Many historians believe that the name of this spring month is due to such Latin words as “major”, “mayf”, “maestas” (larger, greater, highest).
According to another version, the ancient Greeks named the last month of spring in honor of the nymph of the mountains Maya (at this time of year the mountains in Greece are covered with delicate greenery). In Greek, Maya means mother, nurse. In the East - the ancestress, the mother of the world. Among the Romans, she is the patroness of women, the goddess of seduction, fertility, and the spring renewal of the earth.
The ancient Slavic names of the month are grass, herbal, pollen, rose flower, maynik.
In Rus', May was called: listopuk, mur, rosenik, proleten. Lis-topuk - from “leaf” and “bunch of grass” -. Moore, because ant grass appears. Rosenik - from the abundant May dew, and fly-shade (le-shadow) - this is the threshold of summer.
May is still the key to the whole year: the early tiller, it’s time to sow, it’s a busy month (there’s a lot of work in the field). It is daylight - a month-holiday, a month of bird songs and making nests. It is also poppy, because scarlet poppies bloom.
People poetically call May the youth of the year and the heart of spring, the zenith of spring and its crown, the apogee of spring and the triumph of green spring, its most cherished time and the spring of green noise.
Nature calendar. Already on May 1st you can hear nightingales. By this time, the rivers are free of ice. Pansies and gooseberries are blooming. May 2 - garden shadberry, red currant, elderberry, yellow acacia, field maple. Poplar and alder buds are bursting.
On May 3, early potatoes are planted, frogs begin to croak, American ash is covered in flowers, the next day - lilac, a day later - nettle, oak, linden and foxtail, winter rye emerges.
On May 6, the average end of frosts begins and the May beetles fly out. The average daily temperature rises above 5 degrees. The cuckoo is calling. The cattle are turned out to pasture every day. Blackcurrant and celandine are blooming. On May 7, apple trees bloom, pear buds unfurl, rowan willows unfurl, and bumblebees fly out. A day later, the swifts appear.
On May 9, the sowing of early spring crops is in full swing, lungwort blooms, and the next day forget-me-nots bloom. A day later, winter rye starts to ear. On May 12, lily of the valley and rowan bloom. The buds of late bird cherry trees are opening. May 14 - mass arrival of swifts.
On May 15, widespread planting of potatoes begins.
On May 16, the willow opens its buds. The nightingale sings all night. On May 19, forest ants awaken. A day later, the buds of the forest rose hips burst, early horseradish blooms, and on May 21, bare elm.
After May 25, willows, garden serviceberries, black currants, dandelions, and coltsfoot bloom. Silver birch, nettle, and American ash are blooming. On May 30th the last mosquitoes fly out. May 31 is the late date of the first spring thunderstorm.
Hunting and fishing. Hunting for fallow deer and bear, lynx and otter, badger and polecat, weasel and bat, heron and bittern, curlew, eagle owl and other species of owls is prohibited.
In the central part of the European territory of the country, the best bite in May is for pike and burbot, tench and eel. Perch, asp, ruffe, bream, roach, ide and pike perch spawn.
Collection of plants. The first and second decades of May are the time to collect morels, and at the end of the month the first boletus and russula appear.
In May, chaga, immortelle, lily of the valley and chamomile flowers, lingonberry leaves, viburnum bark, lily of the valley leaves, and tricolor violet grass are harvested.
Signs. Cold and wet May makes for a good year.
The sun in crimson circles could foretell an imminent thunderstorm. But our ancestors remembered: in bad weather, collect it in a bucket.
May is cold - a grain-growing year.
How many rains there are in May, the harvest will take so long.
The first spring rain wets the head so that the hair grows as quickly as May grass.
If there is a lot of rain in May, then there is little in September.
If the beginning of May is warm, at the end it will be cold: to plow in shirts, to sow in fur coats.
After wet May there is dry June.
Fogs in May promise fertility, thunderstorms - abundance, hail - a hail-blasting summer.
We listened to the young rooks shouting: these oats. They said: if you throw these oats into the mud, you will become a prince. When the winged ants appeared - these are oats.
The rowan tree is blooming - it’s time to sow flax.
The alder is blooming - it’s time to sow buckwheat. This buckwheat when the dew is good.
Barley is sown when the viburnum blooms. Sow barley on fresh manure during the full moon.
Millet is not afraid of the wind, but bows to the frost.

