The holiday takes its name from the church day of honoring the memory of John the Baptist. And we call the day Hawkmoth for the use of intoxicating drinks for good purposes. There was a tradition in the morning, before eating, to take a sip of water collected the day before in the consecrated river. The peasants believed that it protected a person from the inside from the influence of evil spirits and helped to gain health for a year. Weather signs for this day: if severe frosts set in and lasted for up to seven days, after them a sharp warming was expected, and snowfalls predicted that Maslenitsa would also be covered in snow.