According to the folk calendar - Ivan the Dolgy

According to the folk calendar, Ivan the Long is celebrated on May 21 (May 8, old style) On this date, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of St John the Theologian, an apostle of the 12, a disciple of Jesus Christ It was in honor of him that the national holiday got its name John studied with Christ together with his brother James, followed the Savior, and witnessed his miracles and martyrdom Afterwards, John took care of Saint Mary and carried the word of God to the people, spreading the faith During the period of persecution of Christians, the apostle was tortured, but they could not kill the saint and were exiled to distant islands When John returned, he wrote several books of the New Testament and lived to a ripe old age The people called John (Ivan) the Long One, because on a given day the peasants had to work from dawn until late at night Everyone was in a hurry to cultivate the fields and sow grain so that it could use all the spring moisture Late-sown grains took longer to germinate, and accordingly the yield level fell On Ivan the Long, residents sowed wheat Although they tried to sow the seeds early, they were in no hurry to sow wheat until the bird cherry blossoms and the first oak leaves This was associated with the warming of the soil, and before it the cold weather could destroy the wheat seedlings Wheat was not as popular among the people as rye Wealthy peasants could afford wheat flour More often it was grown and sold, and the money received was used for purchases at the fair or to pay taxes Therefore, when sowing wheat, the peasants prayed over the field and hoped for a rich harvest In wealthy families, it was a common tradition to bake wheat bread or pies for Ivan the Long A share of the grain was taken to the field as a tribute to the land so that it would produce a good harvest The old people should have taken the other part outside and asked the Lord to send a good traveler to give him the bread It was considered lucky to give bread to a traveler or a beggar; then a rich harvest was foreshadowed It was forbidden to take the remaining bread home and eat it yourself, otherwise a crop failure could occur Then it was fed to the birds A rainy day on Ivan the Long foreshadowed a lot of mushrooms in the summer, a sunny day - on the contrary, few If the bird cherry blossomed in full color, then summer was expected with frequent precipitation A month of light haze was observed before the weather worsened A red sky before sunset promised fine days, but a red sky at dawn predicted precipitation throughout the day