Holidays of the Slavs - Skipper Snake Day

June 22 was the day of the Skipper Snake among the ancient Slavs According to legends, the snake king Skipper, having given a potion to drink and hiding the newborn Perun, took his three sisters to Nav Perun was freed by other deities, and later he defeated Skipper in battle Sometimes this day is called the Snake Festival The Slavs believed that Skipper, who hates the entire human race, returns to Yav twice a year with his snake army It was believed that ghosts roamed the Slavic land at this time To see them is to receive a sign of illness, pestilence, death The earth groans and cries, its groans can be easily heard by putting your ear to it Some claimed that they saw fields engulfed in flames, packs of wolves suddenly running from dark forests, crows circling over the village, and hundreds of mice crawling into houses On this day, there is a high probability of enemies coming to the Russian Land This fact is proven by historical facts: many wars began on days close to this date, and decisive battles ended not in favor of the Russian people Skipper Snake Day is traditionally considered the beginning of snake weddings Snakes crawl to special cursed places, the so-called “snake hills” To meet them is to be in trouble Not a single sorcerer will be able to charm the bite and save a person on this day Therefore, the Slavs were wary of visiting forests If it was absolutely necessary to do this, then they took a piece of ash with them, believing that it would scare away snakes The snake occupied a special place in Slavic mythology: it was respected, but feared because of its treachery and inconstancy A coiled snake meant eternity The ancient Slavs revered the Snake Couple; on this day they left purchases for her at the snake hills, asking the Snake King for strength and dexterity, and the Snake Queen for health and good luck One had to be careful with curses: bad wishes could come true On this day, the Magi sang songs to the glory of Perun Ordinary people performed ablutions in the river to cleanse themselves of sins It was customary to make amulets and amulets to protect against snake bites Some performed rituals for good luck, prowess and beauty However, one had to be very careful when offering services to snakes: one extra word or movement could lead to many troubles The eldest member of the family could perform a ritual against cancer for all relatives, which was valid for exactly 12 years It was customary to plant legumes on Skipper Snake