CESIS: A year in the life of . . .: JANI DAY

I'm not really sure if I have one favorite place in Latvia. There are so many unique and beautiful spots. However, in the top three would surely be the 'country' place of the Liepins family.

It was Laura's and my good fortune to be invited here for the centuries old tradition of celebrating Jani Day. This is celebrates the Summer Solstice, a mid-summer holiday and the opportunity to get into the country all rolled into one. The men wear crowns made of oak leaves while the women's are made flowers. Everything from cows to cars are decorated with greenery of some sort. Many people leave the larger cities and return to the country side. It started out as a pagan, fertility holiday then evolved into a celebration for St. John after Christianity arrived. Now, it is celebrated in various ways. There is a real concern with too much drinking and partying but for our friends, it is more of a time to spend with family and enjoy good food.

The place that we were invited is located off of a dirt road about 15 kilometers from Cesis. Very quiet, very remote and you can just see and feel the history. There is a small house made out of hand-cut logs and topped with handmade bark shingles from the birch tree. The huge stone and timber barn is a reminder of the winter weather as you need a building large enough to house all of the animals when it really gets cold.

While this is not a true operating farm now, the Liepins do have several large gardens and some livestock. One section of the barn is filled with rabbits and a couple of bottle-fed calves. We have become used to eating rabbit here and it is quite tasty.

The weather cleared just in time for us to get the food set out and the cooking fire giving off some good heat. Everyone grills his own meat selection {desa (sausage); sausliks (similar to ka-bobs); vista (chicken)} over the bon-fire or using a small hibachi type grill. Vegetables are gurkis (pickles) of all kinds, salads made of greens that were literally in the ground 10-minutes before eating and kartepalis (potatoes that are boiled first and then re-heated on fires). No Jani Day would be complete without Jani Day cheese (siers) which has a special caraway seed addition. Finally, you've got to wrap all of that meat in something. Homemade black and brown bread that is so thick it is almost a meal in itself loads down your plate but it makes a good complement to the meats.

This family is very special to us because they have accepted us as part of their every day activities as well as the holidays. There are 6 brothers and sisters (4 were there yesterday) that have all married and 5 of them still live in the Cesis area. Add in their kids, grandmothers and assorted other members and it is a large group. We will be forever thankful that they help us in so many ways.

It finally got dark about 11:45pm and the plan was to stay until the sun rose again at 3:00am. After a few soccer games, too much great food and actually getting a little chilly (low temp about 50), everyone decided to go home a little early.

Thanks again for a great day and night. Even though Laura and I broke the tradition and did not jump the bonfire, swim at midnight or go looking for the mythical flowering fern, we had a great time and truly enjoyed being with our friends.

Labi cau!