According to the folk calendar - Alexey Teply

On March 30 (according to the old calendar style - March 17), people celebrate the day of Alexei Teply. The name of the national holiday was borrowed from the church calendar - the day of honoring the memory of St. Alexis, a man of God who lived in the 4th-5th centuries. Alexy was raised by righteous Christians, so he spent his youth in prayer and fasting. When his parents forcibly married him, he secretly left the family and went to Edessa, and distributed his property to the poor. For 17 years in a row, Alexy lived on alms at the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos and constantly prayed to the Lord. In this temple they foresaw a man of God in him, then Alexy returned to his father’s house and lived there unrecognized for another 17 years. Before his death, he confessed to his family and talked about his life. On Alexei Teply, the remaining snow was melting, from which streams of water were actively flowing into the rivers. Melt water on this day had healing properties. It was collected in buckets and carried home to wash the face and body. They believed that such a ritual would improve vision and hearing. Sleigh rides also stopped, as the sleigh roads deteriorated: the snow melted off them, and the ground opened up. Alexei Teply paid special attention to the birch tree - a symbol of purity and new life. By making a small cut in the trunk, residents collected sap from mature birch trees. One tree gave about 2-3 liters of juice. At home they boiled it with honey and sugar, then drank it. It was believed that the birch drink would give strength and strengthen the immune system after a cold season. They also collected buds from birch trees and prepared medicinal tinctures. If the temperature rose to 10-12 degrees Celsius, beekeepers on Alexei’s day were busy in the morning moving the hives from the winter hut to the street. They were inspected, patched if necessary, and then the bees were released. Women prepared potatoes for sprouting. It was placed in boxes in the light and sprinkled with water. This method produced an earlier and more abundant harvest at harvest. In warm regions, they planted oats and barley. There was a tradition on Alexei Teply to hold fights between ganders. In the evening, tables were set and goose dishes were displayed. Since the ice was melting from the reservoirs, the day was favorable for fishing. Signs about Alexei Teply pointed to the future. The more streams from the snow and rising water in the rivers were noticed, the richer the harvest in the fields was predicted. If you didn’t see starlings in the trees, you were preparing for cold weather. The flowering of the hazel tree signaled the final arrival of spring.