Easter in Latvia

The Christian festival of Easter is celebrated in Latvia as Lieldienas ([lield̪ien̪as̪]). 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 the following week. Each day has a special significance. Also, many pagan elements of celebrating Lieldienas have become a tradition.

Lieldienas dates

Nowadays, the common date of Lieldienas is the first Sunday after the first full moon, after or during the vernal equinox. Thus, the Western Christian Church Lieldienas falls on a date between 22 March and 25 April. In Eastern Orthodox Churches, which used the Julian calendar, Lieldienas falls on a date between 4 April and 8 May in Gregorian calendar.

Latvian customs of celebrating Lieldienas

Before the arrival of Christianity, Lieldienas was a spring solstice event, celebrating the victory of light over darkness.

Egg-related beliefs

Although dainas have no conclusive indication of egg painting tradition in ancient times, the majority of them mention golden, silver and white eggs. Therefore, it can be concluded that egg painting is more of a modern tradition. In order for eggs to be diverse, they were boiled with colorful cloth. In one area, grits are poured in, while in other, people added colorful birch leaves, fir needles, cells, a variety of flowers, herbs or just reel them with a colorful yarn. Every family have a different way of following this tradition.