First day of winter

December is one of the most favorite months of the year for children and adults Along with snow, blizzards and blizzards, it brings to every home the expectation of magic from the upcoming New Year holidays With the arrival of winter, the frost begins to draw fancy patterns on the windows, the cold wind howls in the chimneys, and the snow decorates the roofs of houses and the crowns of trees with lush caps In honor of the beginning of the new season of the year, a holiday was invented December 1 marks the First Day of Winter Now it is associated with the smell of tangerines, ginger tea and Christmas tree needles The Slavs were not particularly happy about “jelly,” as December was called in ancient Russian The month promised the arrival of cold and frost on the earth People born on December 1 were patronized by the gloomy and grumpy god Karachun He was considered the lord of frost and dark forces Karachun's servants were blizzard wolves, snowbirds and connecting rod bears Despite his formidable hypostasis, God was responsible for a bright natural holiday - the winter solstice, which falls on December 21-22 After the onset of an astronomical event, the nights became shorter and the days longer The “turn” of the sun from winter to summer symbolized the harmonious movement of the wheel of life Folk signs are associated with the first day of December The Slavs predicted the weather based on natural phenomena, the behavior of birds and animals So, the snowstorm on December 1 promised a blizzard for Maslenitsa If on this day you saw crows walking or a mosquito flying around the hut, you prepared for a thaw; rooks appearing in a flock of jackdaws - for a warm winter In the Orthodox calendar, December 1st marks the day of remembrance of Saints Plato, Deacon Roman and the Youth Varul After the baptism of Rus', folk signs on this day began to correlate with the images of the great martyrs So, about December 1, our ancestors said: “Like Plato and Roman, so is winter” On this day, they asked Orthodox saints for increased prosperity and engaged in wood carving It was believed that on Plato and Roman you should not eat from ceramic, glass and porcelain dishes, otherwise you could be left without money and friends Therefore, on December 1, utensils were made from linden, a sacred tree to which healing and miraculous properties have long been attributed The beginning of winter is an excellent occasion to remember folk signs and beliefs So, to improve your financial condition, you can turn, holding a coin in your hand, to the saints with the words: “Plato and Roman, fill my pocket full of money” On December 1, making amazing discoveries, observing nature and representatives of the animal world, making snowmen and sledding down the hills, rushing at full speed towards the fabulously beautiful winter-winter