Keeping the sun from setting, approx 1 AMFirst a bit of explanation: the Midsummer's Festival is an important holiday in the Baltics and Scandinavia. It celebrates the longest day of the year, known in the West as the Summer Solstice. Due to these countries extreme north position, the sky never gets dark! On this day, the daylight actually lasts 24 hours (the darkest it got was a light blue/purple haze). We went to a museum/fairgrounds outside of the capital, not really knowing what to expect. We were met with thousands of Latvians, drinking, eating and dancing until the "sunrise" at 5 am. It was beautiful and even a little magical... probably because the holiday is a pagan one!
Traditional folk songs and costumes
Holding hands round the bonfire- notice the color of the sky at 1 or 2 am.
Jumping over the bonfire for good luck.
Me with some lovely Latvian ladies.
