Kashchei or Chernobog (black Serpent, Koschey) – Lord of Navi, Darkness and the Kingdom of Pekel. God of cold, destruction, death, evil; God of madness and the embodiment of everything dark.

On the night of the celebration, the ancient Slavs always held a raw chicken egg in their hands and it was believed that if the egg was broken exactly at midnight on February 29, then Koschey would go into his dark world and take with him all the misfortunes and hardships that haunted the person.

On February 29 we perform rituals for protection from evil forces.

On February 29, some witches cast spells for evil, cause damage, make transfers… Therefore, it is better to be careful: do not pick up anything on the street, do not give or take anything from the house or into the house.

But there is also a positive side to this holiday, a symbol of the approaching spring and warmth, nature will come to life again and give new life to everything.

Our ancestors always described Koshchei’s appearance in approximately the same way, that he was painfully thin, and at the same time an excessively tall man with sunken cheeks, his lips blacker than night, and the addition of such a terrifying image is long dark hair and a silver mustache.

We know Koschey as a fairy-tale character living in the Far Far Away Kingdom. Koschey the Immortal brings a lot of troubles and worries to the fairy-tale heroes.

However, it is not easy to deal with Koshchei: his death is at the end of a needle, that needle is in an egg, the egg is in a duck, the duck is in a hare, the hare is in a chest, and the chest stands on a tall oak tree, and Koschey protects that tree like his own eye.

Koschey is a very powerful sorcerer:
in the fairy tale “Ivan Sosnovich” turns an entire kingdom into stone;
in the fairy tale “Elena the Beautiful” turns Ivan Tsarevich into a nut;
in the fairy tale “The Snake Princess” turns the princess into a snake;
in the fairy tale “The Frog Princess,” he punishes the princess by putting frog skin on her.

Koschey the Immortal glorifies himself in Russian folk tales “Marya Morevna”, “Medvedko”, “Koshey the Immortal”, “Ivan Bykovich”, “Copperbeard”.

February 29 is considered the only day when girls can propose to their loved one.

The tradition of celebrating St. Oswald’s Day originated in Ireland back in the 5th century, and was consolidated on February 29 after the publication of a special law in Scotland in the 13th century.
According to legend, Saint Brigid was disappointed that women in Ireland had to wait for men to propose. She turned to St. Patrick, who allowed women to propose to their chosen ones every four years, on February 29.