According to the folk calendar - Midsummer's Day

March 9 (February 24, old style) is celebrated as Midsummer's Day according to the folk calendar According to the church calendar, this day marks the discovery of the head of John the Baptist, a prophet who lived during the birth of Jesus Christ John predicted the birth of the Savior, and then baptized him in the waters of the Jordan River He led an ascetic life and baptized believers But the Jewish queen ordered the prophet to be beheaded, and buried his head secretly on the Mount of Olives Years later, a vessel with the head of the saint was found during the construction of a temple in that area To prevent infidels from getting to the relic, the vessel was buried, and it was only possible to find it again centuries later The people called the day the Finding or Bird's Day Winter was receding, it was getting warmer, migratory birds were flying back and starting to prepare for nesting Sparrows made nests under the roofs of houses, magpies and buntings settled outside the villages, starlings and woodpeckers looked for hollows in the trees Peasants often helped birds on Midsummer's Day - they built new or repaired old birdhouses Women postponed washing things to another day so that hanging laundry outside would not scare away the birds from the yard But different birds were treated differently Swallows were considered messengers of the Mother of God; if they made a nest under the roof of a human roof, happiness awaited the household Larks were also revered; residents were forbidden to exterminate them But sparrows, crows and kites were classified as birds that had a connection with evil spirits A raven sitting on a house always foreshadowed trouble in the family On this day they prayed to Saint John for deliverance from headaches, asked him to protect children from illnesses, and to give a good harvest to the field He was also called the patron saint of beekeeping, so the owners of the apiary checked the hives: if a loud buzzing was heard from them, it means that the bees survived the winter period safely They also checked food supplies for the bees and fed them if necessary so that the insects could endure until the first flowering The weather on Midsummer's Day determined what Easter and April itself would be like If you saw roofs covered with snow, you prepared for the cold on Easter, and sunny weather promised warm Easter days The return of birds from the south to Obretenie meant that the year would be fruitful Their nesting on the south side of the house predicted a cold summer The appearance of a clear moon with sharp edges in the sky foreshadowed frost in the coming days