According to the folk calendar - Anisin's day

According to the folk calendar, Anis's Day is celebrated on January 12 (December 30, old style) According to legend, the martyr Anisia of Thessalonica lived in the 3rd century in Greece Raised by righteous, rich Christians, the girl was orphaned early In order to get into the Kingdom of God after death, Anisia distributed the inheritance she received to the poor, orphans and the sick, and she herself provided all possible assistance to the suffering In those days there was a severe persecution of Christians; any pagan could kill them without permission from the authorities When Anisia was going to the temple for a meeting, she met a pagan warrior He forcibly tried to take the Christian woman to make a sacrifice to the pagan gods, but Anisia broke free, praising Christ The angry pagan pulled out a sword and hacked the unfortunate woman to death The body of the martyr was buried in the city of Thessaloniki at the city gates Among the people, Anisia was called the Stomachwoman for the tradition of slaughtering pigs on this day and preparing various dishes from their stomachs and offal Kendyukh, a boiled stomach stuffed with onions and pig meat, was often served on the table When cutting up a pig, they guessed at its internal organs: a neat spleen foreshadowed a cold winter, and an empty stomach meant the approach of cold weather From Anisya's day came the period of hunting wild pigs The men went together into the forest to catch boars, dug a hole, covered it with branches and drove the beast into a trap The caught prey was carried through the village on rods Women had the fate of cutting and preparing the carcass Pork dishes at festive feasts symbolized the cyclical nature of life If a person ate pork on Vasiliev’s evening (January 13), then his life in the new year began as if from scratch, and problems and troubles remained in the past year According to legend, it was forbidden to salt ready-made dishes on Anisin’s day in order to avoid misfortune in the house Saint Anisya was popularly associated as a helper for stomach diseases; in prayers they asked her for a cure But it was not worth embroidering, spinning or knitting on this day, and they also refused gifts from unfamiliar people A handkerchief found near the house meant that the owner had been damaged Based on the snowfall on Anisin's day, a wet summer was predicted Sunny weather and the chirping of sparrows meant warming was underway The cloudy sky at night was noticed before the weather changed The wind from the south foreshadowed a good harvest, and from the west - a successful catch of fish in the summer