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This holiday is still celebrate exactly as explained in New Hampshire USA. In a small town in Bradfor NH the Latvian church bought several hundred acres on lake Masacecum. In 1950 they celebrated their first Jans! And still till this very day every summer we walk and sing through the woods and visit different peoples homes where they offer us beer and cheese. Single girls wear wreaths of white flowers and men named John wear crowns of oak leaves. After all the walking, singing and drinking we all converge near the church and light a large bonfire which burns through the night. Sining and dancing continue in the barn till dawn! Piersol NH is the only place outside Latvia to still "Ligo".
A very disapointing article! In addition to being incomplete in explaining the tie, or lack of tie, between the summer solstice and Jāņi, there are also many glaring inaccuracies!
To be fair, these same misconceptions are held by a vast majority of Latvians! In the eyes of most, who have not studied pre Christian Latvian folklore and traditions, Jāņi and the summer solstice celebrations are one and the same, but from a historical perspective this is entirely inaccurate!
The summer solstice as celebrated by Pagan tribes prior to the introduction of Christianity was never called "Jāņi", nor was Jānis a Latvian deity! Jānis is the Latvian form of the name John and the name of the post Pagan celebration relates to John the Baptist.
To ease introduction of Christianity to Pagan tribes, the Roman Catholic Church adapted Pagan traditions to its own ends. Thus the winter solstice became Christmas, spring -easter and the summer solstice was tied to the purported birthday of John the Baptist.
Therefore, to suggest that a celebration created by the Roman Catholic Church "contain(s) no reference to Christianity..." is abusrd!
The suggestion that the frequent refrain "ligo", used in folk songs related to the solstice/Jāņi, is related to the modern Latvain word līgo (sway) is also highly questionable. A more accepted origin is the Liv word meaning "so be it" or "so shall it be".
As with any history that had only an oral tradition, much has been irretrievably lost. It is unfortunate that poorly written uninformed articles such as this one further corrupt it!212.93.100.166 (talk) 11:55, 22 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You are most welcome to edit the article. Talk/♥фĩłдωəß♥\Work 19:40, 22 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Similar festive celebration traditions worldwide[edit]
The section about similar festive celebration traditions worlwide is quite elaborate. I have added a link to the main article on midsummer, an article more suitable for such elaborate efforts, since this article is just about the Latvian midsummer festival. If noone opposes, I am going to remove the elaborate lists of the midsummer festivals names in other countries/languages. Talk/♥фĩłдωəß♥\Work 11:13, 23 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
A discussion is taking place to address the redirect (Līgo). The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 August 4#(Līgo) until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Estopedist1 (talk) 11:36, 4 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
