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| Zane Zalite nuotr./Zane Zalite |
Zane Zālīte, 39, a journalist from Riga, reveals how her compatriots celebrate the festival known as Jāņi in Latvia.
- What kind of festival is Jāņi?
- Jāņi in Latvia is a very multifaceted and big celebration. There are people who believe it's a time for drinking beer (and loads of it!), listening to loud music, making noise, singing songs.
Others remember old folk traditions during Jāņi: they wear traditional clothes, make bonfires, sing folk songs, make garlands, float them in rivers.
Yet others believe Jāņi is the time when magic energy is concentrated in water, air, plants – everywhere. It's the time when magic rituals can help you get in touch with your soul and better understand things that are happening around you. You acquire special faculties. It is the deepest plane of the Jāņi festival.
There is one more aspect to it – the erotic level. There are ancient songs saying that on the night of Jāņi you can have intimate relations with anyone – be it even your mother or sister. It was previously believed that Jāņi was a sort of bacchanalia.
A more modern Jāņi tradition is for young couples to go to forest to look for fern blossoms. That is also to do with the erotic aspect.
- I've heard that Jāņi has a positive effect on fertility. Since people go looking for fern blossoms in pairs, more babies are born in February and March in Latvia.
- I'm not sure about that. I think that long winter evenings are a better time for making babies, when there's nothing else to do. Perhaps in older times, several hundred years ago, Jāņi did indeed affect fertility.
- Has any Latvian ever found a fern blossom?
- Well, everyone knows that it does not exist. And if some people claim they have found a fern blossom, well, they are very lucky! It is believed that once you find a fern blossom, you become omniscient, you can understand the animal language, you can find burried gold, etc.
- On 24 June, Latvia holds a nudist marathon. What kind of entertainment is that?
- It's another instance of the eroticism of Jāņi. It's hard to say what exactly is behind it, but we have a nudist marathon every year – it has become a tradition. Men and women strip and run completely naked. However, the marathon only takes place in one town, Kuldīga.
- Is Jāņi a very commercial festival in Latvia?
- It is. Banks are offering holiday deposits, there are special goods made for the occasion: cheese, beer, other foodstuffs. This is the time that supermarkets try to make the most of.
- Does Latvian Jāņi have a symbol?
- An oak, a bonfire, a flower garland.
- Why do Latvians put garlands even on their cars?
- Oh, Latvians can cover their entire cars with flower garlands. They put them even on cows, if they own any. It's a very common thing here. Why, you don't do that in Lithuania?
