Orthodox Church celebrates the day of the holy martyr St. Vlassios (Blassios; Blaise), the Sebastian bishop, on that day. He died as a martyr during the time of the Roman Emperor Licinius (308-324).































































The traditional rituals include a number of forbidden practices that might evoke illness – women are not supposed to weave or knead, and men should not put oxen to the yoke. Oxen are specially taken care of that day and even the ritual bread baked that day gets consecrated in the barn with the oxen.