According to the folk calendar. In the village, peasants worked that day. Kozma's name was a gardener. They said: to Kozma - these carrots and beets.
A person born on this day was supposed to be a gardener. They said: Kozma came, looked into the cellars, took a shovel, and dug the ground near the hut.
According to popular belief, Kozma was worried about the peasant. Protect vegetable seeds from snowstorms, and later from dead wood. To ensure a good harvest, the seeds are moistened with river water for three mornings.
And city residents celebrated the holiday on May 1. They held their first spring party outside the city in a grove, where they rode in carriages. Schoolchildren also celebrated.
The tradition of May Day festivities was borrowed from foreigners. On this day, the Romans doused each other and bathed in the Tiber, into which the Vestals threw reed effigies. On the first of May, in the morning, the Romans went out into the fields with music to collect green branches to decorate the doors of relatives and friends.
For the Greeks, the First of May is a cheerful holiday, similar to the Russian Semik. The doors of houses were decorated with flowers and tree branches, and all of Greece greeted the beginning of summer in groves and gardens with folk entertainment.
Since ancient times, the Swedes, Danes, Germans and British have celebrated May Day as a joyful holiday. May fun was accompanied by round dances around the maypole. In Germany, houses, rooms and churches were decorated with young birch trees, especially on Trinity Sunday. On the first of May, the villagers, gathered together, rode horses with green branches in their hands or on their hats: they brought summer on horseback to the village. They sang funny songs.
From the May folk games came the French and English May Field meetings, which were held annually in May by the first French kings. Then there were feasts and shows with various fun. In many places in France, a maypole was placed in front of the mayor's house.
In England and Scandinavia, May kings and queens were elected and wore wreaths of May flowers.
In Moscow, May Day festivities were usually held in Sokolnicheskaya Grove, where Russian sovereigns amused themselves with animal hunting and falconry. In common parlance, this celebration is called German camps, since here was the first camp of Germans who came to Russia and settled in the German settlement under the Finnish name Kukui. The Germans celebrated their holiday on May Day, curious Russians came to see it, and gradually this foreign holiday became Russified.
The holiday was also called German tables, because Peter I treated Swedish and German craftsmen on the first of May, according to the custom of their country. Thus, private German festivities gradually became common in Moscow.
Sokolnicheskaya Grove, where the holidays began, was resounding on May 1 with music and choirs of singers and gypsies. Rows of carriages lined the roads, pedestrians walked, and to the side, under the shade of pine trees, families sat at samovars. Tents and marquees were set up with soft and strong drinks, and booth artists entertained the walkers.

According to the folk calendar. It was believed that during Fyodor's time the dead were homesick for the earth. On this day they visit the cemetery.
The ancestral eels were honored. According to ancient popular belief, the Red Eel is the place where the souls of our ancestors lived. It was believed that on May 3 the earth opened and the souls of those who had passed into God's light flew out. On this day, a rich table was set so that the souls of our ancestors would rejoice in our life.
At Red Eel they brought pies to the mother, freshly taken out of the oven.

According to the church calendar. The holy noble prince of Novgorod Vsevolod (at baptism Gabriel) was the son of the Grand Duke Mstislav the First and the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh.
From his adolescence, Vsevolod was distinguished by his courage and piety. The prince spent most of his life on military campaigns, “valiantly fighting for a just cause.”
The transfer of his relics took place on May 5 (April 22, old style) 1834.
According to the folk calendar. Onions are planted in the beds on Luka.
It was believed that on this day pregnant witches laid a white cloth on the dewy grass and danced in circles. And when the woman did not have a child, she went to a forest clearing, above which warm spring steam rose. She looked out for the witches, undressed and stood up unnoticed in this round dance. And then she tore a flap from the trampled linen, came home, wiped herself with the flap, and soon became pregnant.
The ancient Slavs celebrated the holiday of Rozhanitsa on this day.

Rod and Rozhanitsy

The ancient Slavs had gods who were especially “responsible” for the prosperity and offspring of all living things in nature, as well as for the multiplication of the human race, for marriage and love between people. This is Rod and Rozhanitsy.
Some scientists imagine Rod as a minor family deity, like a brownie. Others, on the contrary, consider Rod one of the most important, supreme gods who took part in the creation of the Universe.
In women in labor, researchers saw numerous, faceless female deities who helped in various women’s concerns and work, as well as in the birth of children. However, modern scientists have come to the conclusion that there were two women in labor: Mother and Daughter.
The Mother in labor was responsible for the period of summer fertility, when the harvest ripens, becomes heavier, and becomes full. This is a respectable mistress of the house, the mother of a large family. The ancient Slavs gave her the name Lada. The Great Lada was the mother of the twelve months into which the year is divided.
Lada's daughter, the youngest woman in labor, was named Lelya. The Slavs believed that it was Lelya who took care of the barely hatched seedlings - the future harvest.
Lelya-Vesna was solemnly “called out” - they invited her to visit, they went out to meet her with gifts and refreshments. And before that, they asked Lada’s Mother for permission: would she let her daughter go?
On the holiday of women in labor (April 22-23, old style), they made sacrifices of vegetable and dairy products, which they solemnly, with prayers, ate at the sacred feast, and then burned bonfires all night long: a huge one, in honor of Lada, and around it twelve smaller ones - according to number of months of the year. According to tradition, it was a women's and girls' holiday. Guys, men looked at him from afar.

Georgiy

The Holy Great Martyr George is revered as the patron saint of agriculture, herds and shepherds.
Yegor always rides a gray horse with a spear in his hands and pierces a green dragon with it (an image that has come into use since ancient times as the coat of arms of the Moscow kingdom). With the same spear, according to Russian legends, he struck a wolf, who ran out to meet him and grabbed his white horse’s leg with his teeth. The wounded wolf spoke in a human voice: “Why are you beating me if I’m hungry?” - “If you want to eat, ask me. Take that horse, it will last you two days.”
The people believed that any cattle killed by a wolf or crushed and carried away by a bear was doomed as a victim of Yegoriy, the chief and ruler of all forest animals. Yegory knew how to speak to animals in human language and made sure that the doomed beast itself walked towards the enemy and stopped defenselessly in front of him, as if in tetanus. Moreover, Yegoriy takes away those animals that would be harmful to humans, because the patron saint of livestock, the guardian of grazing herds, severely punishes the careless. It is no coincidence that the saying appeared: what the wolf has in its teeth, Yegory gave.
In the Black Earth Region there was a story about how Yegoria ordered a snake to bite a shepherd who sold a sheep to a poor widow, and in his defense referred to a wolf. When the culprit repented, Saint George appeared to him, convicted him of lying, but restored him to both life and health.

