Celebrating the Winter Solstice (Ziemas Saulgriezi) in Latvia and… in Boston!

As the Winter Solstice is near I was curious about the way Latvians celebrated it. I also thought I could do something they do even if in a small symbolic way. What I found was fascinating! Read on…

First off it is important to note to Latvians, the celebration of the Winter Solstice was one of their biggest and important celebrations before the arrival of Christianity. As the country had less than 6 hours of light right before the solstice, the theme of light over darkness took center stage parallel to the believe of good over evil.

Oak Log rolling and Lighting.

This log lighting (or burning) is similar to the Winter Solstice tradition found in other Baltic, Celtic, Germanic, and Slavic countries. When it combined with Christianity it slit off to the Yule Log or Christmas Block tradition as well.

Following pagan tradition, Latvians haul oak logs from farm to farm, and then to the center of towns and one even makes it to the capital and burn them. These trunks are heavy with the burdens of the passing year including misfortunes, negative thoughts and stagnant energies. They burn them as a celebration of warmth and light, and it is also a ritual cleansing, a fiery goodbye to the darkness and a hopeful embrace of new light. The lighting of the oaks log also symbolized the rebirth of the Sun Goddess.

When Christianity came in, the burning of the log the birth of Jesus by some while others claimed it symbolized Jesus’s triumph over sin. 

Today the tradition continues as a Pagan, Christian, Secular and Mixed tradition.

Credit: eng.lsm.lv

This is the log lighting celebration in the capital Riga:

And photos:

Cr. Xinhuanet.com

Cr. Xinhuanet.com

Cr. Daily Sabat

Ķekatas (Mumming) and Dancing

Ķekatas (Ķekatas iešana, “stilt walking”, “stilt strolling”) is a Latvian folk tradition of masked processions. The participants, called Ķekatnieki (singular: Ķekatnieks) wearing various masks went from one homestead to another giving blessings and driving away evil spirits.  The tradition is also associated with Christmas time, similar to mummering-like traditions in other places. (1)

The masks and corresponding outfits are representations of different objects, such as the haystack and the broom, of social figures, of corpse, deformed humans and devils, and wild animals like the bear, the crane and most notably – the wolf and the goat.

Cr. Wikimedia Commons

Cr. Wikimedia Commons

Cr. In your Pocket

The wolf and the goat are another way that ancient Latvian represented bad and good, dark and light and their dance is a symbol of cosmic balance.  These masks paraded and danced look to ward off any evil spirits and bring blessings to the households.

Cr. mytho-poetic. com

One thing I discovered watching videos is that this mumming tradition can be very different depending on where in Latvia you are. Look at the difference between these two videos:

In spite of the difference, one can see cheerfulness and the playfulness of Latvians as they celebrate the Winter Solstice! I wish I could be there!

The description of the first video translates to:

Everything is like before.
Just like in fairy tales, it is the eve of the Winter Solstice and God is standing behind the door with a graying camel.
Just like in the past, night alternates with day and the Sun gives his daughter from Vely to this land.
And just like in the past, we disguise ourselves to put the holiday on a rollercoaster and create the world anew.

My Celebration

I decided to celebrate a small version of this today. This past Monday there was a storm in New England. There are still many people without power as trees and branches came down because of the very strong winds and rain. In my apartment building there was flooding… up to 6 in (about 16 cms!).

I went for a walk and saw trees whose branches had fallen and I took some photos and pieces of the trees. I have decided to decorate and light them. I also decided to write things that I’m currently unhappy about and light them too. The tricky thing is that I live in an apartment, so it will have to be a quick lighting! Otherwise I may get a visit from the firefighters!

Here are some photos of the fallen trees… and pieces. I will post photos of the decorated “logs” ^ ^ and the lighting later! So excited to celebrate the Winter Solstice … out with the darkness and in with the light! 

Thank you for coming along and Happy Winter Solstice! Lighter days coming up! Yeah!

The Lighting

I created an arrangement with the sticks… I used a bit on my Christmas tree, some pine nuts I found on my walks and a candle a dear friend gave me recently… loved that it said Radiance!

I also collected two oak leaves. My son and I wrote three things we’d like to be rid off in our lives… it could be at any level… immaterial, material, personal, world wide… and then we lighted them. My son suggested we had bowls of water near… it was a good idea!

It was fun watching those bad things disintegrate! 

Then I lighted a bit of all the pieces of sticks I had collected…

May light always reign over darkness!

Sources

Here you can find more information about this celebration:

WorldNoor Blog

Wikipedia

Ferreting out the fun blog

Mytho-poetic. com

This is a great resource filled with a lot of information not just on the Winter Solstice but about Christmas traditions in Latvia:

Metodiskiemateriali.lnkc.gov.lv