According to the folk calendar - Nikolai the cold

On February 17 (February 4, old style), according to the folk calendar, the holiday of Nikola Studeny is celebrated It takes its name from the church date of honoring the Most Holy Nicholas the Confessor, who lived in the 9th century in the Studite monastery From his youth, Nikolai was raised in a Christian family, then his uncle became his mentor in the Studite temple When Nicholas took monastic vows and earned the rank of priest, he spread Christianity among people During his life, the monk suffered many times from cruel persecution of the pagans, but again returned to the path of enlightening the people The Lord awarded Nicholas with the gift of curing diseases, which passed to his relics after death And among the people, Nicholas was remembered as the lord of frost and cold Often on a given day the weather was frosty with strong winds It was in the wind that healers performed love spell and lapel rituals on their loved ones To avoid catching a cold, the peasants spent the day indoors The owners cleaned the house, cleaned the barns and fed the livestock They also read prayers to protect livestock from attacks by predators in the forest They prayed to Saint Nicholas himself, asking him to get rid of stomach diseases It was believed that from the day of Nikola Studeny, mating games among forest predators began A lone wolf and a she-wolf paired up for life, gradually turning into a pack with their offspring Foxes ran around in pairs and performed mating dances Afterwards, the animals prepared a den for future babies in hard-to-reach places If a blackened forest was noticed on Nikola Studeny, residents were preparing for warmer weather The branches of the tree inclined to the ground foreshadowed snowfall, those raised higher - a sunny day Sparrows were observed hiding in straw before severe frosts A month in the sky with a red tint meant windy weather