July 12 is popular among the people as the "crown" of summer, when nature, still marked by hot summer days, turns toward autumn.
Why is this day connected with the names of Peter and Paul?
In the people he received the name of Peter's Day, and on that day the apostles Peter and Paul are honored, the first of whom was a disciple of Christ. The second, being a pagan, came to understand Christianity after the ascension of Christ, and believed in God, when after repentance he was returned sight, which he was deprived of for worshiping pagan idols.
July 12 is celebrated by believers as an Orthodox holiday, and the signs of this day indicate the weather and natural changes of the coming autumn.
With what natural signs is Peter's Day related?
It was celebrated as the day of the end of Petrov's fasting and the holiday of the Sun. In fact, he opened pre-dawn fairs - "Petrovsky festivals." After this day, cleaning began, since it was the apostle Peter who was considered the patron of the fields among the people. And, of course, the future weather was determined by people's signs on July 12:
- usually before this day stopped cucking the cuckoo, but if the bird continued to "count the years", it was believed that the summer would still be quite long, and the winter would be late, and the snow would not soon fall;
- A nightingale was the same harbinger of a short winter, too, if the nightingale continued to scatter its trills after Petrov's day;
- the rain that twice spilled on the ground that day, promised a rich harvest;
- If leaves began to fall from that day, this testified to the early onset of autumn.
Signs on the day of July 12 were not only agricultural, but also domestic.
Household signs on July 12
This day was non-working: the peasants believed that it was on Petrov that the spike was poured with special force, and if the field was disturbed by cleaning, it would be weak and the grain small. But mowing the hay was not only possible, but it is also necessary. But even without agricultural work, there was something to do:
- fishermen spent that day praying and begging Peter and Paul for help in their fishing; and if they went fishing, they should not have told anyone about this - then a rich catch was secured;
- the young people went to meet the sun even more darkly: surprisingly, on this day it also "played", as on Easter , which foreshadowed good weather in the autumn;
- On July 12, on the day of Peter and Paul, people's promises promised to betrothed couples who met the "playing" sun, a close gay wedding;
- young people on this day waited for the sunrise also because with loud songs they, along with the sun, drove away from the village mermaids, which caused significant damage to the harvest;
- This day the summer series of weddings was ending, and the wedding feast on the feast of Peter and Paul guaranteed the young a long and happy family life.
The bizarre combination of the Christian holiday dedicated to the disciples of Christ and the pagan Yarilin day left its imprint on its content: on July 12, Peter and Paul noticed not only the signs, but also allowed themselves to be deceived.
What were they guessing about Petrov's day?
The divinations of this day were very similar to those that were conducted on the Trinity, in particular, fortune-telling on a birch tree. Girls
We also wondered at the groom, collecting twelve flowers from twelve fields. They were put under the pillow for the night, and in the morning one of them was pulled out at random and looked: from what field it was ripped off, on that side and the groom to wait.
Ending the holiday, it was necessary to go to the stream, drink key water and wash it. It was believed that the water from the sources on this day is filled with special benefits and is able to have a beneficial effect on the state of the whole organism.