Fire Day in Latvia

Labrencis has entered the Latvian folk tradition as a patron of fire, this day (August 10) is called the Fire Day in its ancient name, Labrence - the Firefighter, and the first ten days of August - the time of fire. It is forbidden to burn fire during this time, especially on the bog.

However, the ban on fire covers a wider period of time - from Spring Mara, when neither the scales nor the candles were burned, so that the rust would not light the grain and the buildings would not burn. If on the day of Labrenčs, however, the oven must be set up, then a bucket of water must be placed in the oven. After Labrencs, the threshing of the fire and the evening in the rooms began.

To protect himself from fires, he was sacrificed for fire that day - a piece of cake was thrown into the fire, but a rooster or a lamb was slaughtered in front of the barn on Labrenc's evening.

If there are no frosts a week before and after Labrenča, it will be late and warm autumn, while frost promises early autumn.

Since the fire was not allowed, the food was cooked that day either outside the house or only after sunset. The day before, boiled bean pods and porridge, which was heated in the evening. The most common food was goat meat, because it seemed that they tasted pretty good if slaughtered that day (it was believed that after Labrenča, the smell of goats appeared more and more). Perhaps the horses are also mentioned in the beliefs because there were markets on that day where goats were usually traded. You have to start eating apples from today, because until then they have no taste. In Labrence, butter made without salt for more than a year before sunrise and used as a healing remedy.