Students spent their third week learning about traditional Latvian seasonal celebrations and we’ve already made it halfway through the year! We’ve discussed the symbolism of the sun and the year as an oak tree, which appears in the folk song we sing in class every day. We started our year with Meteņi (the end of winter/start of the new growing season), and some masked mischief-makers surprised their classmates and teachers, then went “sledding” to ensure a good linen crop.

Mežotne is Latvian children’s summer camp on the west coast. Mežotne accepts kids between 6 and 14 years old, who participate in groups, and kids ages 4 and 5, who participate along with their parent chaperones. Mežotne is held annually at the West Coast Latvian Education Center in Shelton, Washington.

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Officially founded in 1982, the West Coast Latvian Education Center (WCLEC), or, as it is known in Latvian, the Rietumkrasta Latviešu Izglītības Centrs (RKLIC), is an educational and cultural nonprofit. The West Coast Latvian Education Center’s purpose, and its mission, is to foster, promote, and organize educational and cultural events for all individuals of Latvian ancestry or affinity.

The American Latvian Association (ALA) is the main representative organization for the Latvian American community. Through 100 member organizations, churches, clubs and some 4,000 individual members, we represent over 90,000 people of Latvian descent living in the United States. We are a tax-exempt, 501(c)3 non-profit, educational and cultural organization registered in the U.S.

Peter Brauns, the Chair of the Board of LNAK/LNFC, announces that a Annual General Meeting of the Latvian National Federation in Canada will occur in 2022. We invite anyone who is interested to join LNAK as a member and to participate in the AGM. See their website for more details.