Day of Gerasim – the nomad (17/03)

This holiday in Rus' coincided with the time of arrival of rooks, which is why it received the popular name — Day of Gerasim the Rook. People said: «Rook on mountain — and spring is just around the corner», «Saw rook — meet spring». Based on the behavior of rooks on this day, they judged the nature of spring: «If rooks fly directly to old nests, — spring will be friendly, hollow water will run away all at once».

If rooks arrived earlier than March 17, then this was considered a bad omen: they predicted a lean and hungry year. To speed up the onset of heat, on the day of Gerasim they baked birds from rye sour dough — « rooks».

You can read the Lenten Dough Bird Recipe here.

There was another belief about this day: «Gerasim the rook’s rook would return to Rus', and kikimora would be kicked out of Holy Rus'».

Kikimora — is one of the varieties of brownie from ancient Russian belief. She was presented as a dwarf or a small woman. If she was depicted as a woman, then her head was small, with a thimble, and her body was thin, like a straw. Her appearance was ugly, her clothes — were sloppy and unkempt. If they were depicted as a dwarf, then they must have eyes of different colors: one for the evil eye, the other for leprosy. Less often, kikimora was represented as a girl with a long braid, naked or in a shirt.

In the old days, it was believed that if kikimora appeared before your eyes, then you should expect trouble in the house. She was a harbinger of the death of one of the family members.

Kikimor was disliked and tried to get rid of them by any means, which was extremely difficult. Just on Gerasim Day it was believed that they became quiet and harmless, and then they could be kicked out of the house. On other days, people defended themselves from kikimora with prayers and amulets.

The best amulet against kikimora so that it does not take root in the house was the «chicken god» — stone with a natural hole created by nature. A neck from a broken jug with a patch of red cloth was also used, which was hung over a chicken perch so that the kikimora would not torment the birds.

He is afraid of juniper kikimor, the branches of which were hung throughout the house, especially carefully protecting salt shakers so that at night it would not spill salt, which in the old days was very expensive. And if the kikimora annoyed with the roar of dishes, then it was necessary to wash it with water infused with ferns.

It was imperative to find a doll or a foreign object in the house, with the help of which they sent kikimora to the family. This item should have been carefully taken out of the house and thrown away, or best of all burned. There is still a sign that if a person wants to harm another, he leaves a conspicuous object in his house, and in order to remove damage, it is necessary to get rid of this object.

According to popular belief, if you sweep the floors of a house with a broom made of wormwood, then evil spirits will not be created, including kikimora. Belief — is based on the attitude towards wormwood as one of the amulets. It was popularly believed that the pungent smell of this grass repels evil spirits and evil people.

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