When is this holiday?
This public holiday takes place in July on the last day of the closing day of the General Latvian Song and Dance Festival. The festival takes place every five years. The next festival takes place in July 2023.
About the Festival
The Latvian Song and Dance Festival (Latvian: Vispārējie latviešu Dziesmu un Deju svētki) is one of the largest amateur choral and dancing events in the world and an important event in Latvian culture and social life.
The All-Latvian Song Festival has been held since 1873, normally every five years, with the Latvian Dance Festival component added in 1948.
In 2003, it was announced that the tradition of the Song and Dance Celebration in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania is a masterpiece of the intangible and oral culture of humanity, and in 2008 it was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity as the Baltic Song and Dance Festival.
In 2005, the Song and Dance Celebration Act was passed. It aims to preserve, develop and pass on to future generations the tradition of the Song and Dance Celebration. The Law includes the General Latvian Song and Dance Festival and the Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Festival as two components of this tradition. The adoption of the law essentially means that the Latvian state is responsible for the existence and continuation of the holiday.