Regional/Cultural Day
Māras Diena
A pre-Christian festival honoring Mara, the goddess of the earth, fertility, and wealth. The day is observed with traditional songs, bonfires, and the baking of Mara's bread. The Mara cult is one of the oldest in Latvia, and the goddess is still invoked in folk songs (dainas) that are over 1,000 years old. The dainas are the oral literature of Latvia, and over 1.2 million have been collected and catalogued.