Ziemassvētki (Winter Festival) in Latvia - Sundays in My City

Latvia still celebrates the Winter Solstice!  I'd been searching for a Winter Solstice celebration and was surprised to find that many cold, northern places have Summer Solstice celebrations but I wasn't finding anything for the winter.  I was surprised as I would think places with long, dark winters would want to celebrate the point where the days start getting longer. Well, since I hadn't yet been to Latvia I was happy to hear that they have a true, public Winter Solstice celebration so off to Riga I went!

Riga is a small city and it was not at all crowded which I greatly appreciated!  The entire population of Latvia is less than 2 million.  This was my first trip to the Baltic states and my first former Soviet country.  I had thought it was the furthest east I've ever been in Europe but when I double checked the map I realized that my trip to Romania and Bulgaria back in 2011 was further east.

Celebration of the Winter Solstice (which occurs somewhere around the 21st of December) long predates the modern christmas holiday and many of the current christmas festivities (evergreen trees inside, yule logs, etc) have their roots in Winter Solstice traditions. Even though Latvia did eventually succumb to christian invasion, it didn't give up its ancient rituals such as celebrating the Winter Solstice like many other cultures did.

On the evening of the Winter Solstice in Riga, there were songs (sung in Latvian, old Russian (I was told), maybe other languages I didn't understand?), some dancing, people wearing masks, logs dragged through the old town while chanting and singing and then set alight.

The log dragging/burning tradition was explained so: "The merry-makers will drag a log from one homestead to another, gathering all misfortunes from the past year.  Afterward the log will be set ablaze, and everyone will be able to burn away his/her negative thoughts, failures, fears."

What I like so much about the Winter Solstice celebration (as compared to the ubiquitous red-suited man bringing toys) is that it isn't about STUFF.  It's not about obligation, going into debt, annoying-as-hell music for a month+.  It's just about celebrating the end of the longest night of the year and welcoming the return of more daylight.  Saying goodbye to negative thoughts, failures, and fears?  Sounds good to me!

Even though I couldn't understand any of the words that were being said/sung, I appreciated the ceremony and the ritual of the celebration.  And I applaud Latvia for holding onto its traditions!

What negative thoughts, failures, or fears are you saying goodbye to (or what positive thoughts are you welcoming along with the return of light)?





N.B. Any negative comments about the evils of celebrating a "pagan" tradition or anything about devil worship or how we're going to hell or basically anything along those lines will be immediately deleted.  My blog, my rules.  

The Good, The Bad, and the August

There are things I love about Italy.  Pizza and wine are good and cheap! I was allowed to take my dogs in to get the pizza and the wine. There's no rush to finish your food and vacate the table.  They will leave you sitting there all night unless you ask for the check. Italians will tell you that you speak Italian well even if you don't.  They just appreciate that you try.  Many "prescription" drugs can be bought over-the-counter.  This is super convenient! It's a complex culture...men will live at home with their parents until they get married (because a woman has to take care of them) but they will also wear pink skinny jeans and carry a man purse.  The definitions of masculinity are blurred.

There are things that I don't love about Italy.  Most places are closed on Sundays (especially in small towns) which means I have to do my errands like grocery shopping on Saturday and if I'm traveling, well, Allorah!  Many places close for riposa (basically the afternoon nap) including things like the gas station. Restaurants don't open until 7pm (or later!) and even then aren't ready to serve you food.  It's my bed time before you can eat :( The train system is privatized so there are several companies offering train service which makes it confusing and the so-called competition does not make it more efficient.  The Dutch and Germans have much better, cleaner, on-time service.

Weekday gas station hours (closed from 1230-1430).  They are only open in the morning on Saturdays and closed on Sundays.

Italians know how to August! August is the month when most Italians take vacation.  Who cares that there's an economy in decline.  Close the store/gas station/manufacturing plant for a month and go on holiday!  I'm not joking.  Not everything closes for the whole month but plenty do.  File this under "things I don't like." The gas station is closed for 2 weeks.  The cabinetry manufacturer (I work in construction) is closed for the whole month. Your car breaks down...there's a good chance you're waiting until September to get it fixed (my friend is facing this problem right now)!

Sign at the gas station.

I usually don't travel in August because places are crowded, prices are higher, trains are packed, roads are traffic-jammed.  But this past weekend I went to one of the local termes.  According to the community's website:

Abano Terme, the most important and oldest thermal center in Europe, stands in a location at the feet of the Euganean Hills and in the center of the Veneto Region.  Its name comes from the Greek, "a ponos," which means that it takes away pain.

According to legend

Hercules and his heroic companions set off from Greece to defeat Geryon. Finally exhausted and worn out after having killed him, they were restored by the miraculous virtues of that hot water and did not want to return to Greece. Also attracted by the beauty of the surrounding hills, they stayed to live there. The hills were named Euganean because of the nobility of their descent. The spring that had given much relief to warriors was called Aponon in Greek. Hercules himself, in order to purge the evil to Geryon, built a temple in Abano in his honor, permitting him to become an oracle. As Suetonius wrote, this legend was well known in the Roman world; the emperor Tiberius, one day when he was travelling to Illyria, wanted to listen to this famous oracle and he got a peremptory response, precisely to throw gold dice into the spring, exactly where Abano stands today, to be advised about his fate. Legend has it that the dice made the water precious, giving it special properties that can heal various diseases.

