What can and cannot be done on the Orthodox holiday of January 20 – find out at .

Today, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of John the Baptist or John the Baptist and celebrates the Cathedral of John the Baptist in 2023. Prophet John was the last before the birth of Jesus to announce the coming of the Son of God to earth, baptized Him in the waters of the Jordan and witnessed the mysterious appearance of the Most Holy Theotokos.

St. John was considered the patron saint of agriculture and beekeeping and prayed to him for a good offspring in livestock, as well as relief from headaches. Our ancestors noticed that if it is a hot day on this day, then winter will be like that.

Orthodox holiday January 20 – Cathedral of John the Baptist

John the Baptist was the son of the priest Zacharias and righteous Elizabeth. The saint was born six months earlier than Jesus. His mother hid with him in the desert during the beating of the babies – that’s how he survived.

Ivan spent 30 years in the desert. He grew up without knowing people, human sins and weaknesses. He wore simple, coarse clothes made of camel wool, and ate wild honey and acrids (locusts or carob fruits). At the age of 28-30, he began to preach – he talked about the soon coming of the Messiah and called people to repent through baptism.

In the Jordan River, the Forerunner baptized the Jews, and then Jesus himself. Seeing him, John said: “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes (upon himself) the sin of the world. This is the one about whom I said: the Man who went before me follows me, because he was before me.”

During the baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on Christ in the form of a dove – thus, with the participation of the Baptist, the true purpose of Jesus was witnessed.

After that, John the Baptist continued to preach until he was imprisoned by order of the ruler Herod Antipas. John exposed Herod that he had taken Herodias’s wife from his brother and married her in violation of the laws. John the Baptist was executed in prison.

John was nicknamed the Forerunner for the fact that he was born before Christ, that is, he preceded Him, and the most important part of the saint’s service was preaching about the soon coming of the Messiah.

Signs for January 20

The people believed that John the Baptist brought the first news of spring, so many omens on January 20 predict the coming spring and summer:

• if the weather is clear and cold, it means a dry summer;
• if it snows today, it will go all the way to Shrovetide;
• if the frost on January 20 lasts after a week – immediately after that there will be a thaw;
• bright sun at noon today – to early spring.

What can’t be done today

You cannot eat meat on this day – the food on the table should be modest and lean. In the past, it was forbidden to accept gifts from strangers on this day: they can transmit their diseases and troubles.

It is categorically impossible to lend money today. But you have to help your relatives if they ask for it.

What can be done on January 20

According to tradition, on the first day after Baptism, you need to “drink away evil” with consecrated baptismal water – it is believed that this will charge you with health for the whole year. Also during this period, weddings were celebrated en masse and it was considered a good omen to marry John the Baptist.

Today, the people fed livestock with ritual food – they gave the animals bread with salt and pancakes. It was believed that it could increase the fertility of livestock.