Summer solstice celebration in Mezauli

It will be your warmest memories of celebrating midsummer in Latvia. We decided to organize Private LĪGO! – modern Summer solstice pagan celebrations for all foreigners and their latvians.To truly experience the magic of the midsummer’s night, you need to leave the cities and head to the countryside.
What you will experience?

Wildflower wreaths
One of the most beautiful midsummer customs is making and wearing wreaths from wildflowers. The usual choice for ladies’ flower crowns are daisies, cornflowers, and clover. But, as the saying goes, everything that grows on midsummer can be used! (in Latvian: visa laba Jāņu zāle) In turn, men can wear crowns made from oak leaves. To make it even more fun, at the end of the midsummer celebrations the wildflower wreath can be used for some fortunetelling.

There are many foods that Latvians love eating on the shortest night of the year but there are two things that must be on every table: cheese and beer. The first is Jāņu siers – literally, Midsummer cheese, a fresh sour-milk cheese that is made from milk, curd, and lots of caraway seeds. The second is the traditional summer solstice beverage - beer.

Bonfires – Fire ritual

A midsummer celebration is unimaginable without a bonfire. We will make three different types of bonfire - on land, in the air and in the water…

Midsummer singing and dancing with folk chapel BRIČKA and dance group DANDARI
There are two types of traditional midsummer singing, both derive from the word “līgo” (“let it become” in old Livonian). The first is called “līgošana” and the songs are largely about promoting fertility and preventing misfortunes. The second – and by far the most fun – is “aplīgošana“: a teasing of family, friends, and neighbors in song-form.