The Spring Equinox begins the many springtime celebrations. Christianity incorporated Lithuanian Equinox traditions into Easter, and replaced the ancient Lithuanian name for the Equinox with the Slavic word 'Velykos', i.e. Easter. 'Pavasario lyge', meaning Spring Equinox, remains the only non-Christian name for the holiday.

The week before Equinox, called the Velykos of Veles (souls), concludes the annual cycle of commemorations of the dead. As during Kucios (Winter Solstice Eve), families remember their dead and leave their dinners on the tables overnight for the veles to eat.

The verba, principally made of juniper, birch and willow twigs interwoven with colored papers and flowers, symbolizes the force of life, the birth of new life, and rebirth of nature. It also improves health. Before or on the Equinox, people whip each other with verbas, wishing each other well. On Equinox morning everyone tries to rise as early as possible in order to catch the other family members sleeping, and whip them awake. This insures good health. The person whipped gives the person whipping a multicolored and decorated egg called a margutis. People also whip the Earth with verbas, awakening her life powers: plants, buds, and fruits. On no other occasion does anyone dare hit the Earth. While whipping each other, people splash each other, or whip each other while bathing. For many, Equinox celebrations include swimming in rivers and lakes, or, for those who fear the cold, in saunas. People place verbas by natural wells, thus blessing the spring water.

On the Equinox, each family extinguishes its winter hearth fire. Outdoors, the villages kindle a new fire with flint, invoking the Fire and Hearth Goddess Gabija. The spring fire symbolizes the light and warmth which new growth requires for maturation.

The margutis eggs--naturally dyed and colored, and then decorated--symbolize the rebirth of nature, the creation life, the birth of plants, and rejuvenation in general. The margutis contains the powers of growth and fruitfulness inside itself. Everybody challenges the durability of their friends 'eggs, and the winners--those with the strongest eggs--gain strength for the entire year. Breaking eggs re-enacts the breakage of the cosmic egg, from which the snake, called 'gyvate,' comes to grant life an fertility. The zaltys, the sacred zigzagged garden snake of the Lithuanians, also wakes from hibernation at this time.

In a tradition called 'lalavimas,' the young men and women, and children of the village go from house to house, serenading the young women and girls with their musical instruments. The visitors also give margutis eggs as presents, wishing the women and their households good fortune. Young people also wander outdoors, through the fields and forests, singing loudly and yelling "skalsa", which expresses wishes for life and for prosperity.

Everybody swings on swings in the spring, which helps nature arouse out of its long winter's sleep. This also helps the new growth. Special swinging songs accompany the frantic and often dare-deviled swinging.

The traditional Equinox foods include eggs, margutis, cheeses, farmer's cheese, cakes, ham, and oat sprouts. The meal starts with the exchange and hitting of margutis.