Makrinin Day Weather Signs, Customs, and August 1st Prohibitions
In various cultures, August 1st holds a special significance, marked by agricultural rites, household customs, and weather-related omens.
In Slavic folk traditions, the day is known as Makrinin's Day, a day filled with prohibitions aimed at ensuring health, prosperity, and spiritual protection. On this day, activities like fermenting cabbage, pickling cucumbers, or preparing kvass are forbidden. Selling horses or dogs is discouraged, and alcohol consumption is strongly avoided. Eating apples is considered to invite great misfortune, while maintaining cleanliness of body, clothing, and home is essential. Conflicts with close family members should be avoided, and fishing is prohibited due to folk beliefs.
In Celtic pagan traditions, August 1st marks Lammas or Lughnasadh, the first harvest festival in the Wheel of the Year. This festival honours the Celtic god Lugh and the grain spirit, emphasising gratitude for the harvest. Communities bake bread as an offering and create corn dollies from the last sheaves to symbolise and preserve the spirit of the grain. This festival involves ceremonial games, sacrifices of first fruits, and reflection on growth and letting go, representing the transition from summer toward autumn.
August 1st is also recognized as Macrina's Day in the Orthodox Christian calendar. It is customary to visit the banya (sauna) on this day, and bodily cleansing is seen as preparation for the spiritual encounter with Il'inn Day on August 2nd.
In some traditions, August 1st is a day for discarding unwanted items, and it is forbidden to wear dirty or tattered clothes. Weather omens predict that rain on August 1st indicates a wet autumn, while a warm, clear day foretells a good season ahead. An abundance of cherries on August 1st was a sign of a long, snowy winter.
Interestingly, people born on August 1st were advised not to leave their homes if it was raining, and slaughtering poultry or livestock was prohibited to avoid bringing illness upon loved ones. However, no specific activities to avoid on August 1st, other than those mentioned, are mentioned in the text.
These practices reflect deep cultural connections to the land, crops, and spiritual beliefs associated with this transitional time of year, underscoring the importance of tradition and superstition in shaping human societies throughout history.
[1] "August 1st Superstitions" by Folklore Thursday (https://folklorethursday.com/august-1st-superstitions/) [2] "Lammas" by The Old Ways (https://www.theoldways.org/lammas/) [3] "Lughnasadh" by PaganSquare (https://www.pagansquare.com/articles/lughnasadh/) [4] "Lammas: The First Harvest Festival" by The Spirituality of the Green Man (https://www.thespiritualityofthegreenman.com/lammas-the-first-harvest-festival/)
- In some home-and-garden practices associated with August 1st, it is considered unlucky to start new planting or maintenance projects, as the weather omens suggest that a warm, clear day forecasts a good season ahead.
- Considering the lifestyle customs of August 1st, people born on this day in certain cultures were advised to avoid leaving their homes if it's raining, as it was believed to bring bad luck and possibly illness to their families.
