According to the folk calendar - Katerina Sannitsa, Katerina Zhenodavitsa

On December 7 (November 24, old style), according to the folk calendar, the day of Katerina Sannitsa is celebrated; it is also called the day of Katerina Zhenodavitsa This holiday refers to one of the significant Christian persons, since Catherine was considered the bride of Jesus Christ Catherine was born in the second half of the 3rd century into a rich and noble family By the age of 17, she had a fairly high education, loved to read a lot, and had incredible beauty Grooms from all over the area went to get married But Catherine refused, citing that only those who could surpass her in wisdom, beauty, nobility and wealth were worthy of her hand One day, after a night of prayer, Catherine dreamed of Jesus Christ She realized that this was the betrothed one, superior to herself in everything The Son of God gave the girl a ring as a sign of engagement And when she woke up, she saw a ring on her finger So Catherine became the bride of Christ When the next pagan holiday was held, Catherine came to Emperor Maximian with convictions to stop idolatry and accept Christianity The girl's beauty and intelligence impressed the emperor so much that at first he tried to convince her with bribery Catherine was adamant, for which Maximian subjected her to torture with a terrible instrument of torture Then the Angel who descended destroyed the car Seeing this, the emperor's wife converted to Christianity and called on her husband to accept, but the angry ruler ordered the death of his wife and Catherine The people called St Catherine the Wife-Giver, since the martyr patronized all brides, married women, and pregnant women Sunny was named because sledding games were traditionally held on her day The newlyweds were the first to begin their descent from the mountain, then everyone else There was also an interesting sign - if lovers move down the mountain together, they will have a happy life together After the games, a folk feast was held, the children were treated to sweet gifts It was customary for men to compete on sleds They harnessed the horses and started the race - whoever gets to the finish line the fastest was considered the most agile The girls, watching the guys, believed that on Katerina’s day they could meet their future husband Before dawn, they wondered on the street - the girls loudly called for fate, if the crow of a rooster was heard in response, then good luck would be promised in love In the evening, they read fortunes on a twig of an apple tree and hid it under the pillow to see their betrothed in a dream Among the people there were signs on the day of Katerina Sannitsa, predicting the coming weather So, the starry sky foreshadowed a snowstorm in the coming days The sun in the sky meant that the winter would be frosty Fogs and thaw promised warmth for ten days