Riga (Latvia) - Līgo Jāņi

RIGA (Latvia)
23 June - 24 June 2017

Jāņi is an annual Latvian festival that celebrates the Summer solstice. Although, astronomically the solstice falls on either the 21st or 22nd of June, the public holidays of Līgo day and Jāņi day occur on the 23rd and 24th of June.

From what I was told its common for people to travel from the city to the countryside. Apparently most people living in the city has some sort of attachment or relationship to an area of a country and this time of year is made for that style of visit. The premise of what happens then is a common factor inherent in most celebration around the world, people gather to eat, drink, sing, celebrate and observe ancient folk traditions relating to renewal and fertility.

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Wearing the Oak leaf wreath - Vidzeme Smiltene

 Municipality - Latvia

Līgo Jāņi all set to proceed - Vidzeme -  Smiltene

 Municipality - Latvia

Our wedding had been planned for the 30th of June, so it just happened that the timing of our impending nuptials fit in perfectly with the Līgo day and Jāņi  (Summer solstice) celebrations. 

Now when I say, just happened, the all important caveat is that the day we selected was actually done son on the advice of a numerologist known to Inga's mother. The suggestion of the 30th of June was made on her assessment that the 30th was a day that would bring us good luck and fortune. I can't help but also think that now, on the back of such an important holiday that celebrates both renewal and fertility, that her outlook was inspired by running one major event off the back of another. Logical and appropriate.

The celebration of Līgo Jāņi this year would of course have additional significance due to our wedding being held in its afterglow and for the fact that we had planned a small gathering outside of Latvia with invites only going to very immediate family. This Summer solstice celebration would therefore also double as pre-wedding celebrations with Inga's family, which I thought was going to be a nice touch.

My oak wreath for representing physical strength and Inga's wreath of flowers and herbs for protection from disease, disaster and enemies

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme  - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme- Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Latvian flag raised - Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

....And HOLY COW....I have to say that I've NEVER been so IMPRESSED with the hosts of an event as I was with Inga's family. It was absolutely fabulous. So warm, so homely and welcoming, full of tradition and for me inspired in terms of the setting and how magical the surrounds were.

Inga's mother has family that live in the countryside at about the 150km marker.  As we drove in we were already in celebration mode. There was a large commercial grade tent or gazebo set up with a long table, decorations and what seemed liked an infinite amount of food. Considering Inga & I had been on a strict diet for so long I had raised my hand to be the representative of our new family in this instance and partake in all the delightful culinary options on offer....and boy, didn't I have an absolute blast. I weight myself the next evening and realised, not surprisingly, that I'd put on 3.5kgs! The accompanying tradition is of course the consumption of alcohol, which for the purposes of trying to maintain a semblance of shape I opted out of on this occasion, much to my own chagrin.

Looks like about 4pm in Australia, I believe this was close to 9pm

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Wedding gift

Vidzeme - Smiltene - Municipality - Latvia

How about that for special!!!

Now during Jāņi the tradition is to gather the most herbaceous of plant material and utilise it to decorate rooms, yards, court yards, grounds etc. This was of course done, ever so tastefully and expertly around the entire area. Additionally, circular wreaths are also made, with different types being made for females and males. Females usually have wreaths made of flowers, fresh herbs and grasses. Braided with other herbs, these are meant to repel disease, disaster and enemies. Men on the other hand have wreaths made of oak leaves, which in turn symbolises the physical strength associated with the oak tree.

Setting light to be taken into the new solar year - Vidzeme - Smiltene  Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Lanterns and candles made for a magical outlook

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Into the early hours - this was around 2am

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

What an afternoon/evening it was. There were folk songs, wedding games, drinking, eating and just a hell of a good time, all underpinned by a magical type of ambience for me, brought about by being part of something completely foreign to me, the nature of the setting and also being welcomed into a new family.

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme  - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Another tradition is that Jāņi fires are lit in the early evening (sunset) and are meant to be burned all night until morning. This practice is meant to reflect the belief that the light from the fires will transmit into the new solar year. They are also meant to be set at a high point in the immediate surrounds so as to bestow power and fertility onto the people on which is shines.

The goodness in this pot will cure all hangovers!

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

Vidzeme  - Smiltene Municipality - Latvia

As the fires were lit and both Līgo and Jāņi songs were sung well into the illuminated night, I felt very lucky to be in the position I was. Not just to have the experience that I was having but lucky to be marrying the person that I was and also thankful for the welcome that I was being given. It's hard to be able to offer foreigners these types of experience and for them to really appreciate it. I think that in this scenario it went both ways, the time, planning and work that went into this particular event was enormous and there's no amount that I could, at the time, offer in return other than to say that I was so very grateful.

Riga (LATVIA) - Meet the in-laws

Riga (Latvia)
23 September - 27 September 2015

The 11th of August 2010, that's the day that I walked into Shot Cafe in Riga. For any of you that want to find out about the place itself, well just take a look here; Shot Cafe.

