Baltic Holidays and Mythology

Celebrations are often important culturally unifying events. They bring together many elements and parts of society into one place as well as bringing people physically together under the same cause. Baltic Mythology has many celebrations all of which fall under these purposes. As with most nature based practices, Baltic pagan celebrations are based around the seasons and their importance especially in the lives of the early agrarian followers of the religion.

 

 

Užgavėnės

Celebrated in February, Užgavėnės is a festival to celebrate those who have passed on and to worship the spirits of the animals coming in the spring. Totems of animals are carved and kept in hopes of calling spring out with them. An traditionally carved effigy of winter was carved by a high holy man and than burnt in a hope of sending it away and calling spring  forward.





A modern Užgavėnės festival

Jorė

A festival held in April for the often unforgiving god of thunder, Perkūnas. He is also said to be in good graces of the more elusive goddess of nature and fertility as he can awake from her winter slumber. This festival is often includes offerings of saved winter food sources for the awakening of the goddess. This is considered one the most important Baltic holidays.

Žolinė
Celebrated in august, the festival of the grass is celebrated to honor of the grasses, natural world, and coming fall harvest of wheat and other staples of Baltic life. Mother earth, Žemyna, is the goddess of nature and all life giving properties in the Baltic world. Žolinė is also considered a time to remember those who have passed as Žemyna gave life to all, and when they die they go back to her.

 Kūčios
Celebrated in December, Kūčios is the festival of the beginning. It celebrated ta the beginning of the hardest season of the year to honor Praamžius, the god of the start. The placement of this holiday was meant to depict the way that for life to start there must be a struggle.

Modern Importance of Celebrations
Within the modern version of Baltic Paganism (Romuva, which will be covered more indepthly in the next post) All of the above celebrations are still celebrated plus some new celebrations have been added. Užgavėnės is still celebrated commonly throughout the region, especially in Lithuania where school celebrations of the festival are still a common occurrence. Children help build the effigy of winter and the oldest children get to light the creation. Jorė has transitioned into the ash Wednesday celebration of Christians in the Baltic region. Kūčios is now the name of the Christmas eve festivities in Baltic region. Despite these changes, these festivals are still culturally very relevant and front in Baltic life. Užgavėnės is often celebrated with large town wide festivals and is looked forward to by many as it to this day symbolises the survival of the hard Baltic winter.