I wondered why there are so many superstitions in the seemingly banal business of salting cabbage? Moreover, superstitions clearly contradict one another.
If you follow them, then you can stay without cabbage - easily.
Look here.
Superstition first
Cabbage should be fermented only on the "male" days of the week - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. Otherwise, it will deteriorate.
Superstition second
Cabbage must be fermented on women's days of the week, because cabbage is “mine”, that is, it is feminine. And no Tuesday and Thursday, and even more so Monday. Only Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, only hardcore.
And now attention, the question is - when? There is advice to ferment on Sunday - they say, a neutral day. But I somehow doubt that there will be no other sign on Sunday.
Superstition third
You need to ferment cabbage on a full moon! Only then will it be good, crispy and fragrant.
Superstition fourth
Cabbage should be fermented on the growing moon. Otherwise, it will deteriorate, no matter how full the moon is.
Superstition Fifth
Cabbage should never be fermented on a waning moon. Otherwise, it will definitely deteriorate, because it is not for nothing that the moon is waning, which means that the house will also decrease. Cabbage, for example.
Superstition six
In no case should women ferment cabbage on days that are now commonly called "critical". It will definitely go bad!
Superstition seventh
You can ferment cabbage only after the Feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos.
And now from experience.
The only thing that affects the result of sauerkraut is temperature and hygiene. Clean containers, clean hands, clean clothes - after all, "unnecessary" microorganisms can get into the product from anywhere (hence the ban on cutting cabbage on "critical days"). If you comply with these conditions, cook to your health. Unless if you have dysentery or something else intestinal - then it is not necessary. And you don't need to sneeze on cabbage. And cough.
After the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, cool weather set in, which allowed the leavening process to proceed as it should, without going into decay. Hence the omen. And it is still worth observing, especially if you do not store cabbage in the refrigerator.
And everything else... I know, now there will be those who say - folk wisdom is not taken for nothing! But I want to remind you that in a society that does not know how to explain this or that phenomenon, mythological explanations for these phenomena always arise. That is why the national omens do not coincide in their advice, and most often they contradict each other. In those days, they did not know anything about the activity of microorganisms, as well as about the microorganisms themselves, trying to find an explanation for failures in the sky... or in the names of the days.