According to the folk calendar - Peter's Day, Peter and Paul

Peter's Day, also called Peter-Paul, is celebrated on July 12 (June 29, old style) according to the folk calendar In Rus', the date was considered a holiday and was dedicated to honoring two saints - the apostles Peter and Paul, whose memory was revered by the Orthodox Church on this date Peter, who before meeting Jesus Christ had the name Simon, was one of the Savior’s 12 disciples and witnessed many of Christ’s miracles and sufferings Afterwards he set out to spread the teachings of Jesus to the people and convert people of other faiths to Christianity Arriving in Rome, he received the dignity of the first Pope For spreading his sermons, the saint was executed by hanging him on a cross with his head to the ground Paul, called Saul before baptism, was an idolater, was educated, but opposed Christianity However, the Lord himself turned to him, and then Paul believed in God He began to study the Holy Scriptures and then preach them The saint became an apostle, introduced many to his faith and organized dozens of communities for Christians Towards the end of Paul's life, the Jews killed him by beheading In Rus', by this date, Peter's fast ended, so the holiday was sometimes called Peter's breaking of the fast Residents organized festive tables with hearty dishes and invited relatives, neighbors and friends to their gatherings If godparents came to visit, they brought treats to their little godchildren in the form of pies made from wheat flour When meeting a son-in-law, the mother-in-law should treat him with cheese, and the son-in-law would serve her some tasty dish in return On this day, they tried to treat the poor or passing wanderers with food Often home gatherings turned into folk festivities But in the cities on this day, residents went to the market for seasonal sales, and public auctions were held Another name for this date was Fisherman's Day During his lifetime, the Apostle Peter was engaged in fishing, therefore the saint was considered the patron saint of fishermen They lit candles in churches for Peter and Paul and prayed to the saint to help them catch plenty of fish On Peter's Day there was a custom to wash oneself from three bodies of water, preferably natural sources Residents went into the forest and performed water procedures three times They believed that this would preserve the health, beauty and youth of the person washing for many years In addition, they believed that water on this day helps to cleanse oneself from committed marital sins If rainy weather was observed on Peter's Day, then the haymaking was predicted to be wet The more often it rained on a given date, the more bountiful the harvest was expected to be A cold day announced a hungry winter If the cuckoo's cuckooing stopped before July 12, then winter was expected to be early; after that, frosts came later