According to the folk calendar - Day of Arkhip and Philemon

According to the folk calendar, March 4 (February 19, old style) is the Day of Arkhip and Philemon The day is named in honor of two of the 70 apostles - Saints Archippus and Philemon, whose memory is revered in the Orthodox calendar on this date Both saints were among the successors of the Apostle Paul Archippus was awarded the rank of bishop in the city of Colossae, located on the territory of modern Turkey Thanks to his faithful service to the Lord, Philemon received the rank of archpastor in the city of Gaza and, together with his wife Apphia, brought the Word of God to Christians, opening the doors of his home to believers for services During the persecution of Christians, Arkhippus was punished for his faith by being cut to death with knives The pagans buried the couple chest-deep in the ground and beat them to death with cobblestones People performed a ritual with a loaf on Arkhip for greater yields this year The loaf itself was baked from wheat flour; it symbolized the sun - the source of heat and light, most revered by the peasants They cooled it down and carried it out into the yard on a clean towel Raising it above the head three times to bless the Lord, they read a prayer, then divided it into parts and treated the household and the poor passing by The collected crumbs were thrown behind the back over the left shoulder for the birds to eat Since the peasants' reserves in the bins were already depleted, they allowed themselves less and less to set a sumptuous table But on the day of Arkhip and Philemon, as many dishes as possible should be prepared This was done to attract spring as quickly as possible, in order to quickly begin field work and refill warehouses with food It was important to distribute food to the hungry and poor, as well as to do as many good deeds as possible And in order to find out which grain crop the summer would bring more, the owners raised several sheaves on the roof to be illuminated by the setting sun At dawn they were lowered and examined Whichever crop had more frost on it, that type of grain promised a rich harvest On the day of Arkhip and Philemon, they observed signs If you saw seagulls in the sky, you expected warming and melting of ice on water bodies White hares in the fields foreshadowed once again heavy snow, and gray ones - the onset of warmth Warming was also expected if potatoes took root in the cellar The bright sun during the day predicted a fruitful year