After the night of Jāņi, the sun is bathing in the sea from which it gathers strength, decorates itself in silver, and then rises while dancing and swaying. Those who have waited all night for the sun to rise receive Her strength, warmth, and light and will be lucky the entire year.[1]
Incredibly, they have persevered, and I can live and see this thread unbroken as it continues to weave its path with every new generation. We continue to gather around the fire, united by songs and dance, feel nature's closeness, and tune ourselves to it. It is the celebration of the shortest night, honoring the nature surrounding us. It is the celebration of life at its peak and happiness.
These traditions feel like extremely powerful stuff. They are larger than any of us individually. It is as if you are touched by the world filled with spirits from all times and the power of nature all at once. And I have this urge to carry the torch. There is a pull to honoring our ancestors and their ways.
I realize not everyone feels the same about old beliefs and rituals. I am sure some people would look at them and say oh, what nonsense, or these folks enjoyed too much of some magical herbs. After all, how will washing your face with morning dew provide you with beauty, or how staying up all night of Jāņi guarantees that luck will not leave your side? It is indeed comparable to believing in magic. Oh, dear lord! Oh, noes! So insane? The world is so much more boring without a little bit of magic. If I somehow can help preserve it, I am in.
So I stayed up that night, waited for the sun to rise, and washed my face in the morning dew.
I wish to stay connected to this old world which was more aware of and saw the beauty in every living thing, and even further, as it is reaching towards spirituality and deities. I hope to one day understand it all at a deeper level.
Jāņu dienas vakarā'i, līgo!
Saule brida miglājosi, līgo, līgo!
Jāņu dienas vakarāi, līgo!
Kur, Dieviņi, lielu guni, līgo, līgo!
Sildi visu pasaulīti, līgo!
Kur, Dieviņi, lielu guni, līgo, līgo!
Sildi visu pasaulīti, līgo!
Sakūrosi uguntiņu, līgo, līgo!
No deviņi žagariņi, līgo!
Sakūrosi uguntiņu, līgo, līgo!
No deviņi žagariņi, līgo!
Sildās Dievis, mīļā Laima, līgo, līgo!
Mana mūža licējiņa, līgo!
Sildās Dievis, mīļā Laima, līgo, līgo!
Mana mūža licējiņa, līgo!
Līgojami, līgojami, līgo, līgo!
Neguļami, naguļami, līgo!
Līgojami, līgojami, līgo, līgo!
Neguļami, neguļami, līgo!
Redzēsimi, redzēsimi līgo, līgo!
Kā Saulīte rotājāsi, līgo!
Redzēsimi, redzēsimi līgo, līgo!
Kā Saulīte rotājāsi, līgo!
At the Jāņi day’s evening, līgo!
Sun waded through the mist, līgo, līgo!
At the Jāņi day’s evening, līgo!
God, light the big fire, līgo, līgo!
Warm the entire world, līgo!
God, light the big fire, līgo, līgo!
Warm the entire world, līgo!
I lit the fire, līgo, līgo!
From nine branches, līgo!
I lit the fire, līgo, līgo!
From nine branches, līgo!
Warm up God, and dear Laima, līgo līgo!
My fate’s ruler, līgo!
Warm up God, and dear Laima, līgo līgo!
My fate’s ruler, līgo!
We are swaying, we are swaying, līgo līgo!
We are not sleeping, we are not sleeping, līgo!
We are swaying, we are swaying, līgo līgo!
We are not sleeping, we are not sleeping, līgo!
We will see, we will see, līgo, līgo!
How the sun adorns itself, līgo!
We will see, we will see, līgo, līgo!
How the sun adorns itself, līgo!
Saule brida miglājos - Auļi feat. Asnate Rancāne
My translation on the right. I am not a professional, but after reading the google translate version, it was clear it is not great translating from the Latvian language.
For some context about things in the song. As I mentioned, Jāņi is our midsummer or summer solstice celebration. The word līgo appears nearly in every Jāņi song like a mantra. What does it mean? It seems to come from another word līgoties which means to sway, to swing back and forth. [2] Like a tree branch in the wind or how one would while listening to or singing a song. The part about God (Dievs) has no connection to Christian God. For ancient Latvians, Dievs was the father of the sky and much closer to other deities. Laima, for example, was the decider of fates. Dievs often was portrayed as a lovely, old man with white hair, advising at hard times on the order of all things in the human world, nature, and universe. [3] But what is this making fire from nine branches? The magical number nine comes up in many Latvian folk songs, fairy tales, myths, and traditions. Often included in different rituals that, as a result, bring good things to people such as luck, happiness, wealth, or even fertility. [4]
The folk songs provide a lot of insight into our ancestor’s approach to life, their beliefs, and how their lives looked like. The modern Jāņi songs and music are mostly based on the folk songs that were gathered and kept in what we call Dainu skapis (Cabinet of Folk Songs).
