: The Orthodox feast day of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, October 14, is considered to be the symbolic day of the founding of the UPA, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army active during World War II, as well as one of the main holidays of the Ukrainian Zaporozhzhian Kozaks, the proto-Ukrainian military and political force that challenged the authority of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, the Tsardom of Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and its vassal the Crimean Khanate over the 16-18th centuries. In the Ukrainian tradition going back to even the medieval times of the Kyiv Rus, the Intercession of the Virgin Mary is interpreted as a symbolical act of protecting and blessing the Ukrainian people. Not a paid holiday when falling on Saturday or Sunday
