From the start it lagged two centuries behind. The Tsar had the first Russian almanac printed in 1710. It was compiled by Jakov Bruce, son of a Scottish political refugee. Paradoxically, his almanac cannot be seen as an example of propagating superstition. Wigzell, however, portrays Bruce not as a scientist but as a black magician, a sorcerer.
People believe anything.
Even in fortune-telling with computers. They even believe in the ideas of Enlightenment. 1071 SN Amsterdam, The Netherlands.