Dormition of the Mother of God
15 August 2026 — May this day be bright, with peace and warmth in your home.
The Dormition of the Mother of God, known in Romania as Sfânta Maria Mare (“Saint Mary the Great”), is celebrated every year on 15 August. It commemorates the death of the Virgin Mary and, according to Orthodox tradition, her being taken up to God. In Romania it is a public holiday. Many believers set out on pilgrimages to monasteries, especially well-known ones in northern Moldavia and Transylvania. Church services are held, and in many places fruit, herbs and flowers are blessed. The feast ends the Dormition Fast, which begins on 1 August. It is also a name day for everyone named Maria or a name derived from it. The date is fixed in the church calendar. The Romanian Orthodox Church uses the revised Julian calendar, which for now matches the Gregorian one, so the feast falls on 15 August in the civil calendar as well. The link to the sky is symbolic: the image of the Mother of God is often associated with stars and light. Across the sky drifts a symbol: a white lily and a lit candle.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure of a lily drawn from pale points of light and fine lines, like a constellation drifting slowly across the night sky
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