Shepherds met the stars that day so that the sheep would lamb well.
Onesimus the Shepherd is one of the days in the Slavic calendar dedicated to the memory of St. Onesimus. He was one of the apostles of Jesus Christ who preached his teachings in the first century. In 54-68, he was a bishop in Byzantium. The Orthodox Church honors the apostle on February 28.
Kiev. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – February 28, 2021 – Culture
The holiday in memory of Onesimus the Shepherd belongs to the folk-Christian holidays, ie it combines the Christian worldview and folklore traditions.
History of the holiday:
Saint Onesimus is mentioned in the New Testament. He was a slave to a nobleman named Philemon. He lived in Kolos – a city located in modern Turkey. The man fled from his master, probably guilty before him, to Rome. There, the fugitive was imprisoned. Here Onesimus was fortunate enough to meet the Apostle Paul. This meeting changed his whole life: Paul enlightened a new acquaintance and baptized him. While in prison, Onesimus served his teacher. The apostle Paul sent him back to his master Philemon, who persuaded him to accept his former service as a brother.
In the late 19th century, the English writer Edwin Abbott wrote a religious novel in honor of the saint and called it “Onesimus”.
Traditions and rites:
A logical question arises: for what reason was the name (or nickname) Ovchar added to the name of Onesimus?
In Russia, Onesimus was revered as the patron saint of sheep. On the day of his veneration, shepherds performed a special ritual so that the sheep would not get sick and give good offspring. They “called” the stars. It went like this: in the evening the shepherd left the house and bowed three times to all four corners of the world. After that, standing on the fleece (removed wool sheepskin), uttered a special conspiracy. This is a kind of appeal to the stars to shine brighter and brighten the sheep so that more new sheep are born than there are stars in the sky. It is no coincidence that in the conspiracy the peasants turned to the stars.
When Christianity was introduced in Russia, the holiday was renamed in honor of the Apostle Onesimus, who, of course, had nothing to do with this ritual. As a logical result, the people called this day the holiday of Onesimus the Shepherd.
In order for the seeds for planting to have excellent germination, the peasants performed the following ritual: the seeds of different crops were taken out in the cold for three days at dawn, and then harvested before sowing a new crop.
Signs:
As on many other holidays, there were a number of signs that were associated with this holiday:
On this day, winter and spring meet. They are fighting over who will win whom. The weather determined whether winter would continue or spring would be early.
If the water rose in the rivers, the hay promised to be good this year.
If on this day the peasants went home from a long journey, they always took with them some land from their home and believed that their father’s house and their own, native, land would protect them along the way.
Read also: Trifon’s Day, History, Traditions, and Signs of the Holiday!
Source: Ukrgate