According to the folk calendar - Joseph the Songsinger, Alder Bride

On April 17 (the date according to the old calendar style is April 4), people celebrate the day of Joseph the Songsinger, also called Alder Shows The name of the national holiday is given in honor of St Joseph the Songwriter, whose memory is celebrated by Christians on this day The story of Joseph began in Sicily in the 9th century When he turned 15, he became a monk in the Thessalonian monastery, and a couple of years later he was ordained a priest The monk, together with Gregory Decapolite, defended the icons from heretics, for this he was taken into custody and kept in prison for 6 years After his liberation, Joseph organized the construction of several Orthodox churches Until the end of his days, the saint was engaged in writing prayer chants, thanks to which he was called the Songwriter But the people called Joseph the Songsinger, because on his day the cricket woke up from hibernation and began its song We also listened to the singing of the crane People revered cranes as noble birds and took care of them for fear of harming them or their nests Residents waited with hope for cranes from warmer climes, saying that the swallow brings spring with its arrival in its native places, and the crane - a turn towards summer, that is, the onset of real warmth There was a tradition regarding cranes on Joseph the Songsinger If the peasants saw them in the sky, they lay down on the ground on their backs in the field and rolled 7 times from one side to the other They believed that this way all the fatigue from the body would go into the ground, and they would not be bothered by back pain The day was named Alder Views because residents went to inspect the alder tree It was believed that it was least susceptible to rotting from moisture It was used to build wells and therefore a suitable tree was chosen for cutting Alder was also used by fishermen to catch predatory fish (pike perch, pike, perch, catfish) Due to the lightness of wood, special gear was made from it Alder branches were good for smoking fish And alder bark was used in folk medicine, it was dried, crushed and used to stop bleeding or relieve inflammatory processes In addition, beekeepers determined by the alder blossoms that it was time to release the bees from the hives If catkins appeared on an alder tree on a given day, it meant that the year was predicted to be fruitful for grain Its flowering earlier than the birch foreshadowed a rainy summer But fine days were expected if the dawn was seen in golden-pink light