George's Day in Autumn

Saint George's Day of Autumn (Russian: Егорий Осенний Egoriy Osenniy; also just Юрьев день Yuriev den' "George's day"; Serbian: Ђурђиц Dzhurdzhith) is one of two feasts of Saint George, celebrated on 26 November by the Russian Orthodox Church, the other being Saint George's Day of Spring (6 May).

Yuri's Day in the Autumn, celebrated at the time when the agricultural year is over and the harvest is in, had a special significance on the calendar of Russian peasants during the centuries when the system of Russian serfdom was established. The Sudebnik of 1497 established the two weeks' period around the Autumn Yuri's Day (one week before the feast and one week after it), as the only time of the year when the Russian peasants were free to move from one landowner to another. A century later, Boris Godunov's administration interdicted the movement of peasants on Yuri's day, thus finalizing the evolution of Russian serfdom.

A popular Russian expression harking back to that unfortunate event still survives (roughly translated, it is "so much for Yuri's Day, Granny", referring to a broken promise or, more generally, to any failed expectation).