The Riga Flower Feast is about the prettiest festival that can be seen anywhere. It is kept on St. John's day, the 24th of June, but dates back into Pagan times, and was only in later ages blended with the festival of the Christian saint. The old heathen Lettes had a goddess of joy, flowers, and the spring, whom they called " Ligho,'' and in whose honour they instituted this festival. They adorned themselves with flowers, and assembling by the side of their lakes, rivers, and springs, sacrificed to the goddess, by throwing a few of their treasures into the water, and then danced, played, feasted, and sang the whole of the day and the following night. It is still the same, and the only difference is that Christian service is performed in the churches, and the name of " Yanne" (Johnny) is added to that of Ligho in the songs; the burden being always " Ligho (Joy^ Johnny, Joy). This day is the greatest festival of the year to the Lettes. They sing, dance, and drink all day, and decorate themselves and their dwellings with flowers and branches, while their Ligho songs resound incessantly throughout the day and night, in the fields and forests around. Fir branches are strewed about in rooms, and the roofs of houses are covered with green boughs. In the middle of their courts they erect young birch-trees, from which every John who enters the court may pluck a branch, for which, however, he is expected if not a poor man to leave behind him a token of his liberality.
From far and near, from the whole surrounding country, the peasants assemble on this day, with flowers and garlands, on an open space near the city, and open a very pleasing market. The forests and meadows of this country furnish many wild plants of the kind called everlasting and evergreen ; the roses, too, are particularly abundant at this season. Confectionery and fruit-shops and theatrical show-booths are not wanting, and at night all is beautifully illuminated. Old and young, rich and poor, the whole city of Riga dance, play, and sing amid flowers on the banks of the Dwina, or on the river itself, in flower-decked gondolas. St. John himself is little attended to. He must content himself with the fires wliich, in this, as in other Christian countries, are lighted up in his honour.
The second feast, in August, that of Hunger Sorrow, is no less pleasing than the flower feast. It is held in remembrance of a siege, in wliich Riga suff'ered greatly from famine. On the anniversary of its rescue, all who suffer from hunger and sorrow are feasted and regaled at the cost of the city. On an open space near the town, tables are spread, to which a good appetite is the only ticket of admittance required.
For those who have money as well as appetite, there are eating-houses of another kind. The citizens and their wives go on pilgrimages to the different banquet-tables in remembrance of their brave forefathers, rejoice in the peace of the present, enjoy the good gifts before them, and difliise their bounty to the needy and poor.
This festival is the more lively in consequence of its falling on the same day as the Russian Fruit Consecration. The feasts of Pomona must have very much resembled the Russian Feast of Fruit. All the kinds of fruit which ripen at this time, early apples, plimis, peais, &c., arc brought in great quantities to the markets, and round the churches, where the dealers sit in long rows. Before this day, be they ever so ripe, no Russian will taste autumn fruits ; after this day, no degree of unripeness will deter them. The country people hasten early to the churches, laden with sacks of apples, pears, and plums.
The Russian service is then performed, after which the dealers turn out their fruit into plates and dishes, fornung long avenues in the churches, with wide walks between. The priests now enter in procession, singing and sprinkhng the fruit with holy water. The moment this is concluded, the " munching" commences, and in the streets, markets, and churches, old and young are busy in the consumption of apples, pears, and plums, with honey and milk. The children eat as much fruit as they like, for consecrated dainties cannot hurt them. Even infants at the breast receive thick pears to suck, the priests stand at the church-doors munching apples, the poorest beggars receive whole sacks full of apples, pears, and other eatables, and all rejoice together in the bounty of Pomona. It will be seen that this Russian feast of fruit consecration harmonizes very well with that of Hunger Sorrow.
Sand, heath, and marsh, are the principal features in the en\drons of Riga, and in summer the intolerable dust thrown up from the sand spoils all enjoyment. It has often been proposed to level and cultivate the sand hills, and to convert the barren heaths into fruitful districts ; but invincible difficulties have always opposed themselves to these plans.