Following on from the witches' days of St. Katarina and Ondrej in November, was the witches' day of St. Barbara on the 4th of December. Barbara was the patron saint of miners and fireman, as well as the protector against storms.
On St. Barbara's Day, women were not welcome into the house in the early morning, as it was believed that this was the time of day when witches would enter the house.
Also on this day, young people would dress up in white and cover their faces in flour, or with white scarves, so that they could not be recognized. The reason for this was that by dressing up in this way they would banish the evil spirits from the houses they were going round. They also did it because it was good fun to dress up in costumes.
Certain sayings from St. Barbara's Day still exist today, such as:
"How is the weather on Barbara's Day, such will be the weather up until Christmas."