Happy Jāni!

Jāni is a national holiday in Latvia celebrating the summer solstice.  It is held on two days -- the day before the shortest night and the day after.  Although the actual summer solstice happens on June 21st and 22nd, Latvia has shifted the celebration to June 23rd and 24th to coincide with John the Baptist's feast day, which falls on June 24th.  Jāni is an ancient fertility festival originally celebrated in honor of the Latvian pagan deity Jānis, who is mentioned in ancient Latvian folk songs. It is celebrated everywhere, but people usually spend the days in the countryside.

During Jāni, you will see tree branches and flowers everywhere.  Originally, tree branches were put on homes and fences to ward off evil spirits.  That tradition continues, and tree branches are put on everything.  Wreaths are made of flowers and leaves and are worn on the head.  A well-known part of this celebration is the search for the mythical fern flower, though some suggest that at one time the fern flower was a symbol of secret knowledge; today is it almost always synonymous with having sexual relations.  Young couples traditionally wander away from the main bonfire in search of the flower, and there is a subsequent increase in births nine months later.  (Some of that info came from Wikipedia, in case you are wondering.)

While a lot of people go to the countryside, we had nowhere in the country to go, so we stayed in town. One of the major roads that runs by the river was closed to traffic, and everyone gathered there for the celebration.  There had to be thousands of people there.  Two big stages were set up, and large screens were set up in various spots.  Lots of folk dancing and folk singing took place on the stage.  It was fun to see the people in the crowd sing along on the folk songs.  I guess they are taught these songs all the way from early childhood, so everyone knows them.  While we have a lot of celebrations in the US, I don't think we have anything that compares to this.

Because the celebration goes all night long, everything is shut down on the 24th so that people can catch up on their sleep.  Don and I stayed at the festival until around 10:00, but then we decided to head for our apartment.  It was strange, but last night was the first night that I felt as though I didn't belong.  I hadn't felt that way at all before, but seeing all of these people having fun celebrating this holiday together with all of these old traditions made me feel out of place.

Here are some pictures of the event.  They really don't do a good job of showing how big the crowd is, but you can get an idea, anyway.

    Here is the sign advertising the festival.  We've seen them all over town.  The word on the sign can                                                   be pronounced as Lee-go or as Lee-gwah.

Here are some examples of the flowers at the event.  They were all over the place.  Latvians love their flowers.  You can see people carrying bunches of them all the time.

Whenever you see a Latvian woman or girl in an authentic folk costume, you will more than likely see a flower wreath on her head.  There was a booth at the festival that was selling the floral wreaths, and, of course, I had to get one.  You know, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.  Anyway, here is a picture of my flower wreath.

Here are some pictures of people performing on stage.  Notice that there are tree branches 

covering everything.

Here are some pictures of the crowd.  They really can't begin to show how crowded it was.

There were several of these on the boulevard.  Bonfires are a big part of the Jāni festival.  They light them at sundown and have to keep them lit until sunrise.

Here's a picture of Don holding one of the favorite snacks of the area.  It's a potato that has been sliced on a spiral slicer, put on a skewer, stretched out, and then deep fried.  It is very popular around town.  We had to stand in line for quite some time to get one.  I may try and fix them and see how popular they are in our area.

These pictures can't begin to tell you what a big event this is around Latvia.  There isn't a holiday in the US that can even compare.  As I mentioned, everything shuts down for those two days, and the people party hearty!  It was so much fun to watch the people enjoy themselves while singing, and it was great to see some of the awesome folk dancing groups perform.  While I am looking forward to coming home, there are many things about Latvia that I will miss, and the people's love of folk music and dance is one of them.

Until next time...

Music Education in Latvia

Don and I visited a music publishing house/music store today and got to speak quite a bit with the owner.  She is very knowledgeable about music in Latvia, so we learned a lot.  One of the reasons behind Latvia's successful singing is that they hire a special music teacher for the students starting in preschool! While most of the preschool children in the US get to sing while they are at school, it is never done with a specialized music teacher.  After talking with her about the music education in the schools and looking at some of the music education books, I am afraid that the program here would put the music education program in the US to shame.

The children are taught to sing with folk songs a cappella so that they can get used to hearing voices sing on different pitches.  In that way, harmony is taught to the students when they are young.  By the time they are in 5th grade, they are singing songs with 3- to 4-part harmony.  They are also taught proper singing techniques, and the quality of their vocal sound is excellent.  I heard a 5th-9th grade girls' choir yesterday, and if I had closed my eyes, I would never have guessed them to be a young as they were.  Their sound was very mature and rich.  I was really impressed.

The students also spend a lot of time learning solfege (the do, re, mi system) and rhythm.  Because of that, they learn to sightread music very well.  They have many singing festivals in Latvia, and the children participate in those as well as participate in competitions in other countries.

While singing is still important today, the love of technology has definitely impeded some of the participation in music.  Kids are not as interested in music as they used to be since they have discovered all of the things they can do with technology.  So far the impact hasn't been too significant, but it may get worse in the years to come.

I am going to go back to the music store when I have time and purchase some of their music education materials.  I want to try and utilize some of their techniques in my classes.  I want to try and make the children's experience in music class a rich and rewarding one.