Holidays on this day
Significant events in history
1066 Westminster Abbey opened.
1732 The first Cadet Corps opened in St. Petersburg.
1854 The US Republican Party is founded.
1913 Niels Bohr proposed a planetary model of the structure of the atom.
1935 Wallace Carothers invented nylon.
Persons
On February 28, 1533, French writer and Renaissance philosopher Michel Montaigne was born.
English inventor Thomas Newcomen was born on February 28, 1664.
On February 28, 1683, the French naturalist, physicist and mathematician René Reaumur was born.
On February 28, 1690, Tsarevich, heir to the Russian throne, the eldest son of Tsar Peter I, Alexei Petrovich, was born.
On February 28, 1866, the Russian symbolist poet and philosopher Vyacheslav Ivanov was born.
On February 28, 1893, Soviet film director and film theorist Vsevolod Pudovkin was born.
On February 28, 1920, Soviet theater and film actor, Honored Artist of the RSFSR Alexey Smirnov was born.
Folk calendar
Onisim Sheepdog
The Apostle Onesimus, whose memory is celebrated on this day, lived at the beginning of the first millennium in Byzantium. Onesimus was the slave of a certain Philemon, but he fled from his master to Rome, where he was imprisoned. There he met the Apostle Paul, who enlightened him and baptized him. Paul mentions Onesimus in Colossians, calling him his “faithful and beloved brother.”
In Rus', Onisim was considered the patron saint of sheep breeding. On the day of remembrance of the saint, shepherds “called out” to the stars so that the sheep would give large and healthy offspring. It was done like this: in the evening the peasant went out into the yard and made three bows on all four sides. Then he stood on the fleece and uttered a spell: “Lighten up, clear star, for the joy of the baptized world. You, clear star, illuminate the white sheep with unquenchable fire. Just as there are countless stars in the sky, so more sheep would be born.”
It is curious that the connection between sheep and the stars is reflected in numerous mysteries. For example: “The field is not measured, the sheep are not counted, the shepherd is horned”; “One shepherd tends a thousand sheep”; “The sheep were running across the Kalinov Bridge, saw the dawn, and rushed into the water.”
Rituals for future well-being on this day were performed not only by shepherds. It was necessary, for example, to collect various seeds in a barn, expose them to frost for three mornings, and put them aside until sowing. On this occasion they said: “As it comes back to you in February, it will respond in the fall.”
The needlewomen, having finished spinning, chose the best ball and also took it outside in the morning with the confidence that all the yarn would be white, clean and strong. This custom was called “spinning yarn.”
They said about the weather: “Winter becomes hornless on Onesim Shepherd.” It was believed that winter was fighting with spring: “who should go forward and who should turn back.” Large icicles at this time foreshadowed that spring would be long.
Name day on this day
Alexey, Arseny, Athanasius, Euphrosyne, Ivan, Mikhail, Nikolai, Pavel, Paphnutius, Peter, Semyon, Sophia.
Source: Calend.ru.