I happened to visit Valmiermuižas ethnic music festival last year, right before midsummer, where the band Auļi was performing songs from their newest album Sit, Jānīti!, dedicated to Jāņi celebrations. Auļi themselves are more instrumental folk music group (they play bagpipes, kokle, drums, stabule (reed pipe or wooden fipple pipe), and other instruments), so for this album, they joined forces with the voices of Banga and other individual singers.
It was pretty awesome, and there were no strict rules against bringing bigger cameras at the festival, so I had no shame in capturing snippets of their performance up close. What do Jāņi songs sound like today? Have a peek.
My summer, so far, is filled with musical sounds and beautiful voices, flowers in my garden, flowers in the crowns on Latvian women's heads everywhere around me, and a feeling of being proud of my roots. I understand it could sound strange to some. But this year, I am standing a little taller for my country, for my Latvia!
References:
[1] 3x9 Jāņi, Trejdeviņi padomi Jāņu svinēšanai, page 26
[2] The meaning of the word Līgo according to language expert
[3] Dievs according to Latvian folklore
[4] About the number nine in Latvian folklore
Song of the day: Auļi, Andrejs Planders, Edgars Zilberts, Eduards Plankājs - Līgo Lauki, Līgo Pļavas
Beautiful photos!
I really like midsummer celebrations, though for me it is less magic and more barbecue. But, there is still something magical about the longest day of the year for me too - I think it is because even after twenty years, I am still in awe of the light all night. There is a peace in it.
No pictures of you? ;)
Thank you! ^^
Oh, my! In Finland it must be even brighter than here. Is it like full daylight? Here, it still gets a bit dark for a short while.
Yeah, not this time. It's okay though.
Very good content. When we connect with nature, we feel that inner being that we carry inside. Greetings.@marilui91
Aww, thank you @marilui91! I am trying my absolute best!
You are on to something with this thought. Truly, I feel the most me and most pure when I connect with the nature or even just spend time in nature. I guess, because all the other " background noise" disappears and we process things more through our own lens.
Greetings to you too! Have a great week ahead and see you around on Hive blocks :)
How beautiful!!
...nonsense or not, I agree, a little magic shouldn't be missing in every days life. And you portrait it in a very beautiful way, which really inspires me to visit Latvia one day soon!
Thank you @kesityu.fashion!
Hehe, you are welcome to come visit for sure! And now you know one of the best times to be here too! :)
I love nonsense! It makes the life more colorful.
We believe in this ritual and also we believe that if you walk on the grass filled with dewdrops in the morning barefoot, many diseases will go away. Walking on the soft green grass barefoot in a foggy, misty morning is soothing and relaxing. I would say rituals are also part of culture and history though as you have said, the modern world doesn't believe in these...
Aww! It makes me so sad that these traditions slowly disappear. I understand why it happens of course, but it still feels like the world of wonder is something of value.
We have these very simple leather shoes called pastalas. If one walks in the dew with pastalas on, they fill up with gold and you will become rich! I should have tried that one xD
Love your blog. 💗
Blushes
Thank youu! I wish I could post more regularly though. I am struggling with it a bit because suddenly I don't know how to write shorter posts anymore, and I am being told that I should try and either split them in parts or make them shorter xD
You did a great job on the photos. They look really nice. I'm glad to see you're still alive and kicking! (But where are the potatoes? Latvia is only potato, no?)
The biggest potato! xD I am growing some this year. Will see if potato. If not, impossible dream still!
Thank you!
Yeah. Super busy summer so far! Filled with adventures of various sizes, can't wait to write about them here soon as well :)
Well, I'll be looking out for them myself. I've been quite busy with the babies, work, and trying to get the whole school thing finished.
This post has been manually curated by @steemflow from Indiaunited community. Join us on our Discord Server.
Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating to @indiaunited. We share more than 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators in the form of IUC tokens. HP delegators and IUC token holders also get upto 20% additional vote weight.
Here are some handy links for delegations: 100HP, 250HP, 500HP, 1000HP.
100% of the rewards from this comment goes to the curator for their manual curation efforts. Please encourage the curator @steemflow by upvoting this comment and support the community by voting the posts made by @indiaunited.
Thank you so much for your support @steemflow and indiaunited community! Much appreciated! <3
Espectaculares fotos, te felicito
ME GUSTARON TUS FOTOGRAFÍAS ,VEO QUE TE GUSTA LA MADRE NATURALEZAS.....
It’s fascinating, I love those photos💖
It’s truly amazing it felt like I was living in the moment. Such beautiful words you have used to describe! I just love it 😊
Congratulations @m31! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next target is to reach 37000 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out our last posts: