According to the folk calendar - "Nina - rites of cattle"

According to the folk calendar, January 27 (January 14, old style) is celebrated as Nina's Day, also called cattle rites The day received its name from the church date of honoring Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, who became the educator of Christianity in Georgia in the 4th century Nina was raised in a wealthy Christian family In adolescence, the girl had a vision in which the Most Holy Theotokos instructed her to educate the Georgian people about Christianity Arriving in Georgia, Nina told the people about the great deeds of Christ and helped them believe in one God With her prayers the saint healed Queen Nana, after which she changed her idolatry to Christianity Nina also managed to persuade the king of Georgia and his retinue to believe The holiday was named the rite of cattle due to the care of peasants for livestock on Nina's day The owners cleaned the barns, took out manure, covered the floor with straw, and treated the animals to freshly baked flatbread, carrots, and apples The day was considered a working day, so the peasants also did chores But the cows received more attention The reason was the approaching calving of the animal - the time of appearance of the calves Cows were always treated with respect; they were extremely rarely slaughtered for meat, and even then they had not calved The owners did not eat such meat, but took it to the market to sell They believed that cattle were capable of shedding tears for their deceased owner It was believed that milk from a black cow could extinguish a fire Milk also helped with fresh burns If a black or red cow appeared in a dream, the person would die When marrying a daughter, noble parents always gave a cow as part of the dowry On Nina's day, the upcoming weather was determined by signs So the haze around the month foreshadowed snowfall If the roosters crowed earlier than usual or frost lay on the bark of the trees, the onset of heat was expected The cloudy sky promised severe frosts Crows screaming in the morning predicted an approaching snowstorm