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Next: 23 to 24 Jun 2027

Līgo and Jāņi

Latvian midsummer: flower crowns for women, oak leaf crowns for men, and a night without sleep.

Lighting up a pūdele (a traditional Jāņi container filled with tar and attached atop of a pole).
Photo: Heinrihsons, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What happens

Latvia keeps midsummer on 23 June, Līgo, and 24 June, Jāņi, and both are public holidays. On the eve people leave the towns for the countryside. Women make crowns of meadow flowers and men wear heavy crowns of oak leaves. Houses, gates and cattle are dressed with birch, oak and flowers. Bonfires burn until sunrise, special songs are sung, and there is cheese with caraway and beer. Couples slip away to look for the fern flower, which by legend blooms only on this night.

The flowers

WreathFlower crowns for women and oak crowns for men.Oxeye DaisyDaisies, picked with clover and cornflower for the crown.Fern flowerThe flower of legend, sought in the woods at midnight.Pedunculate oakOak, whose leaves crown every man named Jānis.

More flowers and customs of Līgo and Jāņi

Decoration Jāņi Latvia’s midsummer festival with wreaths, bonfires, and solstice songs 🇱🇻 Latvia and 3 more · Custom, June
About this page

Original text by the Phool desk, written with AI assistance. Background: "Jāņi" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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