According to the folk calendar - Trifonov day

According to the folk calendar, Trifonov Day is celebrated on December 28 (December 15, old style) This holiday comes from the church day of honoring the memory of St Tryphon of Pecheneg, famous in the 16th century for converting pagan savages to Christianity Born into a Novgorod priest's family, the Monk Tryphon bore the secular name Mitrofan From his youth he decided to devote himself to God and become a preacher of Christianity One day, while praying, Tryphon heard a voice from above and realized that the Lord was blessing him to bring the faith of Jesus Christ to the pagans For this purpose, Tryphon came to the Kola Peninsula among the pagan aborigines Several years later, having studied their customs and language, enduring beatings and persecution, the preacher, with wisdom and kind words, managed to convince many locals to accept Christianity He founded a temple on the banks of the Pechenga River, and built the Trinity Pecheneg Monastery nearby Among the people, Saint Tryphon was considered the patron saint of sailors and people going on voyages To avoid the storm, the people prayed to Tryphon for good weather and good luck on the sea voyage In the temple, a candle was lit in front of his icon On Trifonov's day, the sun began to remain above the earth a little longer, thereby reducing night time The people believed that the evil forces wandering in the darkness weakened with the arrival of light Therefore, the peasants tried to help the heavenly body by scattering hot coals around the house at dawn They said that such a ritual would frighten the evil spirits and drive them away from human shelter Based on the day of Tryphon, they predicted the weather for the coming March According to folk signs, people determined that if tits were squeaking outside the window in the morning, and the cat climbed closer to the stove, it was worth waiting for the cold to increase Red rainbows before sunset meant severe cold Clouds covering the sun foreshadowed the approach of a blizzard The snowdrifts promised a rich harvest in the summer