According to the folk calendar - Lukyan Windmill

Lukyan Windmill is celebrated according to the folk calendar on June 16 (June 3, old style) Lucian named the day from the church date of honoring Saints Lucian of Belgium and Lucillian of Byzantium, Christian preachers of the 1st century Lucian of Belgium lived in Rome and was an idolater When he met the Apostle Peter, he believed in the Lord, accepted Christianity and was baptized Then Lucian went to spread the faith throughout Italy and received the rank of bishop While preaching in the cities of Belgium, the bishop was captured by pagans, tortured and executed Lucillian of Byzantium spent most of his life as a servant of a pagan temple, but by his advanced age he believed in Christ With his sermons he converted thousands of idolaters to the Christian faith When the pagans captured the elder, they gave him over to torture: they beat him and put him on a hot stove Seeing Lucillian’s inflexibility in his faith, he was nailed by his hands and feet on the cross, where he gave his soul to the Almighty Lukyan was popularly nicknamed the Windmill, since on a given day the residents determined the future based on the strong wind He was usually observed in the direction of the weather vane on the roof The wind from the south foreshadowed a generous harvest of grain crops, from the east - diseases in the fields, from the northeast and northwest - cloudiness and frequent rains The wind raising dust from the ground was observed on sunny days On this day, the residents prayed to Lukyan to take care of the ripening field and send southern winds and sufficient moisture, and when it was time to mow hay, arrange dry days Also in the morning, an offering was made to Lukyan in the form of a jug of kvass They believed that if the drink fermented in the evening, then the saint was satisfied with the gift and would help with the weather At Lukyana Windmill, peasants were looking for a suitable place for a well To do this, a cast-iron frying pan was placed in the desired place for a day, with its back side facing the sky After 24 hours, they checked its inner surface; if it was covered with moisture, then the place was ideal for digging a well If it started to rain on Lukyanov’s day, then hay mowing was predicted to be unsuccessful However, seeing the precipitation, residents were preparing for an abundance of mushrooms in the forest Morning fog on the pond was considered a harbinger of sunny days The cry of owls was heard during inclement weather