According to the church calendar. George came from a noble family and occupied a high position in society. He served as an officer in the Roman army, which did not prevent him from openly professing the “true faith.”
When persecution of Christians began under Emperor Diocletian, George voluntarily resigned from military duties and became a preacher. For this, the saint was captured and subjected to the most sophisticated torture. The martyr's head was cut off by order of Diocletian. This happened in Nicomedia around 303.
The saint is revered throughout the Christian world: among Georgians, Greeks, Italians, French, English and Russians. His name serves as a motto, password and oath among the French during judicial duels and battles; his face was depicted on coats of arms and on coins of the Genoese, English and Russian.

According to the church calendar. Saint Mark's mother, Mary, was one of the devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Therefore, her son John, while still a youth, joined the Christian community. In the community he received the name John-Mark.
Saint Mark took part in missionary trips, was a disciple and companion of the Apostle Peter, who called him his son.
From Rome the young man moved to Alexandria and founded a holy church in this city. Here the apostle suffered a martyr's death.
According to the folk calendar. St. Mark is sometimes popularly called the “key keeper,” believing that he holds the keys to the rains.
On this day, people pray especially a lot and ask for strong rain, which is so necessary at this time.
We waited in the villages for the arrival of songbirds. They walked around the rooms with nettles, washed the floors with nettle infusion. We were waiting for rain. Mark unlocked the heights of heaven, summoned moisture, and asked it to descend to earth.
They sow buckwheat on Saint Mark.
Sign. If it is a clear day on Mark, there will be a good spring harvest.

According to the folk calendar. In many places - the beginning of early plowing.
They said: the early tiller is looking to see if the land has thawed well.
It was believed that on May 10, all sorts of creatures shake off their sleep, emerge into the light of day, and are drawn to human habitation, to the barn. According to popular belief, evil spirits take either the form of a bird or that of an animal. And they appear pitiful at a person’s feet. Once you warm up the bird, it will be too late. A warm and well-fed evil spirit will mock a person.

According to the church calendar. The church celebrates the day of St. Cyril, Bishop of Turov.
Saint Cyril is a famous writer of Ancient Rus', an ardent preacher. He was the son of wealthy parents, but in his youth he renounced wealth and took monastic vows. The saint spent his entire life in feats of fasting and prayer.
In 1174, Cyril was elevated to the rank of bishop. He ruled the diocese with dignity until his death. The saint reposed on April 28.
According to the folk calendar. The collection of birch sap begins, which is used to feed the sick.
Signs. The warm wind on Maxim brings health.
A warm and starry night means a harvest, a clear sunrise means a good summer.

On this day they tried to find salvation from nine misfortunes. It was necessary to say a spell word so that the nine misfortunes would not overcome a person. So that they don’t dry out the blood, don’t walk through the veins, don’t cause tumors, don’t break bones, don’t twist joints. So that a person is clean from the earth and bright from the water.

According to the church calendar. Jacob Zebedee, brother of the holy Evangelist John, was one of the twelve apostles of the Savior. He was born in the house of a wealthy fisherman; in the desert I listened to the sermon of John the Baptist; one of the first to be called by the Teacher to follow him.
After the ascension of Christ, the Apostle James continued to bring the word of Christ to people in Jerusalem and other cities, for which he suffered the torments of hell and was killed under King Herod Agrippa.
Sign. On Yakov, a warm evening and a starry night - for the harvest. A warm day with rain foreshadowed abundant grain in the fields.

According to the folk calendar. To obtain a good harvest, a custom was observed in many provinces: on the day of sowing, not a single householder gives a single grain or piece of bread either on loan or for money; Violation of this condition can lead to crop failure.
Signs. If it’s nice for Eremey, then harvesting bread will be nicer.
There is bad weather on Yeremey - you will be wet all winter.
On Eremey, go to sowing after the early dew. This week is after His rya, and another after Eremey.
On Eremey - and the lazy plow goes out into the field.
If the sun rose clear the day before, it will be clear all summer.

According to the church calendar. Archbishop of Alexandria Athanasius was born in 298. In his youth he received a good education, but doomed himself to serving the Lord.
In 319, Athanasius was ordained deacon by Bishop Alexander, and after Alexander's death became his successor. Seventeen years later the bishop was slandered; he was deposed and condemned to exile. Two years later, Athanasius returned from exile, but in the spring of 340 the priest had to leave again. Archbishop Julius of Rome convened a Council, and at the Council of Rome, Father Athanasius was found not guilty. But twice more he was forced to leave the city. The patriarch died in 373. Of the forty-five years of his service as bishop, Saint Athanasius spent twenty in exile.
On the same day, they remember the transfer of the relics of the holy princes - Boris and Gleb, killed by order of Svyatopolk. The first transfer of the relics of the faithful martyrs took place in 1072 by the decision of Prince Izyaslav, the second - in 1115 under Vladimir Monomakh.
The great Boris and Gleb, the first saints canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
According to the folk calendar. Boris and Gleb were called sowers, and the day was a profit-day.
They sow bread. The peasants remembered that on good land it was necessary to sow spring grain earlier, on bad land - later.
Traders try to sell something profitably so that they can trade with profit all year long.
From this time on, the nightingales begin to sing.
Signs. Early spring season, when the water drains, later - when the color of viburnum is in the circle.
Expect the right warmth when the rowan tree blooms.
The nightingale sings all night - it will be a sunny day.

