Pochinki

Following the saying “Prepare the sleigh in summer and the cart in winter,” the owners, immediately after Candlemas, began early in the morning to repair agricultural equipment, calling this February day “Mending.”

While clearing Pochinki, the peasants remembered: the sooner you start farming, the more you will please the spring. It is not appropriate for a real owner to delay repairs until the real warm days. Opening the sheds, the peasants wondered: what work should they take on first?

They worked together as a family, finding something feasible for both young and old: “In Pochinki, Grandfather gets up at first light, repairing a summer’s harness and a hundred-year-old plow.” Not without pride, the repaired harness was hung out in a prominent place - they say, we are ready for plowing and sowing. And the housewives did not sit idle at this time: they cooked, washed, and sorted through things in chests.

There is a misconception, mentioned specifically in Pochinki, that Domovoy disturbs horses at night and can drive them to death. A brownie is an assistant to a good owner, and not an enemy, otherwise why would a brownie be carried to a new house from the old one in a scoop with coal from the old stove. Brownie is a talisman for the home and not an evil spirit!