Māras

Māras ([mɑːras̪]) or Māra Day (sometimes referred as Great Māra Day or Mother Day) was a Latvian festival, devoted to Māra, an ancient deity, and was celebrated on 15 August. According to solar calendar, Māras marks the midpoint between Jāņi, which is summer solstice, and Miķeļi, that represents the end of the harvest season. The actual date, likely, is the result of Christian influence, identifying Māra with Virgin Mary, whose devoted holiday (Assumption of Mary) is observed on 15 August.

References

Seasonal Mythological holidays of Latvia

Meteņi Lieldienas Jurģi Jāņi Māras Miķeļi Mārtiņi Ziemassvētki

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 2/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.

Māras

See also

References