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St John's Day (Estonia)
Jaanipäev (''St John's Day'' in English) and Jaaniõhtu, also ''Jaanilaupäev'' (''Saint John's Eve'' in English) are the most important days in the Estonian calendar, apart from Christmas. The short summer seasons with long days and brief nights hold special significance for the people of Estonia. Jaanipäev is celebrated on the night between June 23 and 24, the Western Christian feast of the nativity of Saint John the Baptist, which is a few days after the summer solstice. History of St. John’s Day Jaanipäev, although not known by that name in the pre-Christian era, it was celebrated long before the arrival of Christianity in Estonia. After the country was Christianised, the feast took the name Saint John's Day, or Jaanipäev (in Estonian). The arrival of Christianity, however, did not end fertility rituals surrounding this holiday. In 1578, with some disgust, Balthasar Russow wrote in his ''Livonian Chronicle'' about Estonians who placed more importance on feasting than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Estonian War Of Independence
The Estonian War of Independence ( et, Vabadussõda, literally "Freedom War"), also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Bolshevik westward offensive of 1918–1919 and the 1919 aggression of the ''Baltische Landeswehr''. The campaign was the struggle of the newly established democratic nation of Estonia for independence in the aftermath of World War I. It resulted in a victory for Estonia and was concluded in the 1920 Treaty of Tartu. Preface In November 1917, upon the disintegration of the Russian Empire, a diet of the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia, the Estonian Provincial Assembly, which had been elected in the spring of that year, proclaimed itself the highest authority in Estonia. Soon thereafter, the Bolsheviks dissolved the Estonian Provincial Assembly and temporarily forced the pro-independence Estonians underground in the capital Tallinn. A few months later, u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lennart Meri
Lennart Georg Meri (; 29 March 1929 – 14 March 2006) was an Estonian politician, writer, and film director. He served as the second president of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was among the leaders of the movement to restore Estonian independence from the Soviet Union. Early life Meri was born in Tallinn, a son of the Estonian diplomat and later Shakespeare translator Georg Meri, and Estonian Swedish mother Alice-Brigitta Engmann. With his family, Lennart left Estonia at an early age and studied abroad, in nine different schools and in four different languages. His warmest memories were from his school years in Lycée Janson de Sailly in Paris. In addition to his native Estonian, Lennart Meri fluently spoke five other languages: Finnish, French, German, English and Russian. Lennart Meri and his family were in Tallinn when Estonia became occupied by the Soviet Union armed forces in June 1940. The extended Meri family was split in the middle, half of whom opposed, the other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joninės
Saint Jonas' Festival, also known as ''Rasos'' (''Dew Holiday''), ''Joninės'', ''Kupolė'', Midsummer Day or Saint John's Day) is a midsummer folk festival celebrated on 24 June all around Lithuania. While midsummer day is celebrated throughout Europe, many Lithuanians have a particularly lively agenda on this day. The traditions include singing songs and dancing until the sun sets, telling tales, searching to find the magic fern blossom at midnight, jumping over bonfires, greeting the rising midsummer sun and washing the face with a morning dew, young girls float flower wreaths on the water of river or lake. For thousands of years, Balts, the ancestors of the Lithuanians, have celebrated the summer solstice (Rasa to the Lithuanians) by offering sacrifices to the pagan gods, and priestesses light the altar fire. This tradition still continues to this day. The ritual is usually performed by members of Romuva (religion). When Christianity came to Lithuania, it brought with it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jāņi
Jāņi () is an annual Latvian festival celebrating the summer solstice. Although astronomically the solstice falls on 21 or 22 June, the public holidays—Līgo Day and Jāņi Day—are on 23 and 24 June. The day before Jāņi is known as Līgosvētki, Līgovakars or simply Līgo. On Jāņi, people travel from the city into the countryside to gather and eat, drink, sing and celebrate the solstice by observing the ancient folk traditions relating to renewal and fertility. It is celebrated both in Latvia and in many areas where the Latvian diaspora lives such as the United States, Canada, Argentina, and Australia. Title The name "Līgosvētki" was first used and introduced in 1900 in his Jāņi songs collection by Emilis Melngailis, who back in 1928 wrote in the newspaper "Jaunākās Ziņas": Traditions Use of plants Plant material, collected and used for decorative, therapeutic and other symbolic purposes, is important in the celebration of Jāņi. Most herbaceous plant, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midsummer
Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe. The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian martyr St John the Baptist, and the observance of St John's Day begins the evening before, known as Saint John's Eve. These are commemorated by many Christian denominations, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, and Anglican Communion, as well as by freemasonry. In Sweden, the Midsummer is such an important festivity that there have been proposals to make the Midsummer's Eve the National Day of Sweden, instead of June 6. In Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Midsummer's festival is a public holiday. In Denmark and Norway, it may also be referred to as St. Hans Day. History Saint John's Day, the feast day of Saint John the Baptist, was established by the undivided Christian Church in the 4th century AD, in honour of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solstice
