According to the folk calendar - Gerasim Grachevnik

According to the folk calendar, Gerasim Grachevnik is celebrated on March 17 (March 4, old style) On the one hand, the holiday is named in honor of two saints - Gerasim of Jordan and Gerasim of Vologda, revered by the Orthodox Church on this day The history of Gerasim of Jordan began in the 5th century He built a monastery near the Jordan River, led an ascetic life, strictly observed fasts and prayed a lot Gerasim of Vologda was born in Kyiv in the 12th century and served as a priest in his youth But wanting to retire in prayer to the Lord, he went north, settled near Vologda and became a hermit Other monks were drawn to him, so over time his monastery turned into the Holy Trinity Monastery The people called Gerasim the Rooker for the return of rooks from warmer climes Their arrival symbolized the onset of spring The peasants greeted the birds with joy, because the rook was also an assistant in exterminating harmful insects On this day, housewives prepared cookies in the shape of a rook and treated them to the children The day was considered successful for expelling kikimoras from their homes She was represented as an evil spirit; she had the ugly appearance of a thin, short old woman with disheveled hair and twisted hands According to Slavic beliefs, a kikimora was the wife of a brownie or goblin and could help with household chores But, if the kikimora did not get along with the owners, then she would play various dirty tricks on them: she would knock objects at night, break dishes, disturb the children’s sleep, and confuse the housewives’ yarn In this case, they got rid of it by calling a healer to the house - the owners washed the house completely, and he read a special spell Also, to drive away kikimora, branches of juniper and fern were hung in the room, the floor was swept with a wormwood broom, and a stone with a hole inside was hung in the chicken coop Unmarried girls wondered about Gerasim Grachevnik They got together and took turns running out the gate If the first person to meet was a woman, then the girl was expected to get married this year And if a man met, then matchmakers were expected at least a year later The signs on Gerasim Grachevnik were associated with rooks The settling of rooks on old nests was noted during the warm spring, but their abandonment promised cold weather If they returned before March 17, then the year was foreshadowed by a lean year The weather on Gerasim showed what the next winter period would be like