According to the folk calendar - Agafya Cowgirl, Famine

Agafya Cowgirl Day is usually celebrated according to the folk calendar on February 18 (the old style date is February 5) The name of the day comes from the Christian date of honoring the memory of the holy martyr Agathia of Panorma, a Christian who died in the 3rd century at the hands of pagans Agathia was born in Sicily to wealthy Christian parents When Emperor Decius declared persecution of Christians, the girl prepared to accept martyrdom without betraying her faith in the Lord The ruler of the district was struck by the beauty of Agathia and tried to persuade her to paganism, but she refused For this, her body was torn with pincers and thrown onto hot stones, after which the martyr was sent to prison, where her soul went to God After a while, a church was erected on Agathia’s grave One day a volcano erupted in Sicily The residents were able to stop him by directing Agafya’s relics at the pouring lava Since then, the saint was considered a protector from fires and people prayed for the safety of property from the flames Housewives baked bread and lit it in the temple on the day of Agafya The peasants believed that if you throw a piece of such a loaf into a fire or far beyond the village, then a destructive fire will follow the piece of bread In February, by the day of Agafya, supplies for feeding livestock often ran out The cows that produce milk suffered the most from this They began to get sick and die from hunger, which is why the day was called Famine And they turned to Saint Agathya with a request to save livestock from death and pestilence They said that Agafya was haunted by the spirit of cow death, reincarnated as a black beast or an old woman, wandering around the village To protect the cows from him, the owners performed various rituals An old bast shoe smeared with tar was hidden in the barn to ward off evil spirits, and the cattle were given blessed water to drink When there was a serious death of cows, the women of the village performed a joint ritual They dressed in white shirts, let down their braids and walked with a plow around the settlement, making a furrow, making noise and reciting a spell that banishes cow death The plow was controlled by a girl or widow with an impeccable reputation If women came across any animal on the road, it was destroyed, believing that there was an evil spirit in it They also believed that evil spirits fly out of the earth, reincarnate into birds and try to enter the home through the chimney In order to protect themselves from them, people covered up cracks and holes in the pipes, tightly closed the stove and burned thistles in it, which drove away evil spirits If severe frost was observed on Agafya Korovnitsa, they expected the imminent arrival of spring A day without precipitation foreshadowed a summer without rain The arrival of warmth signaled the end of the winter season