I didn't know that on that day my life was going to take a sizeable turn for the good, the great, the awesome. Returning to Riga, 5 years later, was not something that I ever would have anticipated. Sure, from my earlier visit I remember Riga has having a beautiful old town and at the time of the year that I arrived on that occasion, the height of Summer, it was buzzing with an energy that is common for northern cities at that time of year. Still, and without disparaging Riga in anyway, it probably would not have been a city that I would have returned to immediately. It's no Paris or New York....and yet here I was, in the apartment of a girl I'd met once 5 years ago, that I'd had a first date with in Paris 1 year ago and then traveled around South America for 3 months only a few months prior. I was sitting in a very typical suburb, in an apartment on the other side of the world, in a city that I had no ties to other than this person. There was something I liked about that.

Riga - Latvia

Riga - Latvia

Riga - Latvia

Riga - Latvia

This trip to Riga was not just to 'hang out' with Inga and see the sites. After travelling around with Inga for three months her parents wanted to see who and what this odd being from the southern side of the world was. I'm sure they had their own questions, 'How will this guy relate to who we are', 'Does he even eat piragi?', 'Does he think we're Russians?', 'Do you have a pet kangaroo?' and 'Are you actually serious about our daughter...seriously...are you?' -  for those that don't care reading further the answers to those questions are 'Surprisingly well', 'Yes, I do now!', 'No, I don't', 'I wish I did', and 'Yes, very much so, yes'.

On my first full day in Riga we actually did a bike ride out of the city to a resort town on the Gulf of Riga named Jurmala. It's a town located 25 kms west of Riga, with a population of around 55,000, which makes it the fifth largest town in Latvia. For those that don't know, the population of Latvia isn't that big, and of a population that isn't very big 50% live in the capital Riga. So if you're sitting at a bar in Latvia talking to someone and know that you're not from Riga, well then the person you're talking to is.

Riga - Latvia

See the sort of haircut that Serbian butcher gave me!!!

Riga - Latvia

Riga - Latvia

The ride out the Jurmala was fantastic. The countryside was green, the freshness and the smell from the trees was powerful. Extremely European and very different to Australia, hell, different to Serbia too. The pine forests that surrounded the town itself were so fragrant with their perfume that it was kind of intoxicating for this unsuspecting traveller. Indeed, during the time that Latvia was part of the Soviet Union the city was known was being a holiday resort type of place, extremely popular amongst high ranking Communist party members. Indeed it appeared to me that Russian was perhaps the more spoken language in this town and I can only put that down to an historical echo.

Later that evening we rode back into Riga completing a 50km round trip ride for the day and made a stop at Shot Cafe...and now, he we were...5 yrs later, a time in some ways far removed from that day in August 2010 but in other ways very similar. A bar that I really never in my life expected to return to and could not have imagined a reason as to why I would, and yet, there I was. That's the lesson that life has taught me, again, and again, and again and AGAIN. There is no certainty in this world, not enough in my reckoning to ever have the confidence in saying that an event can NEVER HAPPEN. Perhaps your expectation or your desire for something may not eventuate in the time or even the manner that you anticipate, but, there are ways and odd constructions in life that somehow place events in your life that you could not have imagined happening. That's the beauty of life and that's why saying 'never' actually doesn't represent the final word on anything. 

On the Daugava - Riga - Latvia

 Riga - Latvia

Riga - Latvia

The first of the 'big days' for me was my third in Riga, not just for the canal and river cruise that Inga and I did in the city and on the Daugava, or for the walk through the old town but tonight was to be my introduction to Inga's family. On this evening I was going to meet Inga's mother (Zaiga) and her brother (Davis) - not that I was showing the nerves but had you have run a hand down my back you would have thought that I'd recently gone been for a swim. I was questioning how I was going to communicate, how would they manage to understand my humour, whether dinner would just sound like a whole load of chirping crickets...too many questions, too many options for doubt.

Thankfully the dinner went well. Actually, I think it was very good. We all managed to converse, chat and manage any barriers in language in good humour. I'm sure at the time they were weighing me up too thinking 'what the hell is this foreigner wanting to achieve here'...and I can understand that. Coming from the other side of the world what else could you expect? Here's a person that is different to most things that you can directly relate to. His way of life, his geographical location, his friends and family, they're all different - how do you deal with that in a manner you can easily accept? .....well, they did. To their credit they made things then, and every day since then, more than comfortable for me. I've never ever felt like an outsider and I can only commend them for how kind they've been.

Riga - Latvia

Riga - Latvia

Riga - Latvia

Riga - Latvia

The following day was was a little bit like the day prior. Inga and I spent much of the day on the river, kayaking the city canal and some of the islands on the Daugava. Later that evening was drinks with Inga's father. Another assessment task to be passed but perhaps a little easier in that I'd had dinner with her family the prior night, and also, from the perspective from her father, that he himself is not a native Latvian. So perhaps his understanding of me was a little different as he could relate to his own situation.

Riga - Latvia

Riga - Latvia

Riga - Latvia

In total I spent five days in Riga and they were all fantastic. When I reflect on how I actually arrived in Riga the first time, the trail of discussions, the random decision making, both the small and large decisions, they all pointed to being at a location on a date and time that was necessary. Perhaps another trail and a different turn would have taken me elsewhere with a completely different plan, but now, here I am, and this path is now mine. Would I change anything that would not have taken me from where I was, to this very time in Riga, to the point in time from where I'm writing this blog? HELL NO, of course not!!!!! So thank you Riga, you will forever have a place in my heart and you'll forever be part of our lives.