Stop 04

Winter Solstice Celebration. | Ķekatas.
Tempera, 15 in x 31 in (38.10 cm x 78.74 cm), 1984.

In this painting, my father depicts one of the best-known Latvian winter solstice traditions, ķekatas, a form of mumming. He conveys the festive atmosphere in a room full of costumed dancers who wear traditional masks of wolves, bears, goats, horses, storks, fortune-tellers and Death. Mummers were extended hospitality at each homestead they visited, as they feasted and drank through the night.