Cassian's Day in Ukraine

Cassian’s day happens once every four years, on the 29th of February (as preferred by many people, by old style, that is on the 13th of March).

In folk tradition, he is seen as a moody, angry man. Animals and sometimes people born on this day are seen as “unfortunate” in some way, as “Cassian has looked at them”. They even say "to look at somebody/something like Cassian" in Ukraine about a child with an angry, displeased expression.

In legends he is described similarly to fictional Viy: having long eyelashes and eyebrows that cover his eyes. Once every four years, he opens his gloomy eyes, sending bad luck to everyone he looks at. People would not go outside before dawn, and generally tried to do as little as possible on that day. Cassian’s reputation is such that some people do not even consider him a saint.

On the other hand, in other stories he is that way exactly because he does not get the same veneration as other saints – or because he fights devils with no help all night before the 29th, which does sounds like a good reason to be irritated.