Galleries
Shrovetide (Metenis)
Metenis is the herald of spring and beginning of a new year, as well as the most cheerful holiday of the year and the most popular time for mummeries. On this day museum was filled with masks, dancing and playing together with folk groups, everyone was offered a chance to visit candle maker's and blacksmith's workshops, go horseback riding and try delicious Metenis' treats.
Winter Solstice. Yule Log Eve
The Winter Solstice or Yule Log Eve is celebrated on the shortest day and the longest night of the year. As in old times, to ward off the darkness, cold, last year's mishaps, bad work and thoughts, people roll the Yule Log from one farm to another and eventually burn it. At the museum it is time for masking, creative workshops, Christmas market and seasonal treats, dancing and singing together with folk groups and, of course, rolling and burning the log.
The Martin's Day
Masking and mask parade, dancing and singing together with folk groups, creative seasonal workshops, craftsmen, horseback riding, games of old and delicious Martin's Day treats.
Eve of the Dead Souls
The time when nature is almost ready for the winter and days shorten considerably, marks the end of autumn as everything falls deeper into hibernation. Along with the fog gates to the other world are opened and it is time to expect our ancestral spirits. Hosting the feast for the dead at Hernhuter’s house is a tradition on this Eve and was celebrated by singing in honour of our ancestors together with folk groups.
The Day of Crafts. The Day of Games and Pastimes 2019
"The Day of Crafts. The Day of Games and Pastimes" on September 1 gathered craftsmen from the entire Latvia and introduced visitors to local sheep farming and sauna going traditions. Children were invited to take part in exciting games and to play together with folklore groups.
Contemporary Crafts Festival 2019
Unlike the traditional ethnographic June Fair, the August Festival invites Latvian craftsmen who apply a wide variety of methods and materials, involving in their production of goods not only crafts skills, but also elements of technology development and modern design. The crafts combine the beautiful with the useful: artistic individuality, crafts skills and mercantile wisdom.
Regions’ days
Traditionally, every second year, fans of folk music from close and far-away regions of Latvia gather in Riga to show their magnificent national costumes, and to please public with sonorous songs, cheerful games and tricks of musicians. Photo: Reinis Oliņš
The 49th Latvian Folk Applied Arts Fair
Since 1971, the Museum annually hosts craftsmen’s fair, which is traditionally held at the first weekend of June. In forty-nine years of its existence, the fair has become an event of national significance – now it is a symbol of crafts of Riga and Latvia and a feast for its participants and visitors.
The Night of the Museums 2019
On a May evening, the museum filled up with a special atmosphere when children’s games and pastime in the meadow of Kurzeme fishing village and agility relay races for families woke the joy of spring and vernal breath in the nature and people.
Summer season opening
When trees blossom out and meadow flowers start to bloom, the Open-Air Museum opens the summer season. The museum becomes full of trills and birdsongs. After the winter season, houses and farms open their doors to guests, and craftsmen delight visitors with demonstration of various handicraft skills. This year the festivities took place in the Livs' fishing and farming homestead “Dēliņi”.