We have been in Latvia for three years now. This, our fourth and final has been a year of firsts. We experienced the low of life attending the funeral of a colleague’s daughter and boyfriend. It was a beautiful event, but so very sad. These kids were in their early 20's and had so much to live for. The funeral was held at a chapel in the woods near our school. Back among the pine, oak and birch trees is a beautifully laid out cemetery. The chapel is wooden and very small. There were no pews--only benches on the side. The wooden caskets were open and both families stood at children's heads and greeted family and friends. What a moving and emotionally overwhelming event. Every guest brought flowers. The smell of flowers was too much at times. We, the entire staff of the school as well as hundreds of friends and relatives, stood at the entrance of the chapel. People waited in line, so for as long as an hour and a half, to file into the chapel to pay their final respects.
The Catholic priests led the family and pallbearers to the burial site. It was deep in the woods. Walking there was so peaceful. The sky was blue and you could hear birds singing in the treetops. We all gathered around for the graveside service. The priests read some passages from the Bible and sang some songs. Then the caskets were lowered into their graves. Two men who were employed by the cemetery did this. When they were finished, the families and friends took a handful of dirt and threw it into the grave. Symbolic. The workers then handed shovels to some of the men in attendance and the 8-10 men began shoveling the dirt into the graves-- all while we stood and watched.
Once the graves were filled the workers returned and built up the tops of the graves with dirt. They then made hills of dirt into casket like shapes. Using their shovels they made crosses on them. Pine branches were used to cover the entire thing. The men then cleared the shovels away and the service went on. Lovingly each family member placed their flowers on top and began filing away. In Latvia, flowers are a very important part of life. When you are giving flowers to someone for their birthday, you must give an odd number of flowers. For funerals, you take an even number.
There was a gathering at the family’s house afterwards, but the staff did not feel it was appropriate we attend. There were a couple of representatives from our school who stayed until late in the evening. Word has it some of the guest were still there at 4:00 the following morning.
Later that same week, we attended the wedding of our first nanny, Kristine. She was marrying a young man who was a security guard at the British Embassy. Their wedding was at the oldest church in Latvia. It was a perfect fall day for a wedding. We had not eaten lunch—thinking we would eat at the reception. The wedding began at 1:45 (the bride was late). We arrived at 12:45. We left at 4:30 and the couple still had not made it to the banquet hall. Latvia has many traditions associated with weddings. One is crossing bridges. The couple has to cross seven bridges before going to the reception hall. When we left Kristine and Endijs (pronounced Andy) were crossing their second.
There was one tradition we enjoyed. Before crossing the first bridge, Kristine and Endijs has to toast one another in the middle of a bridge. They gave a short speech and kissed! We, the guests, could not cross until we were called. Each guest was called and introduced. The bride and groom had to tell why the invited the guests. It was all done in Latvian, but seeing the joy on Kristine’s face as she introduced us, was translation enough.
The happy couple--Kristine and Endijs! (Notice Laura in the backgound)
This is Krimulda--the oldest church in Latvia. It was built in 1205.
The kids and me!
This is where we left the newlyweds. They were heading down the hill to their second bridge and we headed to dinner!
