Thursday 9 December 2021

Feeding the frost

Frost in spring can kill the crops flowers and cause famine...So, to prevent this, Russians fed the frost during the crops flowering period...

In the past, in some parts of Russia, people baked 40 buns from rye and oat flour on Spring Equinox for Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) the personification of frost and cold...


Drawing of Ded Moroz, Viktor Vasnetsov, 1885...

Then they threw one outside each morning for 40 days with the words: "Frost, tall and red-nosed! Here is your rye and oat! And now, get out of here while we are kind and you are well!" 

This custom was meant to prevent 40 morning frosts that follow Spring Equinox...

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