According to the folk calendar - Modestov Day

December 31 (December 18, old style) is celebrated as Modest Day according to the folk calendar Its appearance is associated with the church day of honoring the memory of St Modestus, patriarch of the Jerusalem church in the 7th century The future patriarch grew up in a righteous family in Sebaste of Cappadocia From his youth, wanting to serve the Lord, he became the abbot of a Palestinian monastery After the Persian attack on Palestine and the capture of Zechariah, the patriarch of the Jerusalem Temple, Modestus had the fate of replacing him For about 14 years he served for the benefit of the temple, taking care of the monks and parishioners When Zechariah was released from captivity, he returned back to the Jerusalem Temple Modest piously gave up his position, but after the patriarch departed to the Almighty, his position was again headed by Modest The people believed that on Modest day, after dark, an evil spirit crawls out, bringing harm to everyone This is where the belief came from that a container of milk should be covered with a lid to prevent evil spirits from entering, and sharp objects should be hidden from the table to prevent evil forces from injuring household members On Modestov's Day, children and youth organized caroling, thereby saying goodbye to the old year and inviting the new one The children ran around the neighboring houses, wishing well to the owners, and in return received sweets Children's wishes were valued most of all, as they believed that angels spoke through the mouths of children The people revered the saint as the patron of livestock Therefore, on his day, peasants prayed for the safety of farm animals People gathered for a common feast, setting the table with meat dishes In the evening they often told fortunes to find out their fate It was important to have time to pay off debts in the past year Based on the weather on Modestov's day, they judged what June would be like And in order to know the rainiest month, they cast fortunes on salt in 12 matchboxes They were labeled with the names of the months, left overnight, and checked in the morning: whichever box gets wet the most, that month will pass with showers They also wondered about the future harvest - if the field is covered with snow, then it will give a good harvest