According to the folk calendar - Nikita Gusyatnik

According to the folk calendar, Nikita Gusyatnik is celebrated on June 10 (May 28, old style) The name of the day is partly taken from the church date - the day of honoring the memory of Bishop Nikita of Chalcedon, who lived in the 8th-9th centuries Nikita lived in Chalcedon, on the territory of modern Turkey, and was a bishop The doors of his house were open to the disadvantaged and the poor, and he often stood up for the defense of offended citizens When Emperor Leo V began iconoclastic activities, Nikita showed himself to be an active defender of icons, for which he paid He was defrocked and sent into exile, where he died The relics of the saint, after being found, radiated healing properties People considered Nikita to be the protector of the goslings, which is why they called him the Gosling They prayed to the saint to protect them from hawks, falcons and kites The goslings were fed porridge with boiled chopped eggs to help them grow large Geese were considered a valuable bird on the farm - their meat was used for food, their fat for medicinal purposes, and their feathers were used to stuff feather beds and pillows A quill pen and ink were used for writing, and sometimes the feathers were used to cast spells and were worn as a talisman The second name of the day was Midday, as the spirits of midday were called The peasants believed that on a given date they would appear in the fields with round iron discs Spirits were divided into good and evil The good ones used their discs to protect the fields from the burning sun, while the evil ones, on the contrary, tilted them so that the light burned the ears of corn Some spirits looked like attractive maidens; they came down to the working men and tried to seduce them It was believed that they wanted to conceive a child from a good man, but such a relationship forever deprived them of male power Seeing the beauty, the men closed their eyes and read the protective spell It was forbidden to scold the spirits, otherwise they could dry out the fields To prevent midday spirits from entering their homes, residents closed the shutters at lunchtime and tried not to go outside It was forbidden to sleep during the day on this day, since midday spirits could bewitch and take away life Adults watched over the children sleeping at lunchtime On Midday, there was a custom to treat small children from poor sleep, so a special ritual was performed A woman and her child went out into the field at dawn and read a plot against childhood insomnia Then they returned home without turning their backs to the sun On this day, pregnant women went to the field to gain strength before giving birth They said that this way the child would be born strong, like a growing ear They believed that childbirth in the field was much easier than usual, and that children born there would become hardworking in the future If the weather was calm on the day of Nikita Gusyatnik, then a bountiful harvest was expected in the summer The hot day predicted a rather frosty December Seeing blue over the horizon in the evening, residents prepared for fine days The lizards that came out to warm themselves promised cloudiness