There are multiple hotel and spa complexes with pools of varying temperature.  Generally, getting into a swimming pool the temperature of bath water when it's 85-95 degrees outside is not my idea of a good time.  But I needed a get-away and it's close by.

One of the things I love about the Italians is that, despite having some rigid rules about how to dress (no sneakers at dinner, you wear a coat because it's November whether it's 80 degrees or 20 outside) they seem to have no issues with wearing whatever you want while swimming.  All types of bodies were on display and almost every woman, regardless of age or size, was wearing  bikini.  There was no expectation to cover C-section scars, belly rolls, back fat, cellulite...  Men wore trunks or tight little shorts or speedos.  Everyone walked/sat around as if their body was completely acceptable just the way it was.  As it should be!!  Seriously, that was the best part of the weekend for me.

I didn't take a lot of pictures because the rules said not to.  Now, the rules also said no smoking was allowed but people did that.  The rules also said no dogs were allowed but there were several. One rule that is strictly adhered to is the swim cap rule.  Everyone must wear a swim cap.  Even bald men!

Everyone wearing their swim cap! Are there peculiar rules where you live? Do people know how to August?

Not My Holiday

I've posted before about how I don't do christmas and how I consider thanksgiving to be just another Thursday.  I was glad this year to see Angie at Angie Eats Peace post about how she doesn't celebrate holidays. Because often it feels like I'm the only one.

To me, holidays have come to represent nothing more than absurd, out-of-control consumerism, obligation-fueled-guilt, expectation-induced-disappointment, the depression that those who can't afford or are alone (because we're told it's the worst thing to be alone for the holidays) experience and SO. MUCH. STUFF.  It saddens me greatly to see such an emphasis put on toys when so many are in such great need for basic necessities. 

Just thinking about how many trees were killed to produce the shiny paper used to wrap all those presents...so many of which were not what people wanted or needed but were given because...well...you have to give *something*.  The stress, the expense, the waste...for what?  I mean, really, why do people do it?  The pressure to do enough...be enough...BUY enough...I just don't get it.  Perhaps if more people stood up and said, "Actually, no, I'd rather not. It doesn't bring me joy or happiness.  Honestly, I just want to take a nap (okay, maybe that part's just me!)," we could start a movement away from the madness of it all.

Mind you, I had a great childhood with very happy holidays and there are traditions my family has that I cherish. But from a rather young age I thought it was very excessive and wasteful.  I've tried to convince my mother of this but she still insists on buying far more than we need.  My father has always been on board with me. 

One of my favorite scientists started a firestorm by tweeting,

On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642.

Which is true. But apparently sharing the celebration the birth of your deity with a fat man in a red suit who delivers toys (or coal if you didn't behave) is okay but mentioning that the man who discovered the laws of motion, the universal law of gravitation, and invented integral and differential calculus - all of which served as the mechanistic foundation for the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries - was born on that day is somehow egregious.  Seriously, if your religion is so fragile that it can't stand up to a 125 character tweet about Isaac Newton or someone saying they don't celebrate the holiday (which is seen as some sort of world evil based on my experience of expressing my lack of celebration) then ...well...maybe you need to reexamine your faith.  

I'll stick to calling 25 December "just another day" and saving my sanity and bank account the terror that is rampant, senseless consumerism.

How do you feel about the holidays?

Happy Solstice - Sundays in My City

I love the solstice. I love what it represents and even though isn't not as dark here as it was in the Netherlands I'm still happy to celebrate the return of light.  There was a solstice celebration at the Conservatory at Druid Hill Park in Baltimore.

Inside the conservatory was a grand poinsettia display.

 

Outside were fires and music and a Winter Solstice Bonfire Resolution

 

Happy solstice!!

Carnaval - Sundays in My City

One of the most important local events in the Dutch province of Limburg is Carnaval. During the three-days of Carnaval people will dress up, go out, drink and be very merry.

Seen while walking the dogs this morning

At the train station

Yellow, Green and Red are the colors of Carnaval

The Vegetable Woman. At midnight on Tuesday, the end of Carnaval, she'll be thrown in the river.

The Carnaval Prince of Maastricht.  The Chronicles of Babylon, in 2600 B.C. speak of the sacrificial death of the king every year during the New Year's celebrations. The king would die for his people in order for them to start the new year without sins. To prevent the kinghood becoming a one-year affair, it was decided to have a temporary king during these days. This would be either a terminally ill person or a criminal condemned to death. During the festivities these men would live the life of a king. Now-a-days a Prince is selected in each city, town and village. As far as I know he is not sacrificed!

Me

You don't have to dress up in costume to join in the fun over at Unknown Mami!