A pride parade is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride. The events sometimes also serve as demonstrations for legal rights such as same-sex marriage. Most occur annually throughout the Western world, while some take place every June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, a pivotal moment in modern LGBTQ social movements. The parades seek to create community and honor the history of the movement. In 1970, pride and protest marches were held in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco around the first anniversary of Stonewall. The events became annual and grew internationally. In 2019, New York and the world celebrated the largest international Pride celebration in history: Stonewall 50 - WorldPride NYC 2019, produced by Heritage of Pride commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, with five million attending in Manhattan alone. The most recent New York pride event was NYC Pride March 2022, which occurred on June 26, 2022.
Jāņi is an annual Latvian festival celebrating the summer solstice. Although astronomically the solstice falls on 21 or 22 June, the public holidays—Līgo Day and Jāņi Day—are on 23 and 24 June. The day before Jāņi is known as Līgosvētki, Līgovakars or simply Līgo.
Salsa is a Latin dance, associated with the music genre of the same name, which was first popularized in the United States in the 1960s in New York City. Salsa is a mixture of Cuban dances, such as mambo, pachanga and rumba, as well as American dances such as swing and tap.
Traditional Latvian music is often set to traditional poetry called dainas, featuring pre-Christian themes and legends, drone vocal styles and Baltic psaltery.
Rainis was the pseudonym of Jānis Pliekšāns, a Latvian poet, playwright, translator, and politician. Rainis' works include the classic plays Uguns un nakts and Indulis un Ārija, and a highly regarded translation of Goethe's Faust. His works had a profound influence on the literary Latvian language, and the ethnic symbolism he employed in his major works has been central to Latvian nationalism.
Linda Viera Caballero, better known as La India, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter of salsa, house music and Latin pop. La India has been nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, winning the Latin Grammy Award for Best Salsa Album for the Intensamente La India Con Canciones De Juan Gabriel album.
Prāta Vētra, known internationally as Brainstorm, is a Latvian pop/rock band. The band became popular internationally in 2000 when they finished third in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 with the song "My Star".
Mārtiņš Karsums is a Latvian professional ice hockey right winger currently playing for MHk 32 Liptovský Mikuláš of the Slovak Extraliga.
The Latvian Song and Dance Festival is one of the largest amateur choral and dancing events in the world and an important event in Latvian culture and social life.
Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires, often known simply as the Legionnaire Day or March 16 in Latvia, is a day when soldiers of the Latvian Legion, part of the Waffen-SS, are commemorated. From 1998 until 2000, it was officially recognized as a "Remembrance Day for Latvian soldiers" by the Saeima.
A Salsa congress is a multi-day dance festival featuring workshops, social dancing, performances and competitions focusing on Salsa dancing. The format was first pioneered at the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress in 1997.
Positivus Festival is an annual, three-day summer music and culture festival that was held in Salacgrīva, Latvia from 2007 to 2019. After two cancelled editions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the festival moved to the capital Riga from 2022.
Baltic Pride is an annual LGBT+ pride parade rotating in turn between the capitals of the Baltic states; Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. It is held in support of raising issues of tolerance and the rights of the LGBT community and is supported by ILGA-Europe. Since 2009, the main organisers have been Mozaīka, the National LGBT Rights Organization LGL Lithuanian Gay League, and the Estonian LGBT Association.
Skanste is a neighbourhood located in the center of Riga, the capital of Latvia, and is currently becoming the most modern part of Riga. Geographically, the neighborhood is situated in the northern part of the railway ring on the right bank of the Daugava, bordering the Sarkandaugava, Brasa, Centrs, and Pētersala-Andrejsala neighborhoods.
Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "Hello from Mars" written by Mārtiņš Freimanis and Lauris Reiniks. The song was performed by the group F.L.Y. In addition to participating in the contest, the Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest after winning the competition in 2002 with the song "I Wanna" performed by Marie N. LTV organised the national final Eirodziesma 2003 in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2003 contest in Riga. Fifteen songs were selected to compete in the national final on 1 February 2003 where two rounds of public televoting selected "Hello from Mars" performed by F.L.Y. as the winner.
Baklahorani or Tatavla carnival was a carnival traditionally celebrated annually in Istanbul, Turkey, by members of the local Greek Orthodox community on Clean Monday, the last Monday before Lent. It took place during 19th century and perhaps earlier, but was banned by the Turkish authorities in 1943. In 2010 the carnival was revived in a watered-down version unlike the licentious original. This has now become a regular event on the local calendar.
Kārlis Lācis is a Latvian contemporary composer. Along with the scores for theatre productions, movies, and musical arrangements, a large part of his work is dedicated to vocal and choral music, symphonic, and instrumental compositions, including "Te Deum" (2014) with the State Choir Latvija, and double concerto for flute, oboe and orchestra "42.195" (2014) with Liepaja symphony orchestra. "Rorate coeli" (2014) for soprano, saxophone and organ and the first symphony "Via Crucis" premiered on April 3, 2015 with Latvian National symphony orchestra. Kārlis was one of the jury members for 2014 World choir games while Latvian capital Riga was the European capital of culture. His creative contribution includes musicals staged in Liepāja theatre and Dailes theatre "Pūt vējiņi" (2011) and "Oņēgins" (2013), both rewarded with the highest annual theater award for the best music author.
The Melnā Piektdiena club is an underground, heavy-metal, and extreme music concert venue in Riga, Latvia. Opened in 2006, over the years it has hosted shows by some of the most respected artists within a variety of genres.
Latin Sparks Festival is Canada’s largest Latin dance party that occurs annually in Ottawa, Ontario and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2018, over 3,000 people attended the festival in each city for one night of dancing.
