How did the Christmas tree tradition come about? As in many other customs or legends, the origins vary depending on who is telling the story. But one of the most widely accepted is that the tradition of choosing a large tree and decorating it in the most beautiful place in the house arose in the city of Riga.
The capital of Latvia has an old town worthy of the best fairy tales. The visitor walks between cobbled streets, churches with pointed towers, monumental facades and sloping roofs.
Born German in 1201, Riga grew as a trading crossroads between the North and the Russian bloc and the West, as part of the Hanseatic League. It later formed part of the Swedish empire and the Russian empire. In the mid-19th century, Riga was one of the largest ports in the world and the third largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg. On the other side of the Daugava River, the new city grew, especially after independence from the Russian Empire in 1918. But the old part, which houses the medieval city, remained intact until many of its buildings were bombed in World War II. monuments, which were later rebuilt.
The heart of the old town is in the peculiar Ratslaukums square, the Town Hall. An irregularly shaped enclosure presided over by the most spectacular building: the house of the Blackheads and birthplace – legend says – of the Christmas tree.
This building was the club that welcomed the so-called “black heads”, the brotherhood that protected the Hanseatic captains and merchants. There the single German merchants of the city met to chat and celebrate all kinds of parties. It is said that, on the cold Christmas night of 1510, the group of bachelors who had drunk too much carried a large fir tree to place it in the middle of the square and decorate it with flowers. At the end of the evening they burned it, forming a gigantic bonfire.
Since then, the decoration of the Christmas tree spread throughout the planet, although, luckily, the next step, setting it on fire, was not as successful. There are many other legends that explain this tradition, but this one, perhaps because it is linked to alcoholic revelry, has been widely accepted to this day.
The Blackheads building, built in the purest Flemish Gothic style in 1344, was bombed in 1944 and later demolished by the Soviets. But the plans survived and the building was rebuilt and completed in 2001, to celebrate the city's 800th anniversary.
The peculiar name of the brotherhood and, consequently, of the building, is another symbol of the colonialist past in which European economic growth was sustained. On the main façade, inside and on the coat of arms, the figures of blakmoors stand out, black people richly dressed in the “Moorish style”, as a very popular decorative style was called at the time. On the tour, it is explained that these people were servants who lived here and watched over the silver collections. Although they also argue that the color black referred to a blueberry wine with which the merchants entertained their visitors.
The medieval Town Hall building - also rebuilt - is located right in front of the house of the Blackheads and in the middle stands the statue of the city's patron saint, Saint Roland. The Mentzendorff House, the headquarters of the medieval guild of German glassmakers, is the other jewel of this square, with a façade full of intricately decorated windows.
The Gothic church of Saint Peter is one of the city's notable monuments. Located very close to Ratslaukums Square, it is one of the oldest buildings and is estimated to be around 800 years old. The spire of its bell tower is one of the symbols of the Latvian capital's skyline and an elevator takes visitors to a platform more than 70 meters high, from where you can enjoy a magnificent view of Riga.
St. John's is another notable church; an amalgam between Gothic and Baroque, and which was mentioned for the first time when the neighbors installed catapults on their roof to disperse the attackers of the town. The cathedral, one of the most imposing temples in the city, is another example of the transition from Romanesque to Gothic, with numerous symbols of Hanseatic architecture and an organ that, at the time of its construction, in the 19th century, was the most biggest in the world.
The remains of the castle, built in 1330 as a fortress by the brothers of the Sword, similar to the Templars, are located next to the river. After extensive restoration, it has become the official residence of the President of Latvia.
In addition to the medieval city, Riga also offers one of the most densely populated neighborhoods of art nouveau architecture, the sister of modernism in central and eastern Europe. It is worth walking through Riga's central neighborhood to admire the facades and its rich history of decorative arts.
And if the visitor gets hungry, they can always go to the central market. Housed in a series of five World War II zeppelin hangars, it is the largest market in the Baltics and offers a variety of Latvian food stalls. Highlights include the ubiquitous blueberries (incredibly cheap compared to prices in Spain) and other berries, as well as smoked fish, mushrooms of all sizes, local cheeses and other delicacies. Farmers from all over the country come there to sell their fresh products.
