St Demetrius' Day
26 October 2026 — The flock is home, the fire is lit – a good winter evening to you!
On 26 October Orthodox Christians honour Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki, and in Romania the feast is known as Sâmedru (Sfântul Dumitru). In the folk calendar it marks the end of the pastoral year: shepherds bring their flocks down from the mountains, and their agreements are renewed or settled. Romanians also see Sâmedru as the border between autumn and winter. In some regions bonfires are lit on the eve of the feast – people say they warm the souls of the departed and protect the home – and food is often shared in remembrance. The Romanian Orthodox Church keeps the feast on 26 October using the Revised Julian calendar, which currently matches the Gregorian one. The day has no link to a solstice or a moon phase, but it falls as evenings grow dark early, so our shepherd walks home under the stars and his fire glows like a small constellation.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure of a shepherd with a staff and a small flock, drawn as a constellation of bright dots and thin lines, slowly walking down across the night sky slowly walking down across the night sky in a calm, gliding motion
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