Once a year the market we visit in the cobblestone square of Riga's largest church gets transformed to its Christmas and Winter solstice counterpart. It carries traditional things that one needs to mark the passing of long days into short: baskets to carry to raw yarns and linens needed for extra warmth, bright yellow beeswax candles to put bedside, heavier and darker bread to support heavier and darker butter...
The stands that are built in the old fashioned way of farmer's huts are laced with white lights, so that a glow transforms the open space of the city. Families walk around, drinking hot tea made of wild strawberries that turn their lips as pink as their cold cheeks. Rather than have Santa Claus sit in on a throne waiting for childen to come to him, he walks throughout the market, telling jokes and handing out bon-bons to the young ones excited to catch a glimpse of him, but also to the older women who sit in the circles of the weaving guilds, bringing them warm gingerbread that never seems to run out of his pockets.
It is one of our family's favorite times of year, and the market illustrates those things we love beautifully. Embracing the changing season with warm traditions and the company of friends, turning the year's dark months into our personal light.
