Categories: Arvid Ratnieks

Christmas in Latgale is more associated with church festivals. Usually, people got up early. The mass at the church was always held in the morning. I don’t know where from the tradition has been brought to Latgale, as it is now at Easter, also the Christmas mass is held in the evening. That was done by Lutherans, but in Līksna Catholic church the mass was always held in the morning, usually at about seven. I remember from my childhood that at seven, there was a bus and everybody went to the church. The school was, in fact, right beside the church there was the priest’s house. Līksna eight-year school, which I attended, was situated there, too. That is why, after the mass we went to school, sometimes there were some conflicts, because the headmistress was a rather communistic woman, but mostly there were no problems. Christmas was celebrated in the evening, when all the neighbours had come home, in most cases Christmas celebration was organized at some neighbour’s. I don’t know whether it was done by turns or according to some schedule, most probably not, but everything was organized at some neighbour’s or relatives’. And there the whole event turned into a real celebration – with beer and various delicious dishes that were appropriate for Christmas, for example, blood sausages, because a pig was always butchered before Christmas, and blood sausages were fried. If more remote neighbours knew that somewhere there was such a common celebration organized, then mummers were also expected, it had never happened without. 

Researcher: Dr. philol. Valentīns Lukaševičs, Daugavpils Universitāte