According to the church calendar. On this day, the church celebrates the Dormition of St. Theodosius, abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. He is revered among the people as the founder of Russian monasticism and the founder of the cenobitic rule.
Theodosius was born around 1036 into a well-born family. He spent his youth in Kursk, where his parents moved at the order of the prince.
At the age of seven, the boy began to learn to read and write, and then was assigned to school. At the age of thirteen, he became acquainted with the life of monks and decided to devote himself to serving God. At the age of fourteen, having lost his father, the young man renounced the world.
He took monastic vows in Kyiv. When the young man turned twenty-six years old, he was appointed abbot. At the same time, the monk took up the construction of a new monastery.
The Monk Theodosius died on May 3, 1074 and was buried in the very cave where he once began his feat. ,-,.
According to the folk calendar. Cows give more milk.
“Green cabbage soup” is another name for this day because cabbage soup is no longer cooked from sauerkraut, of which there is little left in stock by that time, but from sorrel, quinoa, squash, and nettle, which “comes hot and is good for cabbage soup.” "
The day was called by the name of Pelageya - the crow's intercessor. Pelageya protects the little crows and teaches them wisdom. He leads them with him to the thicket of the forest, where he allows them to drink animal blood for the first time. The crows are gaining growth and strength.
Signs. The nightingales began to sing - spring will bloom together. The bird cherry blossoms brings cold weather. And righteous Job lost everything he had: children, cattle... But he did not complain: “Naked I came from the womb of my mother, but naked I will return to the womb of Mother Earth. The Lord gave. The Lord took it. Blessed be your name, O Lord, forever and ever!”
And Satan came to God again: “Job glorifies your name, because he did not know all the sorrows in himself.”
“Okay, take Job,” the wisest agreed. “But don’t touch his soul.” Leprosy attacked the sufferer, and they drove him away from the human race with stones. Job repeated one thing: “Blessed be thy name, O Lord!”
And his wealth was again sent to the righteous. And God gave him children, the most beautiful of whom were not on earth - seven sons and three daughters. And Job lived another hundred and forty years and saw his descendants to the fourth generation.
According to the folk calendar. Job was also called the pea-grower, the rose-grower. Rosennik ordered people to walk on the ground with bare feet and not to accumulate dead wood in their feet. Drink healing moisture from the sundew herb, like from a green glass.
On May 19, dew was revered in Rus'. It opens underground waters.
The children were rolling around on the dewy grass. The sun warmed the grass a little, and the sick were carried out. Washed with dew. They collected dew from the grass into bottles. They gave it to the sick to drink on an empty stomach so that hemoptysis and nausea would decrease, vision would become sharper, and wounds would heal.
They said the following charming word: “Dawn to dawn, dawn to dawn, the Mother of the Holy Mother of God rose. And, heartfelt, she extended her hand to the holy water. And for the health of the heart, and for the freedom of the soul - she splashed out holy water. For an easy walk, for sickness you have healed, for our family - for baptism.” They said: Ivan the wheat farmer has come, drive out the mare, plow.

According to the church calendar. All believers solemnly celebrate the day of the transfer of the holy relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker to Bar-grad. In 1807, Italian merchants from the city of Bori transported the relics of the saint to their hometown. The day of the arrival of the relics in Bar-grad is celebrated in Italy with great pomp. Usually pilgrims from different countries take part in the celebration, since St. Nicholas of Myra is revered throughout the Christian world.
According to the folk calendar. Nikola was affectionately called spring, herbal, warm.
From this day on, the average sowing of spring grains begins in the northern regions. They said: until Nikola, be strong, even if you fall apart, but with Nikola, live without worrying. Nikola-Veshny fattens the cattle with grass, he is “with a cart” - that is, with feed. Don’t boast about sowing on Yegoryev’s day, boast about grass on Nikola’s day.
It was necessary to plant potatoes on Nikola-Veshny. And the peasants also believed: ask Nikola, and he will tell Spas. Because Nikola was known as the protector of the peasants.
This day is a holiday for grooms, since St. Nicholas of the Spring is considered the patron saint of horses. “The autumn Nikola will drive the horse into the yard, and the spring Nikola will fatten the horse,” the peasants said.
St. Nicholas Day is considered a men's holiday, since on this day the guys rode at night for the first time and feasted in the meadows, by the light of fires. They brought vodka and snacks, fried eggs, and after sunset the girls appeared. The youth, in complete freedom, led round dances, sang songs and danced until dawn.

The Greeks named the last month of spring after the goddess of the mountains, Maya, because at this time the mountains in Greece are covered with greenery. Among the Romans, Maya is the goddess of fertility, the spring renewal of the earth. The Old Russian name for May is Yarets, named after the Slavic sun god Yarila. In Ukrainian, May is grass: grass grows, trees turn green.

