According to the folk calendar - Methodius the Sparrowhawk

According to the folk calendar, Methodius the Sparrowhawk is celebrated on July 3 (June 20, old style) The date is named after Saint Methodius of Patara, a martyr whose memory is honored by Orthodox believers on this day Methodius lived in the 3rd-4th centuries in Patara on the territory of Lycia (modern Turkey) He was a humble and modest bishop, however, a strong confessor of the faith Methodius worked hard in interpreting the Holy Scriptures and was an active fighter against the heresy of Origenism For denouncing idolatry and inducing him to Christianity, the pagans killed the saint by beheading The people called Methodius the Sparrowhawk, since during this period hunting for wild quails began Ears of grain crops were ripening in the fields, so birds actively flocked to them, and for hunters they were easy prey In the morning, the men went to the fields and waited for the quail to reveal its location To lure the bird closer or to the trap, special pipes were used On the eve of Methodius the Sparrowhawk, hunters went to the healers for thorn grass They believed that if you fumigate a gun with it, then all the shots would hit the target without missing a beat It was difficult to get thorn grass: it was collected on Peter’s Fast at sunset during a certain ritual, then dried Therefore, healers shared such herbs reluctantly To track down quails, hunters focused on places where midges circled and cobwebs flew, which is where the birds were hiding The least likely person to hope was to shoot a bird where a quail call was heard After the hunt, we returned home and tried to bring at least one quail with us, then the summer hunt would be successful In the evening, friends and relatives were invited to dishes with game It was considered great luck to meet a white quail on Methodius Day, and if you still managed to catch it, then for the rest of your life luck was on the side of the hunter But seeing other birds did not always mean something good; for example, an owl on the roof foreshadowed a fire If rainy weather happened on Methodius Sparrowhawk, then precipitation was predicted for the next forty days The clogged entrances to the anthill promised an impending thunderstorm A spider collecting old webs also signaled inclement weather Clouds floating high in the sky were observed on dry days on this date