How We Celebrated the Country's 90th Birthday

Yesterday, on the very eve of the celebrations, Riga received its first snow. Today, even though it was a few degrees below zero and frost lay on the ground, we steeled ourselves to go to the 11 November Embankment to watch the military parade. Leaving the car at home, we walked to the tram stop to take advantage of the offer to travel to the centre free of charge on public transport on the public holiday. After 20 minutes of shuffling at the stop, we slowly began to realise that the tram had no intention of coming at all. Our suspicions were confirmed by a Russian lady passing by, who told us not to wait - tram No. 5 wasn't running to the centre at all today. She had apparently seen a notice on a piece of paper at a previous stop, which had obviously been torn off at ours by some well-wisher. Well, nothing for it - grumbling about the "excellent" organisation of transport on the part of Rīgas Satiksme, we ran back to the car, as there were only 15 minutes left before the parade.

The embankment was full of spectators. The cold wind buffeted the skirts of those who had come. Some held red-white-red flags, others cameras and photographic equipment. Everyone craned their necks to catch even a glimpse of the proud defenders of the fatherland marching to the festive march of the accompanying brass band. And there they came...

 Not only Latvian Army companies, but also allies from Great Britain, the USA, Greece, France, Norway, Germany, and Canada.

The parade was of course observed from a grandstand erected on the bank of the Daugava by state officials and commanders-in-chief.

The greatest excitement among the spectators was generated by 3 helicopters carrying the national flag through the skies. They were joined in the air by 2 NATO patrol aircraft, as well as armoured vehicles on the ground and military vessels on the Daugava.

Walking past the tower of Riga Castle, images from the film "Rīgas sargi" (The Defenders of Riga, 2007) involuntarily flashed through the mind, along with the thought - how good it is that back then, in November 1919, the flagpole did not see a white flag, but retained its right to fly the red-white-red, which today still flutters in the cool November wind.

As the anthem rings out, men remove their hats, the crowd sings along with the choir - on the embankment, in the National Theatre hall, and by the Freedom Monument. It is heartening that at least on national holidays the nation can be united in its joy, its prayers, its remembrance.

It must be said that the rest of the festive events we watched - like the majority of Latvia, most likely - in LTV1 live broadcasts, singing along to the good old songs that for many long years were the only form of protest and national self-expression.

Some interesting facts about the flag flying everywhere across Latvia today -

The Latvian flag is dark red with a horizontal white stripe in the middle section. It was created on the basis of a description of the 13th-century flag of the ancient Lettic or Latgalian tribes in the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, making it one of the oldest flags in use in the world today. In the mid-19th century, University of Tartu professor Jēkabs Lautenbahs-Jūsmiņš, while researching the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, came across this reference, and it was subsequently adopted by Latvian students at Tartu. In 1917, Ansis Cīrulis, together with Valdemārs Tone and Konrāds Ubāns, designed the modern version of the flag. By resolution of the Constitutional Assembly on 15 June 1921, the flag was declared the State Flag of Latvia, and its status was also enshrined in the Constitution. During the Soviet occupation the use of the flag was prohibited, but it was widely used during the National Awakening period and its status as the state flag was restored on 27 February 1990.

About the flag - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Latvia

About the film "The Defenders of Riga" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Defenders_of_Riga

Festival programme and diary - http://www.lv90.lv/

About the light festival "Staro Rīga" - http://www.staroriga.com/