Average monthly temperature is +11.5 °C.

Folk proverbs and signs of May

May warmth is unreliable.

• May will deceive and go into the forest.
• A good start promises a cold second half of the month.

There is often a return of cold weather: at the time of bird cherry flowering there is bird cherry cold. The usual cooling at the end of the month is “seven years times”.

• When the bird cherry blossoms, there is always cold.
• Plow in shirts, sow in fur coats.
• May - give the horse some hay, and climb onto the stove yourself.
• May is cold - a grain-bearing year.
• Dry March and wet May - there will be porridge and loaf.
• May dew is better than oats for horses.

The return of cold weather usually occurs in the first and third five-day periods. Sometimes it snows: May 9, 1909; May 15, 1913, May 21, 1927, 1971

But “the May frost will not squeeze out tears.”

In the second half of the month the weather is dry and hot - up to +25 °C.

The nightingale sang, which means the birch tree has put out a leaf. The nightingale sings when it can drink dew from a birch leaf.

Birch turns green 5-6 days before the temperature rises above 10 °C. You can plant potatoes. In early spring, planting begins a week after the birch leaves unfold - at the time of bird cherry flowering.

The finch roars (trills like a cricket) - it will rain.

The peasant has a lot of work: “I would be glad to get married, but May doesn’t tell me.”

Seasonal calendar

Detailed folk calendar for May

• Yegory came - and spring will not leave.
• Egory begins spring, Ilya (August 2) ends summer.

• On Mark the sky is bright, the women in the hut are hot.
• Songbirds arrive on Mark in flocks.

may 13- Yakov. A warm evening and a starry, quiet night on Yakov - for a windy, dry summer.

• It's nicer on Eremey - the cleaning is good.
• There's bad weather on Eremey - you'll be wet all winter.
• This week is after Yegorye (May 6) and another week after Yeremey.

• Boris's day is nightingale day, nightingales begin to sing.
• The nightingale sang - the water began to decline.

The color of bird cherry brings cold. Green grass gives more milk. The cow has milk on her tongue.

May 18- Arina is a nursery. Cabbage is planted in beds. At the same time they said: “Don’t be tall, don’t be pot-bellied, don’t be empty, don’t be tight, don’t be red, don’t be tasty, don’t be old, don’t be young, don’t be small, don’t be big!”

• Job the dew blossomed.
• Heavy dew means a harvest of cucumbers.

• Nikola would come and it would be warm.
• Egory (May 6) with the body, and Nikola with the cart.
• Plant late potatoes from Nikola spring.
• From Nikola there are 12 frosts (matinees) left, if not in the spring, then on Semin’s day (September 14).

• Mokia is wet - wet all summer.
• If Mokia is foggy and the sun rises crimson, and it rains during the day, it means a wet, dirty summer.

• There's still a lot of pressure on Sidor.
• The Sidors have passed, and the Sivers have passed.
• Summer in Sidor is cold.
• Swifts and killer whales will fly to Sidor and bring warmth.

• Pakhom came - there was a smell of warmth.
• It's warm in Pahoma - warm all summer.

• Fedot will come and unfurl the last oak leaf.
• The oak gets dressed - the cattle eats up.
• The oak tree will put out a leaf in front of the ash tree - for a dry summer.
• If Fedot has the top of an oak tree with a edge, you will measure oats with a tub.

Ascension is the last spring holiday.

Cope with on the 40th day after Easter. The Ascension does not have a fixed date and falls on different dates in different years. From this day on, spring gives way to summer.

Since Ascension Day, spring then washes itself, bows to honest Semik, and looks at the Trinity-Virgin Mary from under a white hand.

May is a real spring holiday. The leaves of birch, rowan, alder, elm, hazel, lilac, jasmine, willow and many others are blooming. The bird cherry blossoms and fades; apple trees, yellow acacia, black currants, gooseberries, rowan and strawberries, lily of the valley, forget-me-not, lilac, celandine, budra, dandelion, primrose - rams, hoofed grass (sometimes even at the end of April) are blooming, in spring puddles - marigold; in damp meadows - marsh violet, swimsuit; strong flowering of sedges; The colza blooms profusely, and pig mushrooms appear.

The first cuckoo call; the nightingale's first song. City swallows and swifts, flycatchers, and warblers arrive. Finches are building nests. Lapwings lay eggs. The crows begin to fly away from the nest.

The moose gave birth to a calf, and two; A fox and a wolf are giving birth. The bear is molting, ferrets, otters, minks have given birth - in general, for most animals this is the breeding season.

A viper, a snake, a legless lizard - a spindle and other lizards - wake up. At the end of May, the gray toad crawls out of its hole and lays eggs in long cords.

Used materials:

• V. D. Groshev. Calendar of the Russian farmer (Folk signs).

Folk calendar of May - agrarian folk holidays, rituals, customs, signs. They marked all labor cycles - plowing, sowing, reaping, harvesting, haymaking, threshing, hunting, Putin, etc. The folk calendar of signs of May reflected both the specifics of the lifestyle of the Orthodox Russian peasant and the natural conditions where he lived. This is how folk holidays and signs appeared, generation after generation, which made up the folk calendar. The folk calendar for May may well serve as a kind of encyclopedia of peasant life with its folk holidays and everyday life.

