According to the folk calendar - Proclus the Mourner

According to the folk calendar, Proclus the Mourner is celebrated on July 25 (July 12, old style) The name of the holiday is partly borrowed from the church calendar - the date of honoring Saint Proclus, whose memory is revered by Orthodox Christians Proclus lived in the 1st-2nd century near Ancyra (modern Turkey) and professed Christianity During the period of persecution of Christians, he was one of the first to be tortured by the pagans Proclus was ordered to make a sacrifice to idols, but he refused Then he was tied to the chariot in which the ruler was, and forced to run after it At the request of the unfortunate Christian, the Lord stopped the horses and made the charioteer motionless until he confessed to the Almighty In anger, the ruler ordered the death of Proclus He was chained to a stake and shot with a dozen bows Until the last minute the saint was faithful to the Lord Along with Proclus, the pagans executed his nephew Hilary And among the people, the saint was called the Mourner, because during this period, a lot of dew often fell in the mornings and it seemed as if someone had flooded the earth with tears at night Dew always appeared from a temperature change when a cool night came after a hot day Thus, nature provided some moisture to the plants during dry times However, such moisture made it difficult for peasants to collect hay Drying grass often rotted from the abundance of dew, so residents tried to quickly remove the hay into stacks and hide it under cover On this day they also harvested grain, and the remaining stems were used as winter feed for livestock The dew on Proclus the Weeper was believed to have healing powers Housewives spread linen on the grass in the morning, and then squeezed the moisture from them into a vessel and stored it in case of serious illness They believed that washing with dew on this date would help maintain health, as well as relieve eye diseases and give clarity of thought If on Proclus the Lamenter they noticed a foggy haze in the fields and a lot of dew, then they expected the next days to be fine Seeing the fog coming out of the forest, residents prepared for rainy weather The absence of dew was a sign of future bad weather