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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. 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 going to church. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Estonian War Of Independence
The Estonian War of Independence, also known as the War of Freedom in Estonia, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Soviet Russian westward offensive of 1918–1919 and the 1919 aggression of the pro–German '' Baltische Landeswehr''. The campaign was the struggle of the newly established democratic state 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 During the 1917 Russian Revolution, the newly elected provincial legislature ( State Diet or '' Maapäev'') of the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia proclaimed itself the highest sovereign authority in Estonia, instead of the new Bolshevik government of Russia. As a result, the local Bolsheviks soon dissolved the ''Maapäev'' and temporarily forced the democratically elected Estonian leadership underground in the capital Tallinn. A few months later, in F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lennart Meri
Lennart Georg Meri (; 29 March 1929 – 14 March 2006) was an Estonian writer, film director, and statesman. He was the country's foreign minister from 1990 to 1992 and President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. 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 lived in Tallinn when Estonia was invaded and occupied by the Stalinist Soviet Union in June 1940. In 1941, the Meri family was deported to Siberia along with thousands of other Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians sharing the same f ... [...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. The celebrations often involve flower wreaths, bonfires and torchlit processions, and music and dancing. Background The festival is a Christan festival celebrated widely in the Baltics, and is celebrated the night before the Feast Day of Saint John the Baptist. This coincides with the summer solstice, when the day is longest and the night the shortest in the year, and so the festival also has pagan roots. The festival is also called Rasos or Kupolė (the Feast of the Dews). Celebrations may include reference to the hunt for the magic fern flower, torchlight processions, and traditional dance and music. A bonfire or pyrotechnics shows are also common elements of the celebrations, as well as weaving flower crowns out of flowers and herbs. Some rituals involved girls decorating a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 day before Jāņi is known as Līgosvētki, Līgovakars or simply known as 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. Etymology The name stems from the pre-Christian Latvian name of Jānis and had been found in written sources as early as the 19th century. The name stems from the verb ''jāt'' 'to come/ride/go' as a reference to the passage of the seasons and the advance of the cosmic flow. The name ''Līgo'' or ''Līgosvētki'' was first u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midsummer
Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer, taking place on or near the date of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest Daytime, day of the year. The name "midsummer" mainly refers to summer solstice festivals of European origin. These cultures traditionally regard it as the middle of summer, with the season beginning on May Day. Although the summer solstice falls on June solstice, 20, 21 or 22 June in the Northern Hemisphere, it was traditionally reckoned to fall on 23–24 June in much of Europe. These dates were Christianization of saints and feasts, Christianized as Saint John's Eve and Nativity of John the Baptist, Saint John's Day. It is usually celebrated with outdoor gatherings that include bonfires and feasting. History There is Archaeoastronomy, evidence that the summer solstice has been culturally important since the Neolithic era, with List of archaeoastronomical sites by country, many ancient monuments throughout Eurasia and the Am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solstice
A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly sun path, excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries, the seasons of the year are defined by reference to the solstices and the equinoxes. The term ''solstice'' can also be used in a broader sense, as the day when this occurs. For locations not too close to the equator or the poles, the dates with the longest and shortest periods of daylight are the summer and winter solstices, respectively. 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. Etymology The word ''solstice'' is derived from the Latin () and (), because at the solstices, the Sun's declination appears to "stand still"; that is, the seasonal movement of the Sun's sun path, daily path (as seen from Earth) paus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Võidupüha
