According to the folk calendar - Fedor Kolodeznik

According to the folk calendar, Fyodor Kolodeznik is celebrated on June 21 (June 8 according to the old style) The holiday is named after Saint Theodore Stratilates, a Christian martyr, whose memory the church honors on this day Theodore lived in the 3rd-4th centuries on the territory of modern Turkey, and was from Euchait Once he managed to kill a large serpent devouring the inhabitants, after which Theodore was appointed military leader Having settled in Heraclea, he converted almost all the townspeople to Christianity When the ruler brought statues of pagan gods made of precious metals to the city, Theodore crushed them and distributed them to the poor For this he was beaten and tortured, and then hacked to death with a sword The people called Fyodor the Well Man, since on this date the place for digging wells was determined To do this, the night before, frying pans were placed in several places on the ground, and they were checked in the morning If one of the frying pans became covered with abundant moisture, then the place under it was ideal for digging a well shaft They also looked for a place using chicken eggs: they were laid out around the area, and then they observed which one was the wettest Finding the right place was important, otherwise the water might be undrinkable Having determined where to dig a hole, the residents prayed in the church for the success of the business, then began digging Oak, aspen, alder or elm were used to strengthen the well shaft After construction, the above-water part was covered with a lid so that debris would not get inside, and the brownie would not be afraid if he suddenly looked into the well Among the people there were various prohibitions regarding the well They believed that you should not spit the husks of sunflower seeds on the ground near it, otherwise the residents would treat it with disdain Women were forbidden to sit on the edge of the well, as the dough might not rise It was forbidden to look into a well pit at night, believing that a witch might look out from there and kiss the person looking in Fedorov's Day was also called Dung Day for the tradition of fertilizing unsown fields with manure This was done to supply the soil with useful microelements Usually they used manure that had rotted during the year, it was taken out to the fields and spread thickly, and the next year the land was plowed and sown Residents did not consider working with manure humiliating, because it was beneficial for the future harvest Families went out to fertilize the land: women and children loaded wheelbarrows with manure, and the men carried them to the field and dumped them out In the evening on this date, a table consisting of 12 dishes was set, so that there was something to eat every month of the year If an abundance of dew was noticed on Fyodor Kolodeznik, they prepared for large harvests of flax and hemp If you saw clouds thickening and turning blue in the evening, you were expecting a night thunderstorm The sound of thunder in the distance foreshadowed bad weather