In the past, a special knife prepared a shepherd for his needs. He had to forge it himself at midnight in the smithy, fasting and saying special prayers. He could do this work on one of the few special days (Eve of Saint Lucia - December 12, Christmas Eve - December 24, Good Friday or Holy Saturday - movable holidays). Such a knife was used for various magical and healing practices and for setting the pasture boundary. In the Tatras, the shepherds used a knife to treat a snake bite: This is the one that repairs the snake's bite, it does so: I take a knife and shovels three piles of salt and says goodbye three times with a knife. This is why salt spills into the sourdough and spreads a bite with a knife, and smacks it there - and it is a pusca (U. Janicka-Krzywda, K. Ceklarz, "Czary Góralskie", Zakopane 2014).