Folk signs for January 3rd: what can and cannot be done

In Russia, the national calendar was a part of everyday life — every day had its own signs, prohibitions and customs, which the ancestors took seriously. They were used to judge the future harvest, the weather, good luck in business and peace in the family, and rituals associated with the beginning of the year were considered important for the well-being of the following months. Izvestia tells us what beliefs and church holidays are associated with January 3.

Folk signs for January 3, 2026

In Russia, a special national holiday, Peter's Day, was celebrated on January 3. By this time, peasants usually had already eaten half of their winter supplies, so the date was also called Peter the half-feed. The owners went around the sheep sheds and barns, counted the haystacks, checked the bins, stirred the grain in the huskies with a wooden shovel so that it would not stick and would not get wet, they checked if mice had got in.

The bins were not only examined, but also "listened to." To do this, the ancestors put their ear to the wall — a dull hum foreshadowed a stormy, stormy summer. According to beliefs, evil spirits were especially active during this period. To protect the farm, when leaving the barn, the ancestors put a splinter broken in half crosswise on the grain as a talisman against dark forces, and left a silver thing in a prominent place in the house, most often a small spoon, to protect themselves from the evil eye and ill-wishers.

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The Church calls for the abandonment of fortune-telling and superstition on the saint's memorial day.

Other signs of the day:

• On January 3, there is a lot of snow — for a fruitful summer;
• Crows perch on the treetops — in case of severe frosts;
• Crows are circling in the air — to the snowfall;
• Crows are sitting on the ground — for an early thaw;
• little snow and severe frost — for a hot and dry summer.

What not to do on January 3rd

In the folk tradition, Peter the Half-feed Day (Peter's Day) was considered a time when it was especially important "not to bring trouble with careless words and deeds." The prohibitions were protective in nature — they were supposed to protect a person from the evil eye, diseases and failures.

What else you can't do on January 3rd:

• eavesdropping and peeping — for curiosity, you can pay with hearing and vision loss.;
• picking up other people's belongings and money from the ground — along with the find, you can "pick up" the problems and illnesses of the owner.;
• to wash with water collected in the evening — at night, such water can be "possessed" by evil spirits and "spoil" appearance and health.;
• to wish happiness and health — it is believed that such wishes will come true "on the contrary";
• to clash and quarrel — the showdown can drag on for a long time.

What is the church holiday on January 3rd?

On January 3, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of St. Peter, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, who lived in the second half of the 13th and early 14th centuries, and the first primate of the Russian Church to move his see from Vladimir to Moscow. According to legend, he was born in Volhynia into a pious family, and his mother's special fate was announced in a dream even before he was born. The boy was distinguished by a lively mind and learned to read early, although he suffered from tongue-tied speech in childhood. At the age of 12, his parents sent him to a monastery, where he studied the Holy Scriptures, book sciences and icon painting.

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Peter became famous as an icon painter, the shrines he painted were distributed to pilgrims, and one of the most famous — the image of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary — was presented to Metropolitan Maxim of Kiev. Over time, the saint became an authoritative church figure who could speak simply and convincingly, which attracted princes, clergy, and ordinary parishioners to him. He went down in history as a clergyman who contributed to the future development of Moscow as a church center.

Prayers for January 3rd

Prayer to St. Peter of Moscow

"O great Saint, most glorious wonderworker, guardian of the Russian Church of the Mother See, the city of Moscow, and for all of us, our fervent prayer book, our Father Peter! We humbly bow down to you and pray: stretch out your hands to the Lord God and pray for us, sinful and unworthy servants of His: may He show us His mercy and grant us all the gifts of His goodness necessary for our temporal life and eternal salvation, above all, may he protect us with peace, brotherly love and piety from all the temptations of the enemy of the devil And grant us to be your faithful children, not by the name of Tokmo, but by our whole life. Oh, God's mercy! Hear us kindly, and be our helper and intercessor in all our troubles and adversities, do not forget us even at the hour of our death, when we demand your intercession above all, so that, through the prayers of your saints, we sinners may also be worthy to attain a good end and inherit the Kingdom of heaven, glorifying the wondrous God in Our saints. our Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen to that."

Earlier, Izvestia reported on the signs of the Ignatiev Day national holiday.