According to the folk calendar - Hypatius the Wonderworker (Fire)

People celebrate Hypatius the Wonderworker (Fire) on April 13 (March 31 according to the old calendar style) The holiday is interconnected with the date of the church calendar - the day of honoring the memory of the holy martyr Hypatius of Gangra Hypatius served as a bishop in the 3rd and 4th centuries in Gangri, in modern Turkey He was a fighter against the Aryan heresy One day, in a deserted area, he was surrounded by opponents of Christianity, they beat him with cobblestones and stabbed him with spears, after which they threw the martyr’s dead body into the swamp thickets Good Christians found the saint and buried him in a Christian manner The relics of Saint Hypatius had miraculous properties, for which he was nicknamed the Wonderworker The people revered the saint as an assistant in the conception and birth of children Infertile couples prayed to him, asking for a baby If bleeding occurred during childbirth, then help was asked from Hypatius They also turned to him for problems with breastfeeding It was believed that on Hypatia the Wonderworker something wrong happened to the brownie All year he was the first assistant in the household, protecting the home from harm, but on this day, even from the eve, the brownie began to rage and harm the owners The peasants believed that he took milk from cows, drove horses away from the yard, bit dogs on the sides, hid or scattered things, and sometimes threw himself at the owners’ feet To protect themselves from the machinations of the brownie and other evil spirits, residents locked their houses and barns and did not go near the windows At all exits from housing, the cross of God was drawn, and any strange action was crossed with a hand During the day, we tried to go out into the yard as little as possible and did not let the cattle out for a walk The day of Hypatia was also called Fire Its origins came from the period when peasants fought with the forest for land for arable land To get it, residents cut down part of the forest, and a year later they set it on fire The burned out place was called the Fire That is why appropriate rituals were performed on this day The owners took burning coals out of the stove and lit a fire in the garden with them All equipment that helped cultivate the field was carried through the cleansing fire A sick person was brought to the fire, believing that the fire would help in recovery The ashes from the fire were blown by the wind throughout the garden; it was believed that it helped prevent fungal diseases in crops Signs on Hypatia the Wonderworker indicated what the weather would be like If you saw barely visible clouds, prepare for rain A clear day promised the arrival of real warmth Flocks of migratory birds heralded a fine spring, and if they did not chirp as before, they were preparing for a cold snap