Winter Solstice

Christianity came late to Latvia. As a result, longer than almost any country in Europe, Latvia managed to hold on to it's pagan roots. Today, pagan festivals remain a more important part of the Latvian calendar than Christian festivals. In the pagan calendar, some of the most important dates are the solstices, one of which, the winter solstice, was celebrated just a few days ago. On the shortest day of the year, we joined thousands in Riga's Old Town, carrying torches and pulling a log on a rope through the cobbled streets. As we passed homes and shopfronts, the log absorbed all the evil spirits it could hold until, finally, the log and dozens of others dragged to the same final location, were thrown into a fire, starting a new year cleansed of the evil brought forward from the previous year.  A few days later, we celebrated again at the Open Air Museum. Songs and dancing, logs and fires -- it's this celebration of old traditions that draws us to Latvia. I have to admit, however, that we did feel a little uneasy much of the time. Having seen the film Midsommar just the other day, all the animal masks, torches, and the ever-present images of death did feel more than just a little foreboding.