Christmas in Latvia

1. CHRISTMAS
IN LATVIA
Rīgas 22. vsk

2. Christmas time starts with
Advent.
Children together with their
parents make an Advent wreath.
It is usually made of conifer
branches, moss, cones, dried
flowers, orange slices, ribbons,
beads and other things of their
creative imagination.
Four candles are put in the
wreath and lighted up one by one
on four Advent Sundays.

3. Advent time is full of
wonderful and soulful
concerts in concert halls and
churches around Latvia.
Many of Latvia’s best
known musicians, actors,
actresses perform original
Latvian Christmas songs
and international melodies.

4.  Christmas time is popular with Christmas markets around Latvia.
 The Grand Christmas Market and the tree are on the Dome Square in the
Old town in Riga. The Christmas Market is popular with locals as well as
tourists visiting Riga. Every visitor has a chance to get familiar with variety
of Latvian products and handicrafts: wooden toys, hand-made Christmas
decorations, candles, basketry, woolen sweaters, socks, gloves, sheepskin,
linen fabrics as well as painted silk, glassware and many others.

5.  People start preparing for
Christmas in time.
 Tidying up the living space is one
of the tasks that Latvians are
encouraged to do to make
everything around a bit cleaner.
 It is also expected to have the home
decorated with traditional decors,
not with what you can usually buy
in the shopping center.
 Small branches and fir-cones are
some of them. If nature is not really
your place to be, it’s interesting to
have ornaments or anything else
you can make with your own
hands.

6.  Another characteristic and old Christmas tradition is dragging the Yule
log. Usually it is the log of an oak tree. This is explained as the symbolic
collecting and burning of last year's problems and misfortunes. The Yule
log was either dragged by the people of one farmstead or several
neighbors together. This was accompanied by songs, singing games, and
various sounding instruments. If people from different farmsteads came
together, then it was burned in the last farmstead.

7.  Ancient Latvians dedicated lots of time to
fortunetelling. Christmas Eve was not an
exception.
 The Latvians also liked to bewitch luck – a
proverb says that a lot of money will come to
you if a black cat is carried around the
church on Christmas Eve.
 One frequently used fortune-telling method
involves ladling molten lead or wax into a
pail of icy water and reading the twisted
shapes as signs of future events.

9.  Family dinner at Christmas Eve is a very important event during Christmas.
 The most popular Latvian Christmas dish is boiled grey peas with the souce of fried meat and onions. Usually
eaten accompanied by a drink – curdled or cultured milk. All of the peas must be eaten by the morning to avoid
tears in the new year.
 A traditional dish is also boiled pigs head with boiled pearl barley.
 Usually we make bacon rolls with fatty bacon and onion.
 Today one of the most popular Christmas meals is roast pork with stewed sauerkraut.
 A modern festive table also often includes carp, and fish scales are placed in pockets and purses, so that the new
year brings a lot of money. According to Latvian tradition you should eat nine meals at Christmas for the coming
year to be rich, although today this ritual is performed only rarely.
 In the last 100 years it has also become popular to bake gingerbread at Christmas. All kids like making them.

10. Christmas dinner is usually followed
by coming of Father Christmas
(Ziemassvētku vecītis) who brings to
house or leaves a sack full of presents.
But it is not so easy to get them. In
order to get a present you have to
recite a poem, sing a song, dance or
even play a musical instrument while
standing next to the Christmas tree.
So, kids before Christmas are really
learning by heart a lot of poems and
songs.

11. PRIECĪGUS ZIEMASSVĒTKUS !