Võidupüha (or Victory Day in English language, English or the Victory Day in the Battle of Võnnu in Estonian language, Estonian) is a Public holidays in Estonia, 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 (1919), Battle of Cēsis against the Baltische Landeswehr on June 23, 1919. History The battle was part of the 1918–1920 Estonian Estonian Liberation War, 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 Germans, Baltic German Baltic nobility, 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 (Estonia), 3rd Division, the Kuperjanov Infantry Battalion, Kuperjanov Infantry Parti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saaremaa
Saaremaa (; ) is the largest and most populous island in Estonia. Measuring , its population is 31,435 (as of January 2020). The main island of the West Estonian archipelago (Moonsund archipelago), it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and northwest of the Gulf of Riga. The administrative centre of the island, and of the Saare ''maakond'' (county), is the town of Kuressaare. From the 13th century until the first half of the 20th century, the island of Saaremaa was known in most of the world by variants of its other historical name Ösel. Etymology Saaremaa was called ''Eysýsla'' in the Icelandic sagas and other early medieval Scandinavian sources (Old Norse: , meaning "the island district"), and named in contrast with ''Aðalsýsla'' ("the great district") or the Estonian mainland. The island is called in modern Estonian and in Finnish — literally "land of the isle" or "land of the island",Toomse, Liine. "10 Estonian Islands You Should Visit." http ... [...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 in Australia and Carancas crater in Peru). 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, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fern Flower
The fern flower is a Magic (paranormal), magic flower in Baltic mythology (, ), in Estonian mythology () and in Slavic mythology (, , , ). Tradition According to the myth, this flower blooms for a very short time on the eve of the summer solstice (celebrated on June 21, June 23 and 24 or sometimes July 7). It brings fortune to the person who finds it. In some tales, it allows humans to understand animal speech. It is closely guarded by evil spirits and though the one who succeeds in gathering it can receive Christian views on poverty and wealth, earthly riches, that attainment has always brought ill luck, so some leave it alone. Estonian and Baltic In the Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian culture, 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, Saint Jonas' Festival, Joninės or Saint Jonas' Festival, Rasos in Lithuania, Jaaniõhtu or Jaaniöö in Estonia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nativity Of Saint John The Baptist
Nativity or The Nativity may refer to: Birth of Jesus Christ * Nativity of Jesus, the Gospel stories of the birth of Jesus Christ * Nativity of Jesus in art, any depiction of the nativity scene ** ''Nativity'' (Barocci), a 1597 painting by Federico Barocci ** ''Nativity'' (Campin), a 1420 panel painting by Robert Campin ** ''Nativity'' (Christus), a devotional mid-1450s oil-on-wood panel painting by Petrus Christus ** ''Nativity'' (Correggio), a painting finished around 1529–1530 by Antonio da Correggio ** ''Nativity'' (El Greco), ** ''Nativity'' (Geertgen tot Sint Jans) or ''Nativity at Night'', a painting of about 1490 by Geertgen tot Sint Jans ** ''Nativity'' (Lanfranco), ** ''Nativity'' (Masaccio) or ''Desco da parto'', a birthing-tray painted by Masaccio ** ''Nativity'' (Master of the Brunswick Diptych), ** ''Nativity'' (Parmigianino), ** ''Nativity'' (Simone dei Crocifissi), ** ''The Nativity'' (Burne-Jones), 1888 ** ''The Nativity'' (Piero della Francesc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Cēsis (1919)
The Battle of Cēsis (; , Battle of Võnnu; , Battle of Wenden), fought near Cēsis (Wenden) in June 1919, was a decisive battle in the Estonian War of Independence and the Latvian War of Independence. After heavy fighting an Estonian force moving from the north, supplemented by Latvian units, repelled Baltic German attacks and went on full counter-attack. Background Latvia had declared independence in 1918, but was unable to stop the advance of the Red Army, resulting in the loss of Riga. The advance of the Red Latvian Riflemen was stopped by the German VI Reserve Corps. The Reserve Corps under general Rüdiger von der Goltz consisted of the '' Baltische Landeswehr'', the Freikorps Iron Division, and the Guard Reserve Division. The Latvian volunteers loyal to the Provisional Government were also placed under the command of the ''Baltische Landeswehr''. On 16 April 1919, the Latvian government of Kārlis Ulmanis was toppled by the Germans, who installed a puppet German P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
