Remembrance Day for the UK and Latvia falls on Latvia's Lacplesis Day. Lacplesa is the mythological national hero of Latvia, the bearslayer who, according to Modris Eksteins, "awakens his people from endless sleep, destroys the evil spirits and restores the Castle of Light. He creates the State, protects it from its enemies, and is a model father." One of the sculptures on the freedom monument shows Lacplesis slaying the bear. As soon as we walked out onto lacplesa street, where our apartment is located, we saw Latvian flags flying. On our building were the flags of Latvia in the center with Estonia and Lithuania as well. Latvian flags and banners lined the streets. We went to church at St. Saviors, the Anglican Church which has services in English where representative of the British Embassy presented a wreath of paper poppies. We saw the flowers and candles at the freedom monument. At a concert we heard Latvian folk songs such as Meness mena saules meitu. The concert ended with a singing of the National Anthem. We walked towards the pils (Riga castle which is now the president's residence) along 11.novembra krastmala and saw all of the candles lit balanced in nooks and crannies of the rough hewn stone wall in remembrance of all peoples and all wars for freedom.
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