Source: CCTV.com

06-24-2008 10:19

In virtually all cultures, Midsummer remains a special time for celebration. In northern Europe, residents of Latvia jump over bonfires and stay awake until after sunrise.

In virtually all cultures, Midsummer remains a special time for celebration. In northern Europe, residents of Latvia jump over  bonfires and stay awake until after sunrise.(Photo: CCTV.com)

There is another essential element to the festivities: the performance of a 20th century Latvian play called "Tailor Days in Silmaci". The work was written in 1902, by one of Latvia's best known playwrights and novelists, Rudolfs Blaumanis. It became the country's most widely performed play.

At a National Theatre performance in Riga each year, tickets are sold out. Hundreds of people flock through turn styles decorated for the occasion with birch-boughs. The story involves three star-crossed couples whose complicated relationships are resolved by the play's conclusion with wedding bells.

"Tailor Days in Silmaci" has been staged more than 50 times in 100 years. That makes it the most frequently performed play in Latvia's history.

Editor:Liu Fang