What is Radonitsa Holiday ?

The Slavs, like many ancient peoples, had a tradition of visiting family members' graves during the springtime and feasting together with them. After their conversion to Christianity, this custom transferred into the Russian Orthodox Church as the festival of Radonitsa, the name of which comes from the Slavic word "radost'", meaning "joy." In Kievan Rus' the local name is "Krasnaya Gorka" (Красная горка, "Beautiful Hill"), and has the same meaning. It may seem strange call a memorial for the departed "joyful," but the Christian belief that lies behind this joy is the remembrance of Jesus' Resurrection and the joy and hope it brings to all. Because of the importance of the last few days of Holy Week, and because of the joy of the Resurrection, the Typikon (Ustav) forbids, as in other festal periods, special prayers for the departed, e.g. a Panikhida, aside from funerals from Great and Holy Thursday through Thomas Sunday (a period of eleven days). Therefore, the first opportunity after Pascha to remember the dead is on the second Monday of Pascha. However, because in Orthodox countries, a number of monasteries follow the custom of fasting on Mondays, the feast is often celebrated on Tuesday, so that all may partake of eggs.