Autumn Traditions

Miķeļi

The ending of summer and the turning of the sun towards winter marks the autumn equinox (September 23). By the celebration of Miķeļi all crops must be stored and the gardens harvested, as after Miķeļi the gates are open for winter.

There is a special place for rituals connected with the reaping of grain at the end of summer and the beginning of fall. With the beginning of reaping theRudenāji are celebrated, but at the conclusion of the reaping work, the most important assignment for the reapers was the driving or catching of Jumis.

The word "Jumis" has two meanings: two ears on one stalk are called Jumis, or two fruits or vegetables that have grown together. In addition, Jumis in Latvian beliefs is a field spirit and embodiment of fertility.

The oldest way of catching Jumis combined expressions of sowing and reaping work. That is, upon the completion of reaping, a Jumis-clump was left uncut, the ears were tied in a knot, bent to the ground, and weighed down with a stone or surrounded with soil. The grain was rubbed out of the ears in the clump and scattered in the prepared soil. The spirit and strength of the harvest was directed back into the earth, so that it could appear again in the new sowing.

Later the last sheaf is plaited into a wreath or braid, taken home with great honor, and given to the mistress, who saves it in a place of honor until the next sowing. In the spring the grain rubbed from the wreath is sown, or the entire wreath is placed under a rock in the field.

As a special Jumis-food, a particular Jumis-loaf is baked. It is larger than the usual bread loaf, and it is a great honor to eat this.

Sowing, threshing, and the catching of Jumis is connected with group labor - talkas. Neighbors gathered together to do work, and after that they had a feast with special responsorial singing, dancing, and fertility rituals with erotic symbolism. One of these rituals was the struggle over the stebere (an imitation of the phallus from a carrot and a pair of onions), that the boys tried to take away from the girls.

When the harvest is completed the festival of Apjumības is celebrated. Following this, or in some regions after Miķeļi, the quiet shadow period begins. At this time the shadows - spirits of the dead - visit the farmsteads to look over the life of the household and to bring blessings for the course of future life and work. Special feasts are prepared in the threshing barns, saunas, or the living room.