Vai kāds zin vārdienas vēsture? Kad pirmo reizi svinēja vārdienas? Kā šī tradicija iesākās?

Laikam bazniicas deelj...............beernus saaka deeveet sveetulju
vaardos utt.

Name days are a tradition of attaching personal names to each day of the year, and celebrating the association of particular days with those for whom that day is named. It is common in large parts of Europe. The tradition originates from the Christian church calendar and the tradition to name children after saints, although in many countries it has no connection to the church anymore.

pete

About names day,

click on this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/name_day

Janis, verrry famous name day

Yes, they originate from Saints’ names days on the Christian calendar...and they have been observed (to greater or lesser degrees) in every country in which we’ve lived. 

Including St. John’s Day...or San Juan Day...here in Colombia, which is not QUITE as crazy as it is in the Baltics and Scandinavia, but same general idea.  In Catholic countries, including Latin America, the idea is the celebration of Baptism (John the Baptist), but the festivities center around the pre-Christian notions of fertility.  Celebrations always include fires/bonfires, dancing and rituals that honor and involve fertility rites...just as in Jani/Ligo.

When we lived in Finland I was amazed at the huge billboards for birth control/condoms that would appear in early June...hmmm...right before Midsummer’s, apparently timed deliberately.

I always wondered if having a birthday at this time of year would be like having a birthday on Christmas...anticlimatic?

Speaking of name days, is today your Latvian name day Susanna?  :-)

All the best to you from another Latvian wannabe!

Pierre

Why, yes, Pierre...it is.  Thank you for noticing...when is yours?  Or do you celebrate on one of those catch-all days...for all persons with names not otherwise assigned?:-)

And the funny thing is that my actual b’day is at the end of this week.  Kind of like being born on Christmas...this having one’s name day be so close to the birthday.  But I did get lots of e-cards...always nice to hear from people...and my daughter called.

I’ll wish you Happy Birthday now, before I forget!

There is the May (22nd?) catch-all day, but I prefer to celebrate with all the Pēreri, on June 29th I believe.

My wife’s name day is on Dec 24th, so goes unnoticed at Christmas. However, during soviet days when Christmas celebrations were forbidden, her name day was a convenient reason to celebrate during the holidays.

Pierre

See:

http://www.daily-tangents.com/Kalendars/ Welcome to the Latvian Nameday Calendar

http://www.davanas.lv/?q=vardi Vārdadienu meklēšana

http://www.uzdavini.lv/days/names.html

http://www.e-cards.lv/?l=lv&dir=3