Meteņi () or Metenis is an ancient Latvian spring waiting holiday, that ends on

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...

, which is followed by

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

. Meteņi is celebrated in February or early March, seven weeks before

Lieldienas The Christian festival of Easter is celebrated in Latvia as Lieldienas (). Lieldienas enters Holy Week with Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, but Sunday will mark first Lieldienas. Second Lieldienas is on Monday of t ...

Origins

The Meteņi celebration preserved the ancient traditions of

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

, because ancient Indo-European people celebrated New Year's Eve in mid-February. This came from the early Latvian word "meti", which meant turn of time, gauge. The original meaning is preserved in the word "laikmets" (era). Lithuanian word "metai" even now means "year".

Name in other languages

In Livonian populated regions and Riga, this celebration is known as

Fastelavn Fastelavn is a Carnival tradition in the Northern European, and historically Lutheran, nations of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Latvia, Estonia, Iceland, Faroe Islands, as well as Greenland. The traditions of Fastelavn vary somewhat by country and by ...

(possibly originating from German ''Fastnacht'' - hunger night). Elsewhere, it is also called Lastavāgs, Aizgavēnis, Miesmetis, Buduļi Eve, and Pie Day.

Lithuanians Lithuanians () are a Balts, Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two million make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the Lithuanian Americans, United Sta ...

call it ''

užgavėnės Užgavėnės is an ancient Lithuanian festival that takes place during the seventh week before Easter (Ash Wednesday). The celebration corresponds to Roman Catholic holiday traditions in other parts of the world, such as Mardi Gras, Shrove Tues ...

'', while

Estonians Estonians or Estonian people () are a Finnic ethnic group native to the Baltic Sea region in Northern Europe, primarily their nation state of Estonia. Estonians primarily speak the Estonian language, a language closely related to other Finni ...

call it ''vastlapäev''. To

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

and other Orthodox Christian peoples this festival is known as

Maslenitsa Maslenitsa (; ; ; ), also known as Butter Lady, Butter Week, Crepe week, or Cheesefare Week, is an Eastern Slavic religious and folk holiday which has retained a number of elements of Slavic mythology in its ritual. It is celebrated during the ...

(

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Масленица, Belarusian: масьленіца, Ukrainian: масниця). Elsewhere in Europe and America, this festival coincides with the carnival time and referred to as Shrove Tuesday ( French: ''Mardi Gras'',

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Fastnachtsdienstag'',

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

: ''Martedì grasso'', English: ''Shrove Tuesday'' ) or "''Pancake Day''". In Latin countries, it is called ''carnival'', ''carnaval'' or "meat balls", and it is the holiday of overeating, after which comes Lent. It is also has a connection with

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

's time to celebrate traditions of ''

April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. ...

'' on April 1. During it happens a mask parade (''masquerade''), all sorts of performances, and immoderate blowout and drinking. To bid a farewell to Winter, they burned a year-old allegorical serpent or dragon, straw dolls, and logs, whose ashes are spread across the land so that the New Year would be fruitful.

Holiday traditions

Meteņi is about people eating and drinking as much as they wanted. During this time

pigs The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

were slaughtered, so the traditional holiday dishes were pig's head and fritters. Parents threw gifts to their children from above the room, as if

Laima Laima is a Baltic goddess of fate. She was associated with childbirth, marriage, and death; she was also the patron of pregnancy, pregnant women. Laima and her functions are similar to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. In Latvia In Latvian mythology, ...

threw her gifts from above the heaven. As with every winter holiday,

ķekatas There is a number of regional variants of Latvian masked processions. Rooted in ritual traditions, by the end of the 19th century, they started losing their religious meaning turning more into an entertainment and gradually they were disappearin ...

were traveling the country and paid visits to people. There is a belief that the longer Meteņi is celebrated, the better the harvest is expected following summer. The Solstice bonfire is burned while performing rituals of tying a witch's tongue and donations. The campfire is used to burn last summer's

Jāņi Jāņi () is an annual Latvians, Latvian festival celebrating the summer solstice. Although, astronomically the solstice falls on the 21st or 22nd of June, the public holidays—Līgo Day and Jāņi Day—are on the 23rd and 24th of June. The d ...

festive wreaths. The straw is often burned and in some places, the straws are handmade into characters, which is primarily removed from hills and then burned to drive winter away.

References

External links

Latvian dainas about Meteņi

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meteni Observances in Latvia Public holidays in Latvia February observances March observances Holidays based on the date of Easter

Origins

Name in other languages

Holiday traditions

See also

References

External links