Tie a yellow ribbon...

Round the old oak tree...

The oak tree to Latvians is like a national treasure and a symbol of strength, longevity and part of the cultural heritage. On the summer solstice Latvians celebrate Jāņu Diena and wear wreaths of oak leaves, build bonfires and get drunk. Or at least that's how I remember it as a child.  

I discovered new relatives this weekend on the Sweeder side of the family tree. Irena Matisone is my third cousin and Edgar Hausman , now 92, and a former forest ranger lived under this oak tree his entire life. He would be a fourth cousin twice removed or some such thing.  He remembers the tree being that large as a boy, so it must be at least 100 years old. 

I spent a delightful weekend with Irena at her summer house in Pitrags, a small village on the Baltic Sea, just south of Kolka where the Baltic and Bay of Riga join.   She showed me  the old homesteads of the Sweeder family and where our great grandparents grew up. 

 Edgars still drives and took us through the Natuonal Forest on small dirt roads  where horse drawn wagons rode. Farming, fishing and logging were the trades back in that day while communities thrived.  The Sweeders migrated to the Riga/Vecmilgravi area in the 1880's for work. As families expanded the farms could no longer support everyone and some  had to find work elsewhere. 

Edgars and his son have an antler museum above their house that is a nice tourist stop and gives them a diversion during the summer months 

Edgars homestead with museum on second story

   Chair built out of antlers. 

Filled to the brim with antlers, pelts and such

The family church and cemetery  in Mazirbe

View of Baltic from watchtower in Kolka

Irena's place...

The back porch

With its many outbuildings....

Including a bath house and sauna room. 

The Old and the New

Riga is full of contrasts, notwithstanding the architecture. The east side of the river where I live is filled with ArtNouveau architecture as well as the medieval remnants of Old Riga. In contrast, the west side of the river has several modern high rise office and apartments along with the National Library where I spent the afternoon.

Old Riga Skyline

Modern Riga

National Library

Amazing Stacks, an artistic element

Cruise ships are arriving

Spring in one of many city parks

Cemetery Crawl

I mean that figuratively; however, the state some of the grave markers are in I might do better getting down on all fours.  I wonder with all the hundreds of family members that have passed on why aren't there more cemeteries?  I have a theory that if plots aren't maintained they are reused, so in some future timeline, it will seem as if mass graves were used. 

The oldest family grave I found was early 1900 and the engravings were very difficult to read. The weather here is a huge factor in their quality and longevity. 

It seems that family plots are well taken care of, almost ritualistically so. Out of respect for those families, I did not photograph strangers raking the gravel in their family plots with intricate Latvian designs.  Each family has carefully outlined their space with low fencing or plant material.  Some sites are marked with a stone with the family name. There's little uniformity or consistency, which gives the cemetery a patchwork quality.   

Kiegalis family plot

Our cemetery "crawl" was part of a geneology field trip Antra and I took to visit farms, manors, churches and cemeteries for the Grivins, Kiegalis, Lappekins and Bankins families. We knocked on a few doors or saw owners outside or they saw me taking photos and asked what I was doing. Everyone was very helpful when I explained I was on a family hunting journey.  Most of the farms have changed hands, yet most have kept the original farm name for historical purposes.  One Grivins family was still around, 81 year 

old Gintis Grivins lived in a nearby town.   All of the farms were part of a larger manor that was "owned" and run by a German land baron back in the days of serfdom prior to 1850. The manor houses have been converted to parish houses or privately owned hotels or event centers. There was a wedding going on at one manor house. 

It was an amazing trip and so rewarding to visit places where my ancestors were born, lived and died. 

Bus stop in front of Grivins family farm

Emma Kiegalis birthplace in Liepa

Liepa manor where the baron lived and Grivins and Kiegalis families worked a distance away from the main house. 

Farms where the Grivims and Lappekins worked near Trikata

Bankins farms and manor house at Kocene. Very elegant. 

Evangelical Lutheran church in Valmieria

Restoration of Independence Day

May 4 is Restoration of Independence Day in Latvia. It commemorates its independence  from the  Soviet Union in 1990. Latvians  resolved that the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 were illegal, and annulled the accession of Latvia to the Soviet Union of 21 July 1940 and re-instituted the Constitution of Latvia of 1922.  This was really a bold move and was met with Soviet tanks rolling down the street and hordes of Latvians lining the streets. Fortunately, no aggression was taken by the Soviets.  The matter was far more complicated on the political front, but eventually the Latvian desire for independence was granted.

      Map of Riga done in flowers at the Freedom Monument

   "Stalin Birthday Cake" -- Latvian Academy of Sciences building

Ferry to take one to Stockholm, Helsinki and other Baltic cities

Riga is finally greening up

Riga Central Market

In the bowels of early 20th century Zeppelin hangars exists a market unlike any I've seen.  I thought the La Boqueria in Barcelona was an amazing place, but pales by comparison.  Each hanger is dedicated to a particular type of food: fish, ranging from fresh, dried, salted, sweet; another has fresh or died meats of any cut you desire-- they will even grind pork for you on the spot; another has dairy products from hard cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, kefir; another has fresh produce, much imported but much also grown locally and kept in cold storage over the winter, or pickled.  It was a sensory experience and a bit overwhelming with all the choices.  Latvians love their variety, apparently.  I had lots more to do that afternoon so only bought a few things that wouldn't spoil.