‘This is the biggest thing that all Latvians wait for’: Summer solstice festivities begin in Latvia

At a park in northern Riga, Latvia, families gather for folk singing and dancing, paired with traditional Latvian midsummer snacks.

In Latvia, the summer solstice holiday has two names, Jāņi and Līgo, and is celebrated June 23-24.

But the holiday spirit is already in the air throughout the week leading up to that night.

“Mostly, we are sitting around the fireplace and cooking some special like Jāņu siers, a special cheese with cumin, and drinking beer,” explained Antra Drege, one of the event organizers.

The Jāņu siers cheese-eating and beer-drinking happens over the course of many hours.

“The tradition is that you have to stay awake all night to see the three-colored sun rising,” Dredge said. “This is all about magic, rituals, health and fertility, all those traditions.”

Many of these practices stem from old Latvian pagan traditions connected to nature, she said. The rituals were preserved and passed down from generation to generation.

One of the ways that people connect to nature during Jāņi is by making flower crowns and wreaths.

Baiba Sporge, weaving a flower crown as she explained to about a dozen children surrounding her, said that the flower crown has a lot of meaning because, in her tradition, the process of weaving it together symbolizes the making of a family.

Sporge has been making flower crowns since childhood and midsummer is her favorite time of year.

“This is the biggest festival, the biggest thing that all Latvians are waiting [for],” Sproge said. “Christmas is not comparing to this one, not even close.”

Most Latvians share the tradition of making a bonfire, dancing around and jumping over it. But Sporge said that what she’s doing right now, teaching kids how to make flower crowns, is one of the most meaningful aspects of the holiday.

“I’m very happy that the kids are coming, and they’re learning from me,” she said. “Because I know that when they are grown up, they will know how to make it, and they can teach their kids. This kind of thing is very special for our next generation.”

Sporge said that in addition to making flower crowns, eating cheese and dancing around bonfires — many families have unique Jāņi practices.

“In our place, we have a special ritual for sunrise,” said Iveta Vitola, who’s also attending the midsummer event, describing one of her family’s traditions. “We are sitting on the ground and screaming very loud, it’s very special. Because everybody, neighbors know, four o’clock, four fifteen, you should be there.”

For Vitola, this holiday, and that screaming, isn’t just a fun ritual. Over the years, it’s become meaningful, even therapeutic, for her.

“I think for me it’s like, to scream, and to dance, and to sing, and to just be in the nature, all the night,” she said.