February 16, 2023, 10:54 – BLiTZ – News On February 16, after the Meeting of the Lord, prayers will be held in Orthodox churches in honor of two saints – Simeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess. The BLiTZ learned about what traditions and signs are associated with this day on February 16, 2023.
Date history
Simeon the God-bearer and Anna the Prophetess are associated with the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which all believers celebrate on February 15th. The essence of the holiday is the entry into the Jerusalem temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Child. Simeon the God-bearer and Anna the Prophetess were saints who met the baby Jesus in the temple on the 40th day from his birth.
Simeon was a learned and pious righteous man. He lived in Jerusalem and once translated the book of the prophet Isaiah. He did not believe in the lines of Scripture, which say that “a virgin in the womb will receive and give birth to a son.” Then an angel appeared to Simeon and promised that the elder would not die until he saw with his own eyes the child born of the Virgin Mary. As a result, this is what happened. In addition to Simeon, Anna was present in the temple – a pious widow, who, having learned about the birth of the Savior, glorified him.
Traditions on February 16
Among the people, the day has another name – Pochinki. The preparation of horse harness began – riding and arable. People said: “Semyon and Anna are mending the harness”; “Grandfather gets up at dawn, repairs his summer harness, and a hundred-year-old harrow.”
In the early morning of February 16, the whole family went to the barn to do work. “Prepare the sleigh in the summer, and the cart in the winter” – this saying is also associated with this day.
For Simeon and Anna, they prepared a special dish – salamata. It was unleavened buckwheat dough dissolved in water with butter. People said: “Salamat came to the yard – start repairs.”
Signs
On February 16, our ancestors closely watched the snow. It was believed that if he brought down flakes on Semyon and Anna, the summer would be rainy.
name day
Name days on this day are celebrated by: Adrian, Anna, Vasily, Vladimir, Ivan, Mikhail, Nikolai, Pavel, Roman, Semyon and Timofey.
