A wall of candles lights the way

17.11.2006. 

For those who were in Riga on November 11, they experienced a remarkable sight: thousands of candles lining the Riga Castle wall alongside the Daugava River. This moving event takes place each year on Lāčplesis Day, when the people of Latvia commemorate the liberation of Riga on November 11, 1919.

If the sight of thousands of people bringing candles to the Riga Castle seems remarkable, the events they are remembering are even more remarkable. Although Latvia declared its independence on November 18, 1918, Latvia’s armed forces had to fight another year against German and Russian troops to make that independence a reality.  On November 11, 1919 Latvian soldiers defeated a Czarist Army that was 5 times larger than the Latvian forces.

Each year this pivotal event in Latvian history is commemorated with parades, concerts, exhibitions and other ceremonies. Next year, a major new motion picture called ‘Riga’s Guards’ will be released, depicting these dramatic events nearly 100 years ago. To make this film, a special film set was built in a rural area outside of Riga, recreating the buildings and riverfront of Riga in 1919. With the additional of special effects and computer graphics, the film promises to be a spectacular historical drama.

The film set itself is becoming a popular tourist attraction and is also attracting the interest of film makers from around the world who see it as an ideal setting for other historical dramas. But for Latvians, with or without films, November 11 and November 18 mark the most dramatic dates in their history – the birth of a nation!