Latvian culture

Latvia officially the Republic of Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia to the south by Lithuania to the east by the Russian Federation to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden.

Where is LAtvia…?

The Latvians are a Baltic people, culturally related to the Lithuanians Latvian is an Indo-European language and along with Lithuanian the only two surviving members of the Baltic branch.

There are five planning regions: Kurzeme, Latgale, Rīga , Vidzeme and Zemgale.

Latvia’s weather and climate is really nice. We have 4 seasons: summer, autumn, winter and spring.

About Latvia…

The culture in Latvia has a strong influence by Latvian folklore and by the people of the country and how attached they are to their homeland. Many Christian rituals are intertwined with ancient customs. Pagan symbols, which are geometric, are still seen throughout the applied arts of Latvia.

Culture

Latvian folklore costumes

Big part of Latvian culture is: Songs and Dance festival (dziesmu un deju svētki).

20,000 people in national dress all singing and dancing in pride of their country at the same time! Perhaps that's why they were recently bestowed the title of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity", by UNESCO.

Non-Latvians may find it hard to comprehend the importance of the Latvian Song and Dance Festival which takes place in Riga once every five years, and takes over the hearts and minds of the entire nation. The simple fact is that the festival is inextricably bound with Latvia's very identity.

Big part of Latvian culture….

We treat food, especially bread, with great respect ― because we know it's not something that can be taken for granted. We have always made do with what we can grow ourselves. The traditional Latvian cuisine is shaped by the seasons. In the autumn we are at our most extravagant. Much to the horror of vegetarians, the gurus of Latvian cuisine have proclaimed meat the king of all food. We eat lots of potatoes and often call them "the other bread". Our cooks are practical but very generous. We tend to go for dishes that do not take much time to prepare.

Traditional Food and Drink

In the winter we eat more meat and root vegetables, in summer dairy products predominate: cheese, milk soups and porridges. In the autumn we butcher pigs. Our cooks don’t just use  the choice cuts; they know how to make delicious treats from anything

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Home-made foodIn late summer we get down to stock up for winter with considerable enthusiasm ― we make jam, fruit preserves and pickles. Home-made food always tastes much better. And every Latvian knows of a secret mushroom-picking place and a very special recipe for a mushroom dish.

• Cooking 100 years agoAt 19th centuary a plant from North America was spreading quickly-

the potato.Thanks to potato farming, Latvian peasant no longer had food shortages in winter and spring, when stores of grain had been depleted.It is belived that the most common meal for Latvian coastal fishing families in the 19th century was boiled potatoes with cottage cheese and herring or pilchards.

• The harvest festivalIn autumn, when the harvest had been brought in and food was

abundant, farms with usually celebrate the harvest festival. After the harvest, a piglet or ram was often slaughtered and a feast was organised. The new season’s sauerkraut was eaten and bread was baked from the newly harvested grains.

The cuisine of Latvia

Special foods were eaten at the winter solstice, a celebration to mark the days becoming longer. Many of these foods can still be found on contemporary Latvian Christmas tables. In the last 100 year it has also become popular to bake gingerbread at Christmas, and other tradition inherited from the Germans. We also eat grey peas with bacon at Christmas table, it’s really Latvian.

Christmas dinner

At the time of the spring solstice, or Easter, food stores would usually have been running low, so eggs were saved for some time before Easter.

Boild eggs, coloured with brown onions skins and decorated with scratched designs have been the main Easter food for many centuries. Many families still boil and eat their own home coloured eggs at Easter.

Easter eggs

Today the most popular celebration in Latvia is Jāņi or the summer solstice. This marks the shortest night of the year.The main “Jāņi” foods are fresh caraway cheese and beer, wich is found on every Jāņi festive table. Usually the table will also be laden with pīrāgi, sweet platter breads, various meats and many other modern foods, wich suite contemporary Latvian celebration.

CELEBRATING THE SUMMER SOLSTICE

Some of the typical Latvian foods

Pork in aspic…

Jāņi (summer solstice) cheese…

Grey peas wih bacon…

DEBESSMANNAWHIPPED CRANBERRY DESSERT WITH MILK

Layered rye bread dessert

Rye bread

APPLE SLICE

HERBAL TEAS

PĪRĀGIBACON ROLLS

Prepare dough without a starter (see above).After dough has risen ,divide into 30-35g(1.05 – 1.225oz) pieces, roll into round balls and leave on a pastry board for 10-15 minuetes to rise.Press each piece flat, place bacon filling in the centre , press together edges of dough above or at the side of filling . Roll with both hands to even out filling ; make the shape long with slender ends and bend into a half-moon. Place on a greased baking tray, leave to rise ,brush with beaten egg and bake in a hot oven. Brush with melted butter once removed from the oven.

Bacon filling :Cut rind off bacon.Dice bacon and

onion and saute(saute only for a short period, so that fat does not run off), add pepper and mix well.

How to make bacon rolls:

450-500 (17,5oz) flour

250g (8,75oz) milk or water

25g (0,87oz) yeast

75g (2.62oz) margarine

25g (0,87oz) sugar

5g (o,87oz) salt

1 egg

Filling:

350 (12.25oz) smoked streaky bacon

50g (1,75oz) onion

Ground pepper

Our school-SCV Smiltenes Centra vidusskola

Our school is really nice, we are friendly, we have good contact with teachers. We have many events, one of them was Latvia’s birthday when we ate and cooked tradiciol latvian food. SCV is in lot’s of projects like for example: Comenius (Learning by Eating) e.t.c.

We love our school.We have good education.

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