Folk calendar - Andron the Astrologer

The folk holiday Andron the Astrologer is celebrated annually on October 25 and is associated with such saints as Provar, Tarakh and Andronik of Anazar Three martyrs suffered at the hands of pagans back in the 4th century, during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian Having arrested three men, they were mocked for a long time, trying to force them to renounce the Christian faith However, none of the cruel tortures could break the martyrs; none of them renounced Jesus Christ Having sentenced the saints to death, the men were thrown to be devoured by wild animals, but the animals did not even approach them Enraged even more, the pagans chopped the martyrs into pieces, and devoted Christians collected the remains of the saints and buried them according to all customs Saint Andronicus (Andron) was considered a wise astrologer, so on this day it is customary to watch the stars and guess from them the weather and what harvest to expect next year If the stars blinked, it meant a change in the weather; if they glowed, it meant strong winds And if there were many stars in the sky, this meant that the next year should be a good harvest for peas Dim stars mean prolonged rains and thaws, bright stars mean severe frost People believed that the stars were closely connected with a person and could influence his fate and important events The number of stars corresponded to the number of people on earth; when a person was born, a new star lit up in the sky And a shooting star spoke of someone’s death, so flying comets were considered harbingers of misfortune and natural disasters On the day of Andron the Stargazer, it was not customary to laugh loudly and have fun, as well as to offend someone; it was believed that in this way a person would bring upon himself terrible troubles You couldn’t answer a knock on the door and ask, “Who’s there,” because you could let trouble into the house Therefore, a ribbon was often tied to the gate, over which a special prayer was said, protecting the owners of the house from various misfortunes Those born on this day were predicted to have the gift of prediction by the stars, but it was believed that the fate of such people would be difficult, with many difficult trials