Russian folk calendar of May: Folk signs in May, proverbs and sayings of May.

In the Russian folk calendar, May was considered the third flying month. Slavic and Ukrainian the name is grass, there are other folk names. This is the last month of spring. Month of flowers and love. The greenest month of the year. Many years of peasant observations and signs showed that a stormy May always ensured a bountiful harvest of grain. This month was also difficult for those who worked in the fields and gardens: they had to work tirelessly on planting. Therefore, for each May day there were special signs and customs. May is popularly considered unlucky. This is also a bad month for weddings.

May (grass). A celebration of the awakening of nature. If it rains in May, there will be rye. The May rain of bread raises. May is decorating the forests, summer is waiting for you to visit. Dry March and wet May - there will be porridge and loaf. To be born and get married in May means to suffer for a century.

We really hope that these folk holidays and signs of May will be useful and educational - after all, this is the life of our ancestors. These are the folk signs in May that our grandfathers and great-grandfathers lived by.

Signs of May

Signs, proverbs and sayings of May

“Birch trees are worth a penny, but you can ruin a forest for a ruble.”
“Sometimes it’s May - there’s paradise under a bush, but sometimes it’s like May - give the horse some hay and climb onto the stove.”
“In May, everything will be spruced up - here with a leaf, here with a flower, and here with a blade of grass.”
“Even the wind sings in May.”
“There are two cold periods in May: when the bird cherry blossoms and when the oak blossoms.”
“To get married in May is to suffer forever.”
“Don’t give fools free reign in the field.”
“Spring rain is never too much.”
“If you lie down in the spring, you’ll run away with your bag in winter.”
“The grandson came for his grandfather.”
“Time is precious - a man has no peace.”
“The sky will give rain, and the earth will give rye.”
“Rain in May is never too bad.”
“Rain in May raises bread.”
“Rain in May raises bread.”
“Drive the mare and plow under the wheat.”
“You wished for good in May!”
“You wanted a man at a crossroads in May! (Road food)."
“If it rains in May, there will be rye.”
“May - give the horse hay, climb onto the stove yourself.”
“May - paradise under every bush.”
“May is sowing time.”
“May warms the earth and blows the sea.”
“May dresses up while lying down, summer awaits you (invites).”
“May the horse fatten up.”
“May doesn’t fall on May.”
“May brought spring to the threshold.”
“May will deceive - he will go into the forest.”
“May will deceive and go into the forest.”
“May has blossomed and is expelling the green grass from under the bush.”
"May smite."
“May creates grain, and June creates hay.”
“May is cold - a grain-bearing year.”
“May is cold - you won’t be hungry.”
“May dew is better than oats for horses.”
“May grass will feed the hungry.”

“The May frost will not squeeze out tears.”
“The little bird is a nightingale, but May knows.”
“A small rain pollutes the earth, a big one cleanses it.”
“On the first dew of May, throw a handful of spring grass on the strip.”
“Our sexton hoped for May, and ended up without cows.”
“Don’t deprive the cow of food, there will be milk yield.”
“The May warmth is unreliable.”
“Oh, oh, the month of May: it’s both warm and cold (not cold, just hungry).”
“Plow small, this one rarely: the rare one does not go to the common one.”
“May has come - just have time, and don’t yawn.”
“May has come, but it will be warm.”
“I would be glad to get married, but May doesn’t tell me.”
“Rye says: sow me into ashes, but in time, and oats, sow me in mud, and I will be a prince, even in water, but in time.”
“The little fish is the sturgeon’s sister.”
“Snow on the ground is the same on the ground (manure).”
“The snow makes the fields thick.”
“Advice to a fool is like a mirror to the blind.”
“The nightingale is small, but May knows.”
“The nightingale is a small bird, and it even knows when the month of May is.”
“A warm May is waiting for summer any day now.”
“The one who has rye is the best one.”
“Spring has three duties, three covenants: to overcome the darkness of winter - March copes with this, to drive away the snow, to awaken and warm the earth - April does only this for thirty days; the third duty - to dress the warm earth in greenery - goes to May, who dresses up the forest and invites summer to visit.”
“To sow bread by bread - do not thresh, do not winnow!”
“An eccentric fisherman: he catches fish, but doesn’t eat.”
“This bread - do not sleep; if you reap, you will not doze.”
“Where the oratai cries (heavily!), there the harvester jumps (with joy that the bread was a success!).”
“If there is a lot of rain in May, then there is little in September (and vice versa).”
“If chickens leave the roost early in the spring, it will be a bad summer, but if it’s late, then it will be a good one.”
“If the beginning of May is warm, it will be cold at the end (and vice versa).”
“After a damp May there is a dry June.”
“The nightingale will sing the next day after Eremey - you will have a loaf of bread.”
“The grains will fail, but the herbs will not fail.”
“If it’s warm at the beginning of May, expect cold weather in the second half.”
“If it’s foggy, a crimson sunrise, and rain during the day, it means a wet, menacing summer.”
“The cuckoo crows as far as Yegorye - the cattle will die.”
“The cuckoo is cuckooing - this flax.”
“A lot of bald spots on winter crops - for the mushroom year.”
“The cuckoo has flown to the clothed forest - good summer.”
"The first thunder from the west - for the harvest."
“After the key keeper and the rains are warm.”
“The nightingales sing in front of Mavra - spring will bloom together.”
“Early spring season, when the water drains, and later - when the color of the viburnum is in the circle.”
“The sun rises - the summer is dry and windy; cloudy sunrise - for rainy haymaking.”
“The nightingale sang - the end of the water field.”
“The nightingale sings incessantly at night - to the bucket.”
“Warm evening, starry night - for the harvest.”
“Fogs in May promise fertility, thunderstorms - abundance, hail - a hail-blasting summer.”
“The elm has many buds - it will produce barley.”
“Horsetail is rushing towards low growth.”

