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Orthodox believers celebrate Djurdjic tomorrow, a holiday popularly known as “Little Saint George’s Day” because it is the same saint, Saint George.
This holiday is dedicated to the transfer of the relics of the Holy Great Martyr George (Saint George) from Nicomedia to the Palestinian Lida, the homeland of his mother, according to his wish, which he communicated to a servant before his death.
Saint George suffered in the year 303, because as a soldier of Christ he refused to obey the emperor Diocletian, the great persecutor of Christians.
On this holiday, believers in all Orthodox churches remember St. George and his significance in Christianity during worship.
It is believed that St. George likes to respond to those in need and help them. He appears in the form of a young knight on horseback, and is especially happy to help those who celebrate his day.
Photo: Wikipedia.org/Ricardo André Frantz
This holiday is considered one of the five most important in Serbia and is not marked in red on the calendar of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Saint George is always depicted in icons as a soldier on a white horse who stabs a dragon with a spear.
Popular belief says that winter begins with St. George’s Day and ends with St. George’s Day (May 6).
If the days are foggy, the winter will be changeable and misty, and if it is clear, the winter will be harsh and frosty.
The days from Đurđica to Saint Mrata are called Mratinci or Days of the Wolf because Saint Mrata is the protector of the wolves. At the time of the Mratins, nothing is given away from home, wool is not spun and nothing is washed. Tailors and shoemakers rest, and women do not make crafts.
In the villages of western Serbia these days, a black chicken or young black rooster was silently slaughtered at dawn at the gate. Beforehand, the chicken or the singer’s beak is tied with black thread so that no voice is released. The severed chicken head was tied with red thread to chains, so it was feared at the time of the arrival of the wolves.
The people of Herzegovina slaughtered black goats these days. The peeled skin was buried in the ground and its head stuck in the upper part of the pen. Nobody hunted wolves in those days, because that would bring them great misfortune.
The folk tale tells of a man who cut down trees in the forest, when he was intercepted by wolves, led by the biggest and lame wolf, who asked him if he was celebrating Saint Mrat. The scared peasant lied to him to celebrate, after which the wolves gathered and left. The man ran directly to the priest and told him to bring Mrata to a banquet, and since that year the wolves have not entered his fold.
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