According to the folk calendar - Introduction

December 4 (November 21, old style) in the folk calendar celebrates the Introduction This event is closely intertwined with the Orthodox holiday of the Entry of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the temple, which belongs to the twelfth holidays of the church calendar According to God's scripture, the parents of the Blessed Mary, righteous Anna and Joachim, could not conceive a child While praying, Anna promised that if pregnancy happened, she would give the child to the temple to serve God When the born girl reached 3 years old, she was taken to the temple Little Mary was greeted with great respect by the clergy of God's house She was taken by the high priest to the Holy of Holies, where only he was allowed to enter and only once a year Her life in the temple is shrouded in mystery, but while growing up, the Most Holy Mary studied the Holy Scriptures, did handicrafts and prayed a lot, filled with love for the Lord She left God's house already betrothed to the widower Joseph The people perceived the feast of the Entry not only as the entry of the Virgin Mary into the temple, but also as the beginning of real winter It was believed that on this day it finally came into its own, so the Introduction was symbolically called the gate of winter The peasants had fun games and sledding There was also a tradition of holding trades called the Vvedenskaya Fair Since the roads were already completely covered with snow, the first thing to be sold at the auction was the sleigh People believed that a frosty day on Vvedenye was a harbinger of a cold, snowy winter, while a warm one was the opposite Also, a frosty day promised a hot summer and cold upcoming holidays If you can hear the clear ringing of the bell tower from a distance, then there is severe frost, and a dull ringing means a blizzard It is interesting that, by looking at the horse, they determined the future snow; if the animal was stubborn, a blizzard would descend In addition, the signs informed about the next year's harvest If snow covered the ground and did not melt afterwards, then the next year gave a good harvest, but if it was warm and there was no snow at Vvedenye, then a crop failure was expected A person born on December 4th should have worn a diamond as an amulet