Latvia
National Holidays
Festivities to celebrate the New Year begin in the evening of December 31 In recent years, both the President and Prime Minister address the people on national TV. While champagne toasts are common, many Latvian families partake in a variety of traditional rituals to ensure good luck and prosperity in the New Year.
Drinking tea in Latvia
In Latvia, ancient rustic wisdom dictates that the leaves and grasses used for herbal tea be picked when the fields are in bloom, shortly before Midsummer\'s Eve, right after the dew dries on a clear, sunny morning, and left to dry for two weeks in a cool, dark, and draughty place.
Climate of Latvia
In the summer, daylight hours are long and in the winter short. In December it is still pitch dark at 9:00 A.M., and daylight disappears before 4:00 P.M. This light deprivation may be an important ingredient in deciphering certain aspects of Latvian collective behavior. It may account for the general exuberance and joie de vivre in spring and summer, and the relative taciturnity and melancholy the rest of the year.