According to the folk calendar - Egor Zimny, Yuri Kholodny

On December 9 (November 26, old style), according to the folk calendar, the day of Yegory the Winter is celebrated; this day is also called Yuri Kholodny It is dedicated to the memory of the Great Martyr George the Victorious Being the son of wealthy Christians, George stood out for his intelligence, physical strength and courage When he entered military service with Emperor Diocletian, he earned the rank of commander and became the ruler’s favorite George saw how cruelly the emperor treated Christians, so he went to the ruler in order to stop his order to persecute the followers of Christ Knowing that punishment awaited him, the great martyr first distributed all his belongings to the needy The emperor listened to the saint's convincing speech, although to no avail In addition, Diocletian ordered George to be tortured with various instruments, wanting to force him to go over to the side of the pagans The martyr endured pain in every possible way, glorifying God But in the end his head was cut off Even after his death, George worked a miracle There is a legend among the people that during a sacrifice in the city of Beirut, the king’s daughter was brought to a huge snake Suddenly, out of nowhere, George appeared on a horse In one fell swoop he killed the serpent with his spear Among the people, George (Yegory, Yuri) was considered the patron saint of animals, especially wolves People believed that wolves do not attack livestock without Yuri's permission On his day, they began the winter hunt, while the bears, on the contrary, entered a period of hibernation The people were wary not only of predators, but also of the coming frosts - they filled the cracks in the house with felt and matting Just on Yuri's day it was the middle of two weeks when the peasant was allowed to change his landowner Before doing this, it was necessary to pay off debts with the previous landowner There was also a custom to repay debts on Yuri’s day, so as not to be in debt for the rest of your life The weather was determined by looking into the well - if there is silence in it, then the winter will not be cold, and if a sound is heard, then severe frosts will be expected The frost that fell the day before foreshadowed the early shoots of oats in the spring The long snowstorm on Yuri's day promised a good swarm of bees in the apiary The wind from the north meant the arrival of frost in the near future