According to the folk calendar - Lukerya Komarnica

On May 26 (May 13, old style) according to the folk calendar, Lukerya Komarnitsa is celebrated Lukerya day is named in honor of the Christian martyr - the Virgin Glykeria, whose memory is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on this date Glyceria lived in the 2nd century in Ancient Thrace, came from a noble family, and after the death of her parents found shelter with Christians When a pagan holiday was going on, Glyceria entered the temple of idolaters and, with the help of prayer to God, overthrew the statue of the false god For this, the pagans threw stones at the maiden, laid her on hot metal, tore off the skin from her head, set wild animals on fire, but the Lord protected the martyr and healed her every time Tired of torment, Glyceria herself asked God to take her life, then the wild lioness killed her And among the people, Glykeria (Lukerya) was nicknamed Komarnitsa, since on a given day the first mosquitoes often appeared It was believed that warm winds brought them from the coasts of overseas countries, and in the fall cold winds turned them back The peasants believed that by drinking blood from a person, mosquitoes were able to take diseases with them, so on Lukerya Komarnitsa they opened wide the windows of the dwelling where the sick person was lying However, people did not particularly like mosquitoes because of their squeaks and bites According to legend, they annoyed Christ during the crucifixion, for which they are now paying with their lives: by killing a mosquito you can get rid of 40 sins But there was a belief that mosquitoes should not be destroyed before the summer equinox, otherwise one dead mosquito will add a dozen more But after the equinox, a killed mosquito meant that now there would be a dozen fewer of them Sometimes the day of Lukerya was called Lukoshnitsa During the period of hard work in the fields, men did not have a free hour for lunch To feed them, women came to the field at lunchtime and brought baskets of food Lukerya was also called Grechishnitsa, since on this day buckwheat was re-sown A large harvest was not expected from it, but its flowering served as an excellent place for bees to collect nectar If an abundance of swallows and swifts was observed on Lukerya Komarnica, then they were preparing for warming Warm weather was also heralded by the arrival of mosquitoes The future harvest was determined by their abundance: if there were a lot of them, it means there will be a lot of mushrooms and berries in the forest, the grass will grow tall, and the oats will yield well The insect's ringing squeak was used to determine the approaching rain