The Latvian community in Ireland held their second annual Culture Day celebration in Dublin recently, centred around an exhibition on Latvia’s song and dance traditions and a procession through the streets of Temple Bar.
The Latvian community in Ireland held their second annual Culture Day celebration in Dublin recently, centred around an exhibition on Latvia’s song and dance traditions and a procession through the streets of Temple Bar.
Some 170 participants dressed in Latvian folk costume paraded through Dublin’s old quarter on Sunday 5 May ahead of the official opening of the day’s celebrations by Dublin Lord Mayor Naoise Ó Muirí.
“Latvians are a vital, dynamic and integrating part of Ireland,” he said. “Their singers and dancers are becoming better known on the Irish cultural scene throughout Ireland. Latvia is known as ‘The Land That Sings!”
The day, organised by the Latvian Embassy in Ireland, was filled with open-air folk singing and dancing performances by Latvians from Ireland and abroad. Spectators also had a chance to learn more about the eastern European country, and to taste traditional Latvian food.
Dublin’s City Hall also presented The Miracle of the Latvian Song and Dance Celebration, an exhibition detailing the remarkable event held every five years since 1873 where as many as 40,000 people don folk costumes for a variety of performances, culminating in a massive a capella choir concert.
The exhibition continues till 21 May at European House on Dawson Street.
