October 22 – you need to cook porridge and chop firewood

In the folk calendar, October 22 is Yakov Studeny or Yakov Drovopilec. Since that time, steadily cold nights have been established in Russia and firewood has been actively harvested for the winter.

Firewood began to be harvested precisely at this time, since it was believed that by this time all the juices had left the tree trunks cut down earlier, so the firewood would be dry and would not smoke, but give warmth.

October 22 was also called the Day of the First Porridge. Porridge cooked from cereals of a new crop was necessarily seasoned with vegetable oil or lard. They ate it as an independent dish and baked pies stuffed with porridge. Our ancestors believed that by tasting such a pie, one could ensure one’s health and well-being for the whole year. Therefore, pies with porridge were treated on this day to all those who wished well. And those who came to visit that day could not refuse any treat – it was believed that otherwise problems in communication could not be avoided in the future. By the way, it was also a bad omen to come to visit empty-handed that day – it was believed that in this case, a person would face losses and, possibly, even poverty.

As early as October 22, it was impossible to sew or put on patches – according to signs, those who take a needle in their hands on this day will have to darn something all year long.

They tried not to start any new long-term business, both financial and domestic, on this day: it was believed that then they would end in failure. And even a date that went or was scheduled on October 22 could turn into a fiasco.

Natural signs on October 22 are as follows:

– if the leaves from the cherry have not yet fallen – to warming;

– if the roads are icy, it will rain;

– if the first snow fell – there are still 40 days until this winter;

– if snow fell on wet ground – next year’s harvest will be poor;

If it rains in the morning, it may snow in the evening.

Dreams that occurred on the night of October 22 cannot be told to others, otherwise the good that they prophesied will not come true, but the bad is quite likely.

Alena Bodrienko.

Photo by Alexander Avilov / Moskva Agency