Date according to the old style: August 15. The full name of the holiday is the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. In both Orthodox and Catholic churches, it is dedicated to the day of the death of the Mother of God. According to the New Testament, the crucified Christ instructed His closest disciple, the Apostle John, to take care of His mother. After the death and resurrection of her Son, the Mother of God lived with John in Jerusalem and often prayed at Golgotha. One day, during prayer, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that in three days she would "depart to Christ God." On the day of Mary's death, the apostles, who were preaching in different countries, miraculously gathered in Jerusalem to bid farewell to the Mother of God. They performed the burial, placing the body of the Mother of God in the tomb of her parents and sealing the entrance with a stone. The Apostle Thomas was the only disciple of Christ who did not manage to say goodbye to the Mother of God before her death. When, on the third day after the burial, Thomas arrived in Jerusalem, the other apostles opened the tomb so that he could bid farewell to the Mother of God. To everyone's surprise, Mary's body was not in the tomb—only the burial clothes remained, emitting a wonderful fragrance. On the same day, the Mother of God appeared to the apostles surrounded by angels and greeted them with the words: "Rejoice, for I am with you always." In Russia, people often associated the Mother of God with an ancient deity—Mother Moist Earth—so on the day of the Dormition, the earth was considered to be celebrating its name day. On this day, it was forbidden to walk barefoot on the ground or to stick any sharp objects into it—neither stakes, nor shovels, nor other tools. The holiday was sometimes called "Dozhinki" because at this time the grain harvest was finishing. Since mainly women participated in the harvest, in old times, the period of rest after the Dormition was called "Young Women's Summer," which lasted until the feast of Ivan Postny (St. John the Faster). Finally, the peasant women would go out into the field, wrap their sickles in straw, and roll on the ground, asking the harvest to return the strength spent on gathering the crops. After this, the last sheaf was dressed in a sarafan and kokoshnik and carried to the village with songs. On the Dormition, peasants often brought seeds or ears of various grains to the church for consecration and blessing. Afterwards, they would hold communal feasts—called "skladchina"; for these, they brewed beer, roasted sheep, and baked pies. Wealthy people would treat their poorer neighbors. The Dormition was also sometimes called "Solenie" because on this day it was customary to pickle cucumbers and ferment cabbage. In winter, these were used to prepare cabbage soup, pickle soup, and were also eaten with potatoes and bread.