Transcript Easter

COMENIUS MULTILATERAL PARTNERSHIPS
Easter in
Latvia
Prepared by M.Dunkers
In Latvia, the Easter holiday consists of special days:
Moundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter
Sunday, Easter Monday. In addition to the practices of the
Christian Church, many Latvians observe older pre-Christian
traditions as well to welcome the rebirth of nature and the
arrival of spring.
How is Easter celebrated
in the church?
Easter is a happy time. It is festival of hope and
light. It celebrates new life. In churches Easter will
be celebrated with special services. They will be
really happy occasions remembering Jesus coming
to life after his cruel death on the cross.
Latvia, is a country where almost every feast encompasses
Christian and Latvian traditions. Easter is also time for
celebrating the spring solstice, when, according to Latvian
traditional beliefs and rituals, people try to help the soil
wake up and become fertile, by encouraging its
benevolence. For the most part, in Latvia Easter
celebrations take place in the central squares, as well as in
culture institutions and museums. Easter is usually
celebrated in the family or among close friends.
Easter is a festival of spring and the beginning of new life.
Easter symbols are coloured eggs and willow branches.
The Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter.
The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that
was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by
Christians.
From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth
in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or,
if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them
with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.
Latvian Traditional Beliefs
Easter morning you should arise before the sun and wash your
face in a spring to preserve vitality and joy for the coming year and
to enhance good spirit, health and beauty.
Those who have risen first, wake up those who are still sleeping
and swat them with pussy willows and steamed birch branches,
chanting "Apaļš kā pūpols, apaļš kā pūpols, veselība iekšā, slimība
ārā" (Round like pussy willow, round like pussy willow! Health come
in, illness be gone!). This is giving a blessing of good health for the
coming year.
One of the most important Easter rituals is the hanging of the swing
and swinging, so that you will be spared bites from bugs and
snakes.
No Latvian Easter is complete without coloring eggs! And
only natural colours are used, among them onion skins,
bark, birch buds, camomille, and other field plants.
Duels are another tradition. Eggs are knocked
together to see which one survives cracking.
Remember, those who eat eggs without salt,
will tell lies all year!
The Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum will
celebrate Easter every year, and will feature a
combination of Christian, ancient and modern
Easter traditions.