‘I AM LATVIA’ - the central message of the centenary celebrations
"We are as great as is our will", wrote Latvian playwright Rainis in his 1911 play Indulis and rija. The awareness of this simple truth has followed us though an entire century of joy and suffering, destruction and renewal, from the establishment of the Republic of Latvia to the Restoration of Latvian Independence, succinctly expressing the essence of our national will, belief in our strength, and the desire to be free. Today we can also achieve all we believe in. Rainis’ quote was not selected by chance. These words were chosen to accompany the biggest event in the history of modern Latvia.
On 18 November 2018 we will celebrate Latvia’s centenary. We will greet the day with honor and dignity, proud and happy for having prepared a wide range of celebratory events and festivities that will take place from 2017 to 2021. Everyone who calls Latvia home and feels a sense of belonging to this country is invited to participate, regardless of age, occupation, education, mother tongue, or place of residence.
Latvia is created by our thoughts and deeds, through our daily contributions to Latvia’s prosperity. ‘I AM LATVIA’ is the central message of the centenary celebrations, and the participatory theme ‘ I create Latvia. I make Latvia’ permeates the many events. This message reminds us that Latvia’s greatest resource is our people; those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom, those who have dedicated their lives to the creation and maintenance of an independent state, create our present reality with the work they do on a daily basis, and, together with the new generation, are laying the foundation for our future.
The centenary celebrations also come into being when we all work together. The celebration program defines the overall goal and guiding message for the celebrations, enumerates the key tasks we must accomplish together, and a number of nationwide events, of centenary extravaganzas, encouraging each and every person living in Latvia to contribute their ingenuity and good deeds as gifts to our nation on its 100th birthday. More than 5 000 people have already shared their ideas in various public discussions, and everyone is invited to add their own ideas, dedicated to Latvia and corresponding with the goals of the celebration, to the open calendar of centenary events on the digital plat- form www.lv100.lv.
In preparation for a birthday celebration, each of us performs a sort of ritual - we clean house, revisit our memories, thank our parents, invite guests, make ourselves beautiful, and receive gifts from our friends. We will also follow these steps in anticipation of our nation’s birthday. This is a time to honor Latvia’s founding mothers and fathers, to revitalise the lessons of history, and to deepen the understanding of the meaning of statehood and the formation of national identity. We will dedicate a part of the holiday festivities to our friends and neighbors and to the countries that have defended Latvian sovereignty, we will nurture and cultivate Latvia’s natural and cultural spaces, we will weave lasting values into the fabric of our lives, and we will create new gifts for Latvia including sixteen Latvian Films for the Latvian Centenary, a n ew Lat v i a n N a t i o n a l Encyclopedia, new compositions and performances in all of the Arts, refurbished and new cultural and sports infrastructure, new traditions such as the White Tablecloth Celebration on May 4th, and many others.