According to the folk calendar - Luke Day

According to the folk calendar, May 5 (April 22 according to the old style) is Luke's Day The name of the holiday is given in honor of the holy apostle Luke from the 70, whose memory is revered in Orthodox churches on this day Luke lived in the 1st century and practiced medicine However, having learned about Christ, he came to him in Palestine for teachings and became an apostle of the 70 After the death of the Savior, he studied with the Apostle Paul, and then went to spread the faith in Egypt, Libya, Achaea and Thebaid The saint was one of the first icon painters, as well as the patron of all medical workers Popularly, on Luke Day, residents planted onions and prayed to St Luke for a good harvest The plant was valued for its beneficial medicinal properties; it was consumed fresh to protect against colds, especially in the off-season In addition, onions were added to most dishes for a special taste On Luke's Day they continued to celebrate Lyalnik, or Lelnik This holiday was timed to celebrate the blossoming spring The girls danced around the apple trees, chose one pretty girl, I associate her with spring, and danced around her Then the boys joined the girls, and the round dances developed into general fun, dancing and games On this day, strange fogs often descended on the clearings The peasants said that it was pregnant witches circling in a round dance The residents tried to avoid such fog, believing that, once there, they would be whirled and besotted by evil spirits, and then secretly put their children in the womb However, if a woman could not conceive children for a long time, she went into the witch’s fog She laid a linen on the grass, stripped naked and stood in the circle of the unclean Then she wiped her body with a piece of linen and went home, hoping for a quick pregnancy Only desperate people decided to undertake this ritual, because there was a risk of carrying a small witcher in their womb By observing signs on Luke's Day, residents judged the future If the weather was sunny in the morning, it meant that a fertile period for sowing cereals had begun; if it was foggy, the sowing was postponed to a later date The cuckoo's cuckoo foreshadowed the end of the cold weather The blossoming of the rowan promised prolonged warmth Night frosts predicted unfavorable weather for the fields for the next forty days