October 31 – Onion Day instead of Halloween

In the folk calendar, October 31 is Bow Day. Initially, it received such a name in honor of the apostle and evangelist Luke, but later it also became a day when special reverence was shown to one of the main vegetables that protect and save from ailments – onions.

In many countries of the world, Halloween is celebrated on this day, one of the symbols of which is a pumpkin. This vegetable is certainly useful, although in the form of a “Jack lamp” it looks painfully ominous. In Russia, October 31 is Onion Day, on which onion markets were organized and dishes with onions were always prepared. They believed that on this day, the onion has special healing properties, and if you eat it today, you will get rid of the twigs and you will not get sick all year.

Evil spirits were also wary of on this day, so on Lukov Day it was customary to weave wreaths of onions and hang them in the house to protect against evil forces. And it was also believed that if on October 31 at least one thing was put on inside out, evil spirits would not cling.

There were other beliefs associated with protection from raging evil spirits: you had to go to bed before midnight – otherwise the evil spirits would frighten and deprive you of strength all night; linen at night should be removed from the yard – so that evil spirits do not settle in it; they left the house only with a talisman protecting from spirits, witches and sorcerers; windows and doors were not opened for a long time – so that evil spirits would not enter the house; and alien black cats were driven out of the yard – in order not to let evil spirits into their house under their guise. But spiders on this day should be protected, especially in your home. They believed that if you see a spider on Lukov Day, it means that your deceased ancestors are looking after you.

Even on this day, you can’t share salt with your neighbors – you can give away family happiness with it, you can’t overeat and get carried away with delicacies – otherwise you will have to starve later, you can’t saw and cut down trees – this portends a long and full of difficulties path, you can’t borrow – give it away it will not work out soon, you should not make new acquaintances – they threaten with troubles and misfortunes.

In general, they tried to spend Lukov Day with loved ones, because they believed that this would help strengthen relations and resolve differences, if any.

Natural signs on October 31 are as follows:

– bright moon – the day will be sunny and serene;

– a pale moon in a foggy haze – to the rain;

– the cat sharpens its claws – to windy weather;

– an owl screams near the house – it calls trouble;

– It snowed in the morning – winter will come late.

Dreams that occurred on the night of October 31 are rarely prophetic. But if you see in a dream relatives who have already passed away, this may mean that soon you will be able to resolve some difficult issue.

Alena Bodrienko.

A photo Matthias Bockel from the website pixabay