In class this week we introduce our kiddos to “The Baltic Way,” the 1989 “hands across the Baltics” 400 mile human chain that unified the nations against the Soviet Union. In our humble how-to video we celebrate the Baltic nations’ strength, bravery and pride by linking arms in class. (Forgive us for mumbling through the Estonian nation anthem.)
Tag Archives | Latvia
The Baltics are THE BEST
This week in our online classes we ventured to the Baltic Sea, where we embraced the Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Throughout the upcoming week we’ll group the three nations together for a variety of reasons and in a variety of ways, but we’ll still recognize that each makes its own own historical, linguistic and musical way. We’ll also do a lot of public choral singing and overcome an empire by holding hands.
Let Latvia Sing
Latvian Singing can inspire us to accomplish EVERYTHING.
We end our week in the Baltic States by letting Latvia have its say. In class we extol the virtues of Estonia’s massive every-five-years singing celebration, attended by 100,000 of your closest Estonian friends. Latvia’s every-five-years singing celebration attracts an average of 30,000 enthusiastic Latvians who LOVE Latvian singing. That may not be 100,000, but it’s sure not nothin’! Sing along in this video with the Latvians, and enjoy.
Lovely Latvian Kolke
The Latvian kolke is so very lovely….
Much traditional music from Latvia is pre-Christian and based on short, unrhymed poems called “dainas,” most of which concern themselves with stories about the sun goddess Saule or the moon god Meness, or about the lives of people at ceremonies surrounding birth, marriage and death. That all seems much heaver than the gorgeous multi-stringed Latvian kolke sounds. Enjoy Laima Jansone’s deligtful performance in this video.
Hands Across the Baltics
What was the Baltic Way?
On August 23, 1989, more than a million people from the Baltic states linked hands to form a human chain almost 400 miles long in an event called “The Baltic Way.” The massive hand-holding demonstrated the unity of the people of the Baltics in demanding independence from the Soviet Union. If this doesn’t remind you of the 1986 “Hands Across America,” if you sing, maybe it will.
