In January, in the midst of Christmas time, a special holiday is celebrated, which is considered a national holiday. It is not included in the register of holidays and observances in the Russian Federation and therefore is not a day off. This is a memorial day for such a great martyr as Gordey and the prophet Malachi.
The people called this holiday the Witch Day, because they believed that all evil spirits are very evil due to the fact that day begins to conquer night, it is time for their revelry.
In honor of which saint is the holiday named
The name of this day was given by the martyr and centurion Gordian of Cappadocia, who in the 4th century suffered for the faith of Christ. The great martyr Gordius was born at the end of the 3rd century in a Christian family living in the town of Caesarea Cappadocia. Having entered military service in adulthood, he managed to rise to the centurion, as he showed outstanding military art and courage.
When widespread persecution of Christians began to occur at the beginning of the 4th century, he retired to the wilderness, leaving the world in order to prepare himself spiritually for confessing to people the name of Christ the Savior. Gordey defended the Christians openly in 320, for which the prefect of the city ordered him to be captured and tortured. After the most terrible tortures and tortures, Gordey's head was cut off.
Popular beliefs of this day
Among the people of the Gordeevs, the day was always considered a Witch, because it was a revelry of holy festivities, when all the evil spirits went out of control. Witches due to the fact that they did not agree with the victory of the day over night, they were very angry and flew out to hunt in order to make people as much as possible. Therefore, January 16, it was not that they did not leave the yard, but they tried not to even open the bolts, beingware of the penetration of evil spirits into the house even through a small crack.
On the day of the great martyr Gordia, one cannot lie or boast. And to be proud of the achievements of both their own and those close to them, they were wary. Firstly, in Russia pride has always been a terrible sin, and secondly, it was believed that a witch would necessarily send a curse out of anger into the soul of such a person and deprive him of what he was so happy about. There was even a proverb: “The more he boasted a day in Gordeev, he lost it!”
What protection should be expected from the light forces on this day?
They also protected cattle from the evil eye, since, according to popular beliefs, tired of the reckless nights of the holy week and starving witches, they could completely suck milk from a cow and kill it. This was most wary of. Therefore, in order to avoid the dirty tricks of evil spirits, they turned to the brownie for help on the day of Gordeev.
The ceremony went like this: in the evening they lit a candle above the gate, which had been stored since Christmas, and put a bowl under the gate with the freshest, freshly prepared cottage cheese put in it and asked the intercessor and the family assistant to look after the cattle, the household and the house.
It was accepted on this national holiday to cook oatmeal in milk for cows. The owners themselves did not disdain it either. With redoubled efforts, horses were also looked after, except for cows. After all, both of them were breadwinners in peasant families. Therefore, on Gordeev’s day, January 16, they were given the greatest respect. And to remove any damage this holiday was perfect. Only on this day healers could cure a "spoiled" person or even an incident patient.
Signs of the Gordeev day
According to popular beliefs in Gordeev they looked at the weather what to expect from March. In addition, if there were large clouds in the sky, white and fluffy, this portended a strong blizzard. There were several special signs for this day:
- Close to the village came hares - to be colder.
- A large number of hares in the fields - expect a blizzard or a blizzard.
- Snow does not stop all day - wait especially on a frosty night.
- The month is very cool - there will be cold, the moon has an earring - wait for the blizzard.
There was also a special sign for the fishermen: on the day of Gordeev, when they are going to go fishing, all things should be done around the house. And beekeepers were waiting for a blizzard, because on that day, January 16, she foreshadowed a good swarm.