According to the popular calendar - Day of the Archangel Gabriel

On July 26 (July 13, old style), according to the folk calendar, the Day of the Archangel Gabriel, also called the Day of Gabriel the Summer, is celebrated On this day, the Orthodox Church honors one of God's seven angels - Archangel Gabriel According to the Holy Scriptures, Gabriel was an important messenger of the Lord; he descended to earth to notify Christians of upcoming significant events So he told Saint Mary the good news about her pregnancy with the future Savior The angel also made the Prophet Daniel aware of the coming of the Messiah and his suffering for all humanity After the birth of Jesus Christ, Gabriel ordered his parents to leave the city, because King Herod planned to kill all the babies and thus find and kill Jesus And on the day of Christ’s arrest before the crucifixion, the messenger came down to him with support When the resurrection of the Savior occurred, the Archangel told the myrrh-bearing women about this event The Day of the Archangel Gabriel is celebrated several times a year, which is why people call July 26th Gabriel of the Summer During this period, the weather was hot, the fields were ripening, and the harvest began - harvesting grain crops from the fields The peasants were in a hurry to harvest the ripe harvest before the rains, so they went to work at dawn and worked with the whole family In some regions, the harvest was just beginning, so the first cut ears of corn were blessed in the temple and kept in the room next to the icons Residents believed that the first sheaf had healing properties: its grains were used to treat ailments in households, and its plant parts were fed to sick livestock Before working in the fields, residents prayed to the Most Holy Theotokos and asked her for strength to harvest the harvest They also prayed to her to remove rain clouds from the fields, since the fallen moisture could ruin the harvest A handful of wet grain or a sheaf of rotting hay could lead to rotting of the stock Signs on Gabriel the Summer notified people about future weather A day without precipitation meant that autumn would be fine Showers on this day promised winter with plenty of snow Cones growing on the lower branches of spruce foreshadowed early frosts; on the upper ones, the first serious frosts would hit in mid-January