Categories: Arvid Ratnieks

I have heard about vecherinkas from my parents, who told me about the first Latvian times when they were young. Then such events were organized on Saturdays or on public holidays as open-air parties with musicians and during the cold period of the year – in some particular house at some neighbours’, where young people came together. Usually there was one musician, who played either the violin or mainly the accordion or the so-called garmoshka [harmonicas]. And usually, there was some person who could play the drum. Though there was no drum, there were the spoons or some other percussion things that could be used to make that music more attractive.

From my childhood I remember, those might have been the sixties when I was a teenage boy, or the seventies. Such vecherinkas, maybe there were organized not only for the youth, they rather were organized by grown-ups. In Latgale, they were called skladchina, now it might be called groziņu vakars [literally – basket evening, every person brings food and drinks to be consumed by everybody]. But that was a rather serious event, the neighbours agreed who would cook and what would be prepared beforehand.

For example, one man made beer, another butchered some calf, lamb or pig. Women prepared food, and somehow they referred those parties either to some public holiday, or, maybe, some Summer festival or some crop harvest celebration, as they used to say – Apbaidzeibas. And then the neighbours came together without any special reason, they did it simply by agreement. And then they usually ate and drank with abandon, and it could last for a day or two. And if they had an possibility, they invited some local musician too.

It even happened, I remember from my experience, that there were offhand events, but there was no music, then people agreed, oh, there was Buļa kaza – harmonicas – jumped on a motorbike, and brought a man at night, pulled him right out of the bed and he played the whole night through. Without any payment, of course. Thus, let’s say, people enjoyed themselves. You see, yes, yes, yes. 

Researcher: Dr. philol. Valentīns Lukaševičs, Daugavpils Universitāte