According to the folk calendar - Snake Festival

According to the folk calendar, the snake holiday is celebrated on June 12 (May 30, old style) It was believed that on this day snakes, snakes and vipers emerge en masse from their shelters to procreate During the breeding season, even non-venomous snakes became quite aggressive, so residents were careful to leave the village, bypassing thickets of grasses, bushes and swamps According to biblical stories, the Devil reincarnated as a snake Through lies and persuasion, he forced Eve to taste the forbidden apple and share it with her husband, after which Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden That’s why people didn’t like snakes and considered them vile In addition, they bit painfully, and the venom of some types of snakes could be fatal Small species were considered especially dangerous In order to protect themselves from snake attacks on the Snake Festival, residents tried not to go outside the village unless necessary And if they did go out, they took with them a fern root, an ash tree branch or an evasive peony To prevent snakes from crawling into the basket for berries and mushrooms, Veronica flowers or fern leaves were placed in it Rich residents carried an emerald in their pockets, believing that snakes avoided them On this day it was forbidden to kill reptiles, because the entire creeping race could stand up for their relatives If the snake managed to bite someone, then chewed horse sorrel root, lovage root or lungwort leaf were applied to the bite Then the victim was sent to a healer, who read out special spells for recovery However, there were benefits from reptiles They ate large quantities of rodents, which harmed the farm and spread diseases Traditional healers prepared healing tinctures from snake venom for asthma, rheumatism, heart and neurological diseases The melted fat of the reptile helped in the treatment of skin inflammation On the Snake Festival, peasants planted beans in their gardens When they landed, a conspiracy was read out In order for them to produce a good harvest, they were first soaked in water from winter snow Such water could be found in deep ravines, where snow could lie until the beginning of summer If on a given day the absence of morning dew on the plants was noticed, then rainy weather was expected in the evening Watching the clear sunrise, residents waited for clear days The calls of owls were heard as the weather worsened The south wind foreshadowed a warm autumn, the north - cold and protracted, and the west - with frequent precipitation