18 November Torchlight procession

18th November Torchlight procession 2013 in Riga, Latvia

The torchlight procession 2013 from the heights of St. Peter's Church

The 18 November Torchlight procession (Latvian: 18. novembra Lāpu gājiens) is one of the traditions of 18 November - the Independence Day of Latvia. The tradition started on 18 November 2003 when the nationalist youth organization All For Latvia! arranged a torchlight procession celebrating the anniversary of the declaration of independence of Latvia. The Torchlight procession attracts several thousand participants every year. On 18 November 2013, there were already almost thirteen thousand participants in the event.^[1]

The assembly for the procession takes place in the evening of 18 November at the monument of Kārlis Ulmanis, the first prime minister of Latvia, and the procession ends at the Freedom Monument. Until 2012, the route of the procession moved through the narrow streets of Riga Old Town, but in 2013 the route was changed because of ever increasing numbers of participants and for the first time the traffic was stopped for the Torchlight procession in two major streets of Riga - the K. Valdemara street and 11th November Quay.^[2]

As is said in the webpage of the organizers of this event: "The aim of the torchlight procession is to express national gratitude to the founders of the Republic of Latvia and those brave soldiers who gave their lives for the freedom of Latvia. Their faith in the brighter future for the Latvian nation and the ultimate sacrifice of these men provided Latvians with the opportunity to be one of those few nations in the world that have their own country."^[3] One of the traditions of the Torchlight procession is the chanting of "We are Latvians!" (Latvian: "Mēs esam latvieši!") at the assembly place.^[4]

References

External pages

• (Latvian) The section for the Torchlight procession at the website of National Alliance
• The page for the Torchlight procession at Facebook