Folk ritual

Traditional

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On the website you can find wishes, congratulations, toasts in verse, SMS congratulations on your birthday, anniversary, Happy New Year, March 8 and many other holidays. Brief information about religious, public holidays and memorable dates that interest you. You can find out when your name day will be and what to name your unborn child. What will the horoscope be for tomorrow and next year. Everything is sorted into categories for your convenience.

Folk ritual

Traditional The festive and ritual culture of the Russian people represents its centuries-old concentrated experience, a set of traditions, rituals, customs and superstitions. All these are ideological, moral and aesthetic values ​​that determine the face of the nation, its identity, uniqueness, its social and spiritual peculiarity.
The roots of most folk holidays go back to pagan times. Many of the ancient rites and rituals have survived to this day: the church skillfully adapted some of these rituals to its holidays, and some folk holidays have become part or continuation of church holidays.
The unification of these two traditions occurred so naturally that for centuries the life of the overwhelming majority of the Russian people and other peoples living next to them developed according to a cycle that had been established for generations. The same is observed in the annual repetition of the seasons and the seasonal agricultural work associated with them.

National holidays in the Russian village of the past constituted an important aspect of social and family life. The peasants even said: “We work all year for the holiday.” The holiday was perceived by the religious consciousness of people as something sacred, opposite to everyday life - everyday life. If weekdays were interpreted as a time during which a person must engage in worldly affairs, earning his daily bread, then the holiday was understood as a time of merging with the divine and becoming familiar with the sacred values ​​of the community, its sacred history.

First of all, the holiday was considered obligatory for all members of the village community who had reached adulthood. Children, old people, cripples, old maids, and the sick were not allowed to attend the holiday, since some had not yet reached the age of understanding sacred values, while others were already on the verge between the world of the living and the world of the dead, others had not fulfilled their destiny on earth - they had not entered into marriage.

The holiday also implied complete freedom from all work. On this day it was forbidden to plow, mow, reap, sew, clean the hut, chop wood, spin, weave, that is, perform all everyday peasant work. The holiday obliged people to dress smartly, to choose pleasant, joyful topics for conversation, and to behave differently: to be cheerful, friendly, hospitable.

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On the website you can find wishes, congratulations, toasts in verse, SMS congratulations on your birthday, anniversary, Happy New Year, March 8 and many other holidays. Brief information about religious, public holidays and memorable dates that interest you. You can find out when your name day will be and what to name your unborn child. What will the horoscope be for tomorrow and next year. Everything is sorted into categories for your convenience.

Kuzma came and looked into the cellars. On the first day of May, Christians commemorate Bishop Cosmas of Chalcedon, known for his opposition to the iconoclasts. This sect fought against the veneration of icons, considering them idols, and their worship as idolatry. The heretics forced Cosmas to renounce the holy icons, but achieved nothing either by persuasion or by beating the bishop.

And among the Russian peasantry, Saint Cosmas (in the Slavic tradition Kuzma) was revered as the patron saint of vegetable gardening. By the beginning of May, vegetable seeds were being prepared for sowing in every house. There were special rituals for this. Water for soaking seeds was taken from wells in the morning, and in return copper money was thrown into the water for good luck and a bountiful harvest of vegetables. In some areas, water for seeds was taken from springs for three days in a row at dawn. All this had to be done secretly, without prying eyes, so that the rituals would not lose their power. On Kuzmin's Day, the men dug the beds, and the housewives sowed carrots, beets, onions, radishes, dill and parsley.

May 1 was also called cuckoo day, because then this bird gave its voice for the first time. Our ancestors associated various signs and beliefs with the inconspicuous bird. The most famous of them has survived to this day: if you ask a cuckoo about its lifespan, it will crow as many times as the number of years the questioner has left to live. The peasants believed that on Cuckoo Day it was time to sow flax, and if a forest bird was rushing around the village, they should be wary of a fire.

If it rained on May 1, you were supposed to wet your hair with rainwater so that it would grow as vigorously as spring grass. And by the signs of Kuzmin's day they judged the weather for the future. A sunny, warm day promised that the whole of May would be the same, and at the beginning of June it would get colder. If the day turned out to be cold and rainy, he promised a warm summer and good growth of grain in the peasant fields.

Holiday May 6 - Yegoryev Day or Yegoriy Veshny

May 6 marks the day of remembrance of the Great Martyr George the Victorious. He was a major military leader, close to the emperor, but chose to accept martyrdom for the Christian faith. In Russia, he is a particularly revered saint, the guardian of warriors and the entire Russian land, revered under the name Yegor.

