Day of the Dead

In Latvia, one of the most beautiful places you will see are the cemeteries. They are usually on the edge of town in a pine forest. The Latvians show great reverence for the grave sites. They plant small bushes and flowers as borders of the plots. The headstones can range from a simple stone marker to elaborate black granite. Most families visit the graves quite often, polishing the markers, weeding and of course, adding fresh flowers. They use small wooden rakes to draw designs into the sand and surrounding dirt.

We were invited to go with our friend Inese to visit her father's and grandparent's graves last night. We really didn't know what was meant by the 'Day of the Dead' but it was quite interesting. As we got to the cemetery and started to enter we could see maybe 20-30 acres of white, blue, green and red flickering candles. Most are in special containers so they can continue to be burn even when it is windy. This cemetery is actually kind of hilly so as we got to the top it was almost like looking down onto a city with Christmas decorations. There were many people walking to their loved ones graves and placing the candles, flowers and other items onto the graves. It was a beautiful sight unlike anything we have seen before.

It was also interesting to hear Inese speak about her relatives. Her father was a taxi driver and a nationalist (didn't want the Soviets to control them). One night he was singing the Latvian national anthem in public. Evidently, he had been warned before about doing this (it was illegal) and he has not been heard of or seen since. Several days later his taxi was found in the Gauja River (burned). A body was found down-river several months later and the authorities asked Inese's mother to come identify the body. She wouldn't go but his sister did. The sister was positive it was not her brother as she said the teeth were not his. However, the Soviets said yes, it is him and he will be taken back to Cesis and buried. They looked at it as someone that drove into the Gauja, was a missing person for a while, a body was found so the case was closed. Someone is buried at that grave that has Inese's father's name on the marker but she is positive her father's body is not there.

It is amazing what some of these people lived through. Maybe next time I'll share her grandparent's stories.

Have a good week!