October 24 is the feast day of the apostle Philip of the seventy. The saint was born and lived in Caesarea of Palestine, had a wife and four children.
The life of Philip was marked by righteousness and piety. He preached faith in the one God in many cities. For his good deeds, the Lord rewarded him with the gift of miracles; the pagans who encountered him and witnessed the miracles performed by the man began to believe in Christ and asked Philip to baptize them.
This happened, for example, with the Samaritan sorcerer Simon and with the eunuch of the Queen of Ethiopia. As a bishop, Philip reached Asia Minor, preaching Christianity. The saint lived to a ripe old age.
On this day, it was traditionally customary to take grain to the mill. The process of grinding improved over the years. Initially, pestles and mortars were used for this purpose, which were later replaced by hand mills.
Grinding grain with hand tools was very hard work, so water mills were invented. For the productive operation of such mills, it was necessary to artificially raise the river level. Later, in places where there were no bodies of water, windmills were built, the power of which depended on the strength of the wind.
Weather Omens
The ground on this day was covered with frost — snow was expected. Snow covered unfrozen ground — spring will come early. The moon shines dimly and is covered with haze — bad weather was expected.
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