According to the folk calendar - Alexander's Day, Forest grooming

On March 28 (old style - March 15), according to the folk calendar, Alexander's Day is celebrated, also called the Forest Grooming holiday On this date, Orthodox believers honor the memory of Saint Alexander of Side and the two martyrs Alexander of Caesarea, thanks to whom the name of the day was borrowed The priest Alexander of Sidsky suffered at the hands of the pagans in the 3rd century During the period of persecution of Christians, he was forced to make a sacrifice to the pagan gods, but Alexander refused The priest was brutally tortured and then his head was cut off The story of the Alexanders of Caesarea had the same ending Christian youths, along with other believers, died for their faith in Christ, becoming victims of idolaters at the beginning of the 4th century Among the people, Alexander's Day was often called Forest Grooming The holiday was dedicated to honoring the forest and forest spirits The peasants believed that evil and good spirits lived in forest lands Its owner was considered to be the forest man, also known as the goblin He was approached with respect and asked for permission to hunt or gather in the forest The forester's assistants were a waterman, a mushroom picker, a berry picker, a wood picker, a moss picker, a root picker, etc The forest was an important place for the inhabitants, because not only game, berries, mushrooms were obtained from it, but also materials for building houses, tools or kitchen utensils On Alexander's Day they visited the forest, thanked it for the gifts and apologized for the interference Everyone read a special conspiracy so as not to get lost in the forest On this holiday, healers prepared useful potions from herbs and roots collected in the forest before the onset of winter Residents did not go alone to the forest for forest grooming, since the time for wolf weddings had begun The wolves rushed around the grove in pairs, preparing for new offspring Females looked for a den, and males became more irritated and could attack approaching people Watching the return of birds on Alexander's Day, we waited for the arrival of seagulls If you noticed them swimming in a pond, you prepared for cloudy days The chirping of sparrows promised sunny weather But little water in the rivers foreshadowed a dry summer and a small harvest