In Russian folk tradition, Yegor Veshny was considered the patron saint of all livestock that was found in the village economy. Therefore, it was on Yegoryev’s day that the cattle were taken out to pasture for the first time to feast on the juicy spring grass. In order for animals to graze calmly in the meadow until autumn, gaining weight, it was necessary to observe a number of ancient rituals. First, each housewife had to make sure that her cow did not fall ill. To check the health of the cattle, it was supposed to give it “juiced milk” - a crushed mixture of hemp and flax diluted with water. The animal that obediently ate the oatmeal offered was considered sick and was not released into the general herd. Healthy cows were herded together and driven to pasture with willow branches stored from Palm Sunday. The herd was usually taken out to pasture at dawn, following the morning dew.

The dew on Yegoryev's day was believed to have amazing healing properties, and animals that walked on it never got sick. As people responsible for the satiety, health and safety of animals, the entire peasant community traditionally gave special honor to shepherds on this day. On Yegoryev's day, even before the cattle were driven into the field, the shepherds were doused with ice water from the well so that they “wouldn’t doze off all summer” and keep a vigilant eye on their charges. During the day, each owner carried a loaf specially baked from the best wheat flour, called a prayer book, to the place where the flock grazed. The shepherd received a piece of bread first, and the rest was fed in the evening to the animals returning from the field. The prayer book was supposed to provide the Lord's protection for the shepherd and his flock.

On the evening of Yegoryev's Day, real holidays were organized for each “cow guide” in the villages with feasts, round dances and the singing of ritual songs about the preservation of the community herd. Yegoryevskaya dew had healing powers not only for animals, but also for people. On Yegoriy Veshny, our ancestors walked around the fields with the rite of church blessing of water. After the ceremony, those who wished could “bathe” in the morning dew that abundantly covered the fields - this procedure was indispensable “from both the evil eye and ailments.” Most of the signs of this day spoke of the future harvest. The cool day promised that millet, oats and buckwheat would produce well. If there were frosts on Yegoria at night, they could be repeated up to 40 times.

Holiday May 13 - Day of Jacob the Warm

On May 13, Christians honor the son of a fisherman, Saint James, one of the 12 apostles, who was beheaded for preaching about the Christian faith. In the time of our ancestors, a sad day came on Yakov Teply for girls who could not wait to find their betrothed as soon as possible. On this May day, in all peasant communities, all matchmaking traditionally ceased, and the folk proverb “Getting married in May means toiling all your life” came into force. Moreover, a simple conversation about the prospects of marriage looked completely indecent from that day on. This tradition, which seems strange to modern eyes, has a very simple explanation. Wedding feasts and festivities in Rus' have always been distinguished by their extraordinary scope due to an ancient belief: the more magnificent and rich the holiday, the happier the young family will become in the future. It turned out to be impossible to implement the old rule in May for two reasons. Firstly, one day in May could actually feed a whole year, and therefore there was absolutely no time to be distracted from work by partying. Secondly, by this time the supplies were mostly eaten up, which means that there could be no talk of any kind of abundant feast. So it turned out that celebrating a wedding in May meant neglecting the belief and prophesying a meager, hard life for the young people.

The warmer the days became, the more easily various fevers spread through the villages. The peasants believed that it was from Jacob that they began to roam the earth with impunity, pestering physically weak people. And in order for the disease to pass over a person, it was supposed to be doused with March melt water stored in advance on this day. The ritual of dousing was especially strictly performed by those who were planning to set off soon - the water protected them not only from illnesses, but also from any misfortune that could befall people along the way. Another nickname for St. Jacob, the Asterisk, speaks of a sign according to which the starry quiet night on Jacob promised a warm summer and a rich harvest.

Holiday May 21 - Ivan the Theologian

On May 21, the time comes to honor the memory of another of the apostles - brother James John the Theologian. John is the author of one of the Gospels, which he wrote at the request of Christians who wanted to learn more about the early deeds of Christ. In Rus', the Theologian was nicknamed the Wheat Man, since wheat was usually sown on the day of his memory. In order for her to become prosperous, the custom demanded that she bake a ritual cake from the best wheat flour and go with it to the crossroads and treat the wanderers passing by. The hostess bowed and offered offerings to passers-by, who thanked them and wished them a good harvest. If no travelers were encountered on the road, the votive cake was supposed to be taken to the field and crumbled there for the birds; eating it themselves was strictly prohibited.

On Midsummer's Day it was supposed to appease the spirits of the plowed field, and in this case the division between men's and women's duties was strictly observed. For example, there is a funny custom associated with sowing wheat. Only men were supposed to sow it, and stripped naked. And they carried the grain for sowing to the field in bags made from old trousers. Our ancestors believed that in this way they entered into a marriage alliance with the mother land and in due time she would give birth to abundant grain. Women did not have the right to be present during the ritual - they could “scare” the Earth, and it would not be able to give people bread. Around the 19th century, this ritual disappeared from everyday life, but for a long time the old people in the villages complained that as long as it was observed, the earth gave birth to much richer things.

The weather on this day, as on many other days in May, determined what the harvest would be like. If many birds flocked to the fields, all the wheat grown had to go to taxes. And if a lone lark sang high in the sky, it was expected that the harvest would be unusually generous. The Russians also called St. John the Long, because the first rites on this day began before dawn, and they had to work until the last ray of the sun disappeared behind the horizon.