As the Midsummer is approaching you will hear a lot of folk songs, either in public events or concerts, or even Latvians have a tradition that you must sing to your neighbors describing their good deeds or sometimes even laziness in a song that sometimes is made up on the spot. But the verse of these songs will always be the same - Līīīīgooooo, Līigooooo!
So don't be afraid that you are calmly sitting in a class or library, or even office room, and a bunch of people storm the room with traditional outfits, singing that the library floor is clean enough, the office is missing flower decorations or any other thing that might sound weird at first glance. This is the time to make fun of your neighbors or tell them that they are doing an amazing job. Either way, we look at this in a fun way and try to repeat the same way saying something sarcastic about the singers.
Usually when the singing is over the hosts give snacks to the singers as a thank you, because this brings blessing to the house, office, or building visited.
So, join the celebration, and if you don’t know the song you can surely learn at least the verse of the song - Līgo, Līgo!
If you wish to learn some songs to use to sing to your neighbors, head down to the Practice Your Latvian forum to learn some folk songs here!
Happy celebration,
Vita OLS Community manager - Latvian