Riga - Old Town Christmas Fair: until January 9

Christmas is approaching, and one of the signs testifying to this is the Old Town Christmas Fair with sweet-smelling mulled wine, roasted almonds, glittering glazed gingerbread and local handcraft. This year’s fair will be open on Dome Square until Orthodox Christmas January 9.

Visitors will have a chance to find their Christmas miracle here every day. Various concerts and workshops are on the program, with Santa Claus entertaining kids and adults alike.

This year, the annual Old Town Christmas Fair celebrates its 10th anniversary. All those loving delicious food will be delighted at the traditional treats – mulled wine, gingerbread, roasted almonds, Christmas tea and coffee, as well as delicious smoked meats and meat products. The fair will also offer a wide range of Latvian handcraft for Christmas gifts - patterned mittens, skillfully turned wooden candlesticks, jarred sunny-smelling Latvian honey, sweet-smelling wax candles, handmade warm socks, hats and scarfs, amber and silver jewellery, ecological wooden toys and rag bears...

Along with food and handcraft, you will have an opportunity to learn more about various Latvian traditions, for example, log dragging and traditional Christmas cooking. Latvian Christmas songs and world-known melodies will be performed by pop music bands and traditional ensembles. Creative workshops will be open to let you learn more about some stitch craft, and a special Christmas post office will be accessible to send postcards. Rabbits and a pony will wait for children here; and, of course, Santa Claus will entertain you to make the Christmas celebration memorable.

Check our offers for the Christmas and New Year celebrations in Riga and in the Baltics:

http://www.lithuaniantours.com/special-offers/new-year-in-the-baltics!/new-year-in-riga/937

[Read Posts...]

“European Christmas” is here!

December 3-30, it’s the “European Christmas” Festival in Riga featuring the Riga Dome Boys’ Choir, Latvian Radio Choir, "Sinfonietta Rīga", the Italian Early music ensemble "La Venexiana", Estonian bell-ringers "Arsis", piano quartet "RIX", vocal group "Shola Cantorum Riga", Baroque orchestra "Collegium Musicum Rīga", flute virtuoso Dita Krenberga, counter tenor Sergejs Jēgers, double bass maestro Gunārs Upatnieks, sopranos Sonora Vaice and Olga Pasichnik from Ukraine.

Upcoming concerts on the bill are "Bach and Botessini" (Dec. 17 at 19.30 in Spīķeri Concert Hall), starring the award-winning double bass player Gunārs Upatnieks, accompanied by pianist Agnese Egliņa, “Boys’ Choir Christmas” (Dec. 18 at 19.30 in St. John’s (Sv.Jāņa) Church) starring the seasoned Riga Dome Boys’ Choir and the Baroque orchestra "Collegium musicum Rīga". The program includes J.S. Bach’s Mass in F major, rarely heard in Latvian churches, and Georg Phillip Telemann’s "Veni sancto spiritus". The soloists will be soprano Sonora Vaice, counter tenor Sergejs Jēgers and the England-based bass Pauls Putniņš. Māris Kupčs is the conductor. The bell-ringing ensemble "Arsis" from Estonia is sure to bring Yuletide joy with its concert December 21 at 19.30 in St. John's Church.

http://www.eiropasziemassvetki.lv/about.php

Check our offers for the Christmas and New Year celebrations in Riga and in the Baltics:

http://www.lithuaniantours.com/special-offers/new-year-in-the-baltics!/new-year-in-riga/937

[Read Posts...]

Oldest Christmas Tree Decoration at Riga Museum from November 18

Five hundred years ago some members of the Blackheads’ Society chose the tallest fir tree in the forest to publicly burn it and bring cheer to Rigaens. While they were looking for the best place for a huge campfire, local children found the tree and decorated it. Suprrised at the magnificent transformation, the Blackheads decided to lift the tree up on Town Hall Square. Now the memorial plaque is set up here and a new Christmas tree decorated every year.

Seven years ago a greyish glass ball with a metal hook, which Rigans used to decorate Christmas trees with 250 years ago, was found during archeological excavations in Old Town Rīga.

Along with the Christmas tree decoration, many other items, used for daily needs, were found at the archaeological site, for instance, leather footwear, knife sheaths, bags, harnesses, pieces of pipes, pieces of clothing, stained glass, etc.

From November 18, they will be on display at the Museum of the History of Rīga and Navigation:

http://www.rigamuz.lv

Check our offers for the Christmas and New Year celebrations in Riga and in the Baltics:

http://www.lithuaniantours.com/special-offers/new-year-in-the-baltics!/new-year-in-vilnius/936

[Read Posts...]