A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countries, the seasons of the year are determined by the solstices and the equinoxes. The term ''solstice'' can also be used in a broader sense, as the day when this occurs. The day of a solstice in either hemisphere has either the most sunlight of the year ( summer solstice) or the least sunlight of the year (winter solstice) for any place other than the Equator. Alternative terms, with no ambiguity as to which hemisphere is the context, are " June solstice" and " December solstice", referring to the months in which they take place every year. The word ''solstice'' is derived from the Latin ''sol'' ("sun") and ''sistere'' ("to stand still"), because at the solstices, the Sun's declination appears to "stand still"; that is, the seasonal move ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Võidupüha
Võidupüha or Victory Day in English or the Victory Day in the Battle of Võnnu in Estonian is a public holiday in Estonia which occurs on June 23. The holiday has been celebrated since 1934 and marks the victory of Estonia and neighboring Latvia in the Battle of Cēsis against the Baltische Landeswehr on June 23, 1919. History The battle was part of the 1918–1920 Estonian Liberation War of Independence, in which the new Estonian government fought the Soviet Union's Red Army and the ''Baltische Landeswehr'', which consisted of Baltic German nobility from Courland and the Governorate of Livonia who served the German Empire and aimed to establish the United Baltic Duchy. After the fighting began On 19 June, the combined force of the 3rd Division, the Kuperjanov Infantry Partisian Battalion and the Latvian Northern Brigade held out for reinforcements arriving on 21 June despite the fact that they did not have the advantage when it came to weaponry (German troops had 5,500 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saaremaa
Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the island is Kuressaare, which in January 2018 had 13,276 inhabitants. The whole island had a recorded population in January 2020 of 31,435. Etymology In old Scandinavian sources, Saaremaa is called ''Eysysla'' and in the Icelandic Sagas ''Eysýsla'' (Old Norse: ), meaning "the district (land) of island". The island is called ''Saaremaa'' in Estonian language, Estonian, and in Finnish language, Finnish ''Saarenmaa''—literally "isle land" or "island land",Toomse, Liine. "10 Estonian Islands You Should Visit." http://www.traveller.ee/blog/tallinn/10-estonian-islands-you-should-visit. Retrieved 8 March 2016. i.e. the same as the Scandinavian name for the island. The old Scandinavian name is also the origin of the island's name in Danish language, D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaali Crater
Kaali is a group of nine meteorite craters in the village of Kaali on the Estonian island of Saaremaa. Most recent estimates put its formation shortly after 1530–1450 BC (3237+/-10 14C yr BP). It was created by an impact event and is one of the few impact events that has occurred in a populated area (other ones are: Henbury craters and Carancas crater). Before the 1930s there were several hypotheses about the origin of the crater, including theories involving vulcanism and karst processes. Its meteoritic origins were first conclusively demonstrated by Ivan Reinvald in 1928, 1933 and 1937. Formation The impact is thought to have happened in the Holocene period, around 3,500 years ago.Bianca MikovitšTeadlaste töö tulemus Kaali kraatri vanuse määramisel ühtib vana regilaulugaMaaleht, January 26, 2016 The estimates of the age of the Kaali impact structure (Saaremaa Island, Estonia) provided by different authors vary by as much as 6,000 years, ranging from ~6,400 to ~ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fern Flower
The fern flower is a magic flower in Baltic mythology ( lt, paparčio žiedas, lv, papardes zieds), in Estonian mythology ( et, sõnajalaõis) and in Slavic mythology ( be, папараць-кветка, pl, kwiat paproci, russian: цветок папоротника, uk, цвіт папороті). Tradition According to the myth, this flower blooms for a very short time on the eve of the summer solstice (celebrated on June 21 or sometimes July 7). It brings fortune to the person who finds it. In some tales, it allows animal speech understanding. It is closely guarded by evil spirits and its picker can have earthly riches, which have never benefited anyone, so some leave it alone. Estonian and Baltic In the Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian tradition, the fern flower is supposed to appear only on the night of 23 to 24 June during the celebration of the summer solstice which is called Jāņi in Latvia, Joninės or Rasos in Lithuania, Jaaniõhtu or Jaaniöö in Estonia a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nativity Of Saint John The Baptist
The Nativity of John the Baptist (or Birth of John the Baptist, or Nativity of the Forerunner, or colloquially Johnmas or St. John's Day (in German) Johannistag) is a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of John the Baptist. It is observed annually on 24 June. The Nativity of John the Baptist is a high-ranking liturgical feast, kept in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox and Lutheran churches. The sole biblical account of the birth of John the Baptist comes from the Gospel of Luke. Significance Christians have long interpreted the life of John the Baptist as a preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ, and the circumstances of his birth, as recorded in the New Testament, are miraculous. John's pivotal place in the gospel is seen in the emphasis Luke gives to the announcement of his birth and the event itself, both set in prominent parallel to the same occurrences in the life of Jesus. The sole biblical account of the birth of John the Baptist comes from the Go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bonfire
A bonfire is a large and controlled outdoor fire, used either for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Etymology The earliest recorded uses of the word date back to the late 15th century, with the Catholicon Anglicum spelling it as ''banefyre'' and John Mirk's ''Book of Festivals'' speaking of a communal fire in celebrations of Saint John's Eve that "was clene bones & no wode & that is callid a bone fyre". The word is thus a compound of "bone" and "fire." In 1755, Samuel Johnson misattributed the origin of the word as a compound of the French "''bon''" (“good”) and the English "fire" in A Dictionary of the English Language. Regional traditions In many regions of continental Europe, bonfires are made traditionally on 24 June, the solemnity of John the Baptist, as well as on Saturday night before Easter. Bonfires are also a feature of Walpurgis Night in central and northern Europe, and Bonfires of Saint John, the celebrations on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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