According to the folk calendar - Porfiry the Late

According to the folk calendar, Porfiry the Late is celebrated on March 11 (February 26, old style) Part of the name of the holiday is borrowed from the church calendar - the day of veneration of St Porphyry of Gaza, a bishop who opposed the pagans in the 4th and 5th centuries Thanks to his wealthy parents, Porfiry received an excellent education He was drawn to serving the Lord, so he became a monk, and at the age of 25 he was appointed a priest in the church He gave a considerable inheritance to the poor and to support churches Having taken the rank of bishop in Gaza, the saint converted many pagans to Christianity, and through prayers he could perform miracles of healing On Porfiry Late the weather was changeable If the sun had time to melt the snow on the street, the peasants were in no hurry to go to the fields to cultivate the land After all, the warmth was temporary, after which frosts could strike, destructive for the seedlings Residents spent the day doing household chores Men avoided meeting and communicating with the female sex on the day of Porfiry They believed that a kikimora could reincarnate in them, make them dizzy and take them away to have fun in the forest Kikimors knew how to not only take away a man’s strength, but also ruin his life The return of birds from warmer climes lifted spirits, since their arrival foreshadowed high yields in the fields If swallows and sparrows began to build nests on the sunlit side of the house, the peasants were preparing for a cool summer The location in the shade of the nest meant a hot summer season According to the signs of Porfiry the Late, the coming weather was predicted Thick fog before lunch was observed to indicate cooling, and after lunch - to warming If the clouds were flying high, residents expected sunny weather; if a strong wind descended, they prepared for light frosts The star-strewn sky predicted a dry summer, and falling snow promised plenty of precipitation in the summer