concept

Elijah's Day

Elijah's day

also: день Илии, St. Elijah's Day, Ilyin Den

The Orthodox feast of the Prophet Elijah (20 July, Old Style), traditionally associated in Russian folk belief with the first thunderstorms breaking a summer drought; Chekhov notes the rain and thunder finally arriving on this very day at Bogimovo.

Reading notes

Мужики §236 On St. Elijah's day they drank, on the Dormition they drank, on the Exaltation of the Cross they drank
St. Elijah's Day (July 20 O.S.), the Dormition of the Mother of God (August 15 O.S.), and the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14 O.S.) are three major feasts of the Orthodox liturgical calendar, each traditionally marked in the countryside by a break from labor and, as here, communal drinking; the sentence's flat, list-like structure -- feast, drink; feast, drink; feast, drink -- is part of the story's own irony about how these observances actually function in the village.
To M. V. Kiseleva, 20 July 1891. Bogimovo. §5 Elijah's day
The Orthodox feast of the Prophet Elijah (20 July, O.S.), popularly associated with the season's first thunderstorms after a dry spell -- exactly the weather event Chekhov reports, tying the letter's dateline to a recognized folk-calendar marker.
To A. S. Suvorin, 29 July 1891. Bogimovo. §8 After Elijah's day it's turned cold
"После Илии" -- after the Orthodox feast of the Prophet Elijah (20 July, Old Style;, already established at), a standard Russian folk-calendar marker for the turn toward autumn weather. Writing nine days later, Chekhov uses the same seasonal marker to date the first chill and the start of his reflection on the Russian autumn, consistent with the folk association of Elijah's day with the season pivoting toward cooler weather even though the feast itself has already passed.