Christmas in Latvia. Winter Solstice

Advent wreath Road in winter Many of the Christian traditions in Latvia are related with earlier pagan traditions.

Christmas tree The first documented use of an evergreen tree in a Christmas celebration was in Riga, Latvia, in the year 1510 according to many sources.

Decorations During Christmas rooms are decorated with three-dimensional straw or reed ornaments - lukturi, puzuri. Evergreen branches, junipers, wood shavings, apples and other natural materials are also used in the decorations.

Puzuri Making of ornaments

Christmas food Cooked grey peas with lard (roasted bacon bits) Bacon pies Beans Boiled pig’s head Sauerkraut with sausages Smoked Baltic herring Barley sausage Gingerbread One of Latvia’s staple values is rye bread especially tasty with honey

Grey peas There must be at least nine different foods set on the Christmas table

Traditions Mummery (masquerade) Mummers or ķekatnieki dressed up as storks, cranes, tall woman, Gypsies, wolves, bears, sheep, Death, etc., go from house to house, singing and riddle-telling.

Traditions Dragging the Yule log. A big, heavy block of wood is dragged around the house and then burned as a purification rite for the new year. This is explained as the symbolic collecting and burning of last year's problems and misfortunes.

Bath going

Beliefs In Christmas you have to eat nine times, then in home will be rich. Don’t lick your fingers, otherwise you often will cat them. In Christmas all the peas must be eaten, so that there won’t be any tears the next year. If, on Christmas Eve, when the maiden goes into the barn, the cock crows first, then her husband will be handsome and smart, but if the ram bleats first, then he will be stubborn and slow-witted.

Luck casting Luck casts from lead, tin or candles. When you pour this smelted metal or parafin in the cold water it turns in different figurations. People watch them, try to explain and to foresee the luck.

Folk Songs Gausi nāca, nu atnāca Tie bagāti Ziemas svētki: Trīs dieniņas, trīs naksniņas Nāk pār kalnu kūpēdami. Ziemassvētki sabraukuši Rakstītām kamanām. Tekat, bērni, saņemat Basajām kājiņām. Izcepu kukuli Četriem stūriem: Tas bija ķekatu Mielastiņš.

Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus!