Saint Catherine of Alexandria is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar, who became a Christian around the age of 14, converted hundreds of people to Christianity, and was martyred around the age of 18. More than 1,100 years following her martyrdom, Saint Joan of Arc identified Catherine as one of the Saints who appeared to her and counseled her.

The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates her as a Great Martyr and celebrates her feast day on 24 or 25 November (OS, depending on the regional tradition). In Catholicism she is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 25 November.

Folk Tradition

In Ukrainian folk tradition, December 7 is the feast of young women’s fates. In the morning, a young women will place candles in front of their family icons; in the evening, they try to learn what their fortunes will be through divination.

The following is a translation of Oleksa Voropay’s chapter on Kateryny:

The day of the great martyr Catherine or, as this holiday is commonly called, "Kateryny," is the holiday of girl's futures. On the eve of this holiday young men used to fast, so that God would send them a good wife. On the day of the holiday itself, the seventh of December, (single) girls tell fortunes and “call out” their fate.

On that morning, before the sun rises, a girl will go to the orchard and cut a branch off of the cherry tree.  She will then place that branch in her house, in a bottle of water, and await Melanka (January 13th). If by "Melanka" the cherry twig has grown and blossomed -- this is a good sign, because the girl's fate will “bloom.“ If the branch withers without  flowering -- that is a bad sign.

In this case, "fate" is understood by girls to mean marriage: a flower on a branch -- htere will be a wedding, if not - in autumn she will have to pray to Pokrova: "Holy mother, Pokrivonko, cover my little head."

In the evening, the girls gather together at one house together and cook dinner -- borshch and kasha. Boys arrive, and the merriment begins. Dancing is not allowed -- it's Lent-- but even without dancing they have a good time -- laughter, singing ...

At midnight, before the "roosters 1,"  the girls take a small pot with "supper” in it and go to "call out their fate." They parade out to the gate. Each of the girls in turn climbs up on the gate, holding the pot of kasha and borshch, and calls out three times :

- Fate, Fate, come to me to sup!

If rooster crows in response, then "fate has responded"; if not, "Fate is deaf, and cannot hear my voice." The girl worries and curses fate: "You wouldn't hear a cuckoo, my harlot!"

But that's only a half calamity -- not a whole misfortune, if your fate is deaf. What’s worse is if a star falls from the sky. "Extinguished fate!" -- whisper the frightened girls.

In life, for the most part, it happens that good women do not always have a "good" destiny. This theme is often encountered in folk songs, stories and fairy tales.

In the Kyiv region, near Kaniv, they say that once two women argued among themselves - one good and the other bad. The bad one became angry and said to the good one:

- Even though I may be bad, for that my fate is good, and you are good, but for that your fate is bad!

They agreed to test this out. Each cooked borshch and kasha for her fate, and went to the crossroads at midnight. The “bad” one came forward first, unwrapped her pots, placed a clean spoon on top, stepped away a bit from the crossroads and said:

- Fate, Fate, come to me to sup!

She said it once, and said it a second time. After the third time -- a young gentleman arrived, so fine, so handsome, that you couldn’t get enough of looking at him. He took the spoon, tasted the borshch first, and then kasha. He placed the spoon on top, wrapped some money in the rushnyk, and disappeared ... The bad woman took the pots, took the money from the rushnyk, and said to the good:

- Well, now, you call out your fate to sup, as I called out mine!

The good woman set down her large pots, untied them, stepped away from the crossroads and called out:

- Fate, Fate, come to me to sup!

She cried out once, cried out a second time, and after the third time a wind arose, a storm. It carried sand, bent trees and broke them - such happenings, Lord! ... When out comes the fate of a good woman; how awful it is! .. ragged, shaggy, and it even has a tail. It ate everything out of the pots, turned them over, broke them and left.

Thus is the fate of women. Men’s fates in a folk tales are represented by their wives. Their fate/wife may be smart or lazy - she is a worker, and works for her master.

Although "Catherine" – is a holiday of women's fate, at supper men like to guess their own fate. Svyryd Halushka tells this tale:

There were two brothers, one poor and the other rich. Once the poor brother went out to the fields of the rich one, and saw some woman walking there, gathering ears of grain and hiding them under the kopa2. He approached the woman and asked:

- Who are you?

- I'm your brother's fate!

- Where is my fate?

- There, lying under the kopa, sleeping!

- What must I do, so that she will be as adroit as you?

1. -Here, I'll teach you, - said the fate of the rich brother. - Sneak up on her slowly, grab her by her braids, beat her while commanding: "This is for you, evil fate, lazy one! This is for you because I am beset with zlydni because of you!”
   

2. -The poor brother listened to her council and went to capture his fate. He crept up, reached out and wanted to grab her braids, but she  ran away. He ran and ran after his fate, but did not catch her ... And so he continued to be poor.
   

__________

1.  Before the first roosters crow.

2.  A place outdoors for the storage of grain