Peter and Paul Day

July 12 

for most people who grew up in the cities of the Soviet Union, July 12th was a summer day like any other. 

Times have changed. Today, the main Orthodox holidays are major media events. But during my youth, few knew that July 12 commemorates the apostles Peter and Paul, two of Orthodoxy’s most revered saints, and that it marks the end of the Apostles’ Fast, known in Russian as Peter’s Lent. 

Of course, during the prerevolutionary period, this holiday was a major event. Peter and Paul have always been venerated throughout Russia – just look at the number of churches named after them. The Cathedral of Peter and Paul, around which St. Petersburg was essentially built, immediately comes to mind. And think of the countless icons depicting the apostles, Andrei Rublyov’s stunning Zvenigorod icon of Paul being the best known. 

It is believed that on this day – July 29th Old Style, and July 12th according to the Gregorian calendar – both apostles were simultaneously executed at two opposite ends of Rome. St. Peter asked to be crucified upside down, so that his death would not be compared with that of Christ, while Paul, as a Roman citizen, was given a less torturous death – he was beheaded. 

So I was surprised when, upon arriving in Novgorod during the summer of 1982, I suddenly learned that there, on the banks of Lake Ilmen, the locals were preparing to celebrate a holiday. Actually, there was no talk of church ritual. Maybe some of the villagers living on the banks of this huge northern lake did go to church – that I do not know. Back then, religious practice was not strictly prohibited, yet it was also not something to advertise. 

But here, something else was going on. Apostle Peter was a fisherman who followed Christ to become a fisher of men, and from time immemorial he has been considered the patron saint of all fishermen. This is why his saint’s day in the middle of July had become first and foremost a fisherman’s holiday.  

Many things come together to make early summer a time of celebration. Long before Rus learned of Peter and Paul, this was when pagan societies celebrated fertility. In July, the sun is at its strongest, and that means that magical beings are at their liveliest and all of Earth’s forces of fertility reach their apogee. On Peter and Paul’s Day, one has to keep a sharp eye out for cavorting rusalkas – the water sprites of Slavic lore. It is no coincidence that Peter and Paul’s Day and Ivan Kupala – the celebration of St. John the Baptist, July 7 New Style – are so close together on the calendar. Many of the rituals performed on Ivan Kupala are repeated on July 12th. Bonfires are burned in many parts of Rus on this day and it is believed that the sun shines with a special, abundant light, that its dawn rays bring good health. 

And since the sun burns so brightly, it must be a fine time for mischief. Village youth tried their best on July 12th to keep watch for the sun – which of course meant staying up all night. During the brief nights of summer, that is not such a difficult feat, but it also creates opportunities for all sorts of pranks, like painting the neighbors’ windows to prevent them from seeing the morning sun, or blocking the road so no one is able to pass. The more mischief that was perpetrated on that night, the more fortunate the year was sure to be. 

Yet the joy and revelry of July 12th does not quite match that of Ivan Kupala. Peter and Paul’s Day was considered the start of toil – strada, the period of grueling labor in the field. It marked the start of haymaking and the approach of harvest time. Peter and Paul, who were strict observers of order, commanded the ears of rye, wheat, corn and other cereals to replete themselves with strength. The year was progressing toward its end (remember, prior to the 18th century, the New Year began September 1). It was believed that after Peter and Paul day, the nightingales would cease their singing for the year – the saints forbade it. And, most important, “Peter and Paul shortened the hour” – nights started to become longer. This was barely noticeable amid the joyous brilliance of summer nature, but nevertheless…

Probably this is why Ivan Kupala became a kind of catchall holiday of sun, fertility, and the magical forces of nature, while Peter and Paul turned primarily into a fisherman’s holiday. Holiday services were held on this day throughout Russia, but it was most elaborately celebrated where fishing was an important part of the economy, rather than just a pastime – along the banks of major lakes and rivers. Fishermen usually pooled their kopeks to purchase a large candle to place in churches to “Peter the Fisherman,” and people paid visits to one another, both to mark the end of the fast and to congratulate fishermen. 

The primary dishes on this holiday thus centered on fish: ukha (fish soup) was prepared and rybniki (fish pastries) were baked. Several years ago, this tradition was revived with an amusing twist by Moscow’s Danilov Monastery. They began marking the occasion by baking a 50-meter-long kulebyaka (a traditional pastry), stuffed it with vegetables and fruits, and invited all who wished to partake. 

So what happened back in 1982 on the banks of Lake Ilmen? Nothing fancy. The fishermen cooked up ukha, poured in a cup of vodka (in accordance with longstanding tradition – purely for the aroma, of course), and drank the rest, toasting to Peter and Paul, to fishermen, and to whatever else they could think up. On the surface, it looked like a typical summer drinking bout, but it was a drinking bout that rested on centuries of ancient belief. 

The expanse of Lake Ilmen extended off into the distance – it was somewhere here, legend has it, that the valiant hero Sadko went down to the lake’s bottom to fight for the heart of the Water Tsar’s daughter. Nearby, the walls of Yuryev Monastery, built in the 12th century, looked out over the lake. Also nearby were the relics of pagan sanctuaries. All the layers of history seemed to come together in this place.

And so it is today. The official Day of Fisherman (created in the Soviet era) is celebrated the second Sunday in July. This year it falls on the 13th. Some years it coincides with Peter and Paul, and some years it doesn’t. Fisherman, naturally, celebrate the official day as well, not allowing it to replace or diminish the true fisherman’s holiday, which was and remains July 12th. 

Church bells and religious processions remind people that the holiday has arrived. Some towns stage folk festivals, recalling ancient rituals, while in others the local bosses put on their business suits and make speeches about the importance of fishermen. Meanwhile, the fishermen are sitting on the banks of rivers and lakes, cooking up ukha and raising their glasses in honor of Peter and Paul in the hope of a good catch.