Riga—With the slight background hiss of a distant AM broadcast, the choir sings Klusa Nakts, Sveta Nakts (Silent Night, Holy Night) in Latvian on Radio Riga. Playing in the background during a transatlantic call from Stockholm, it amazes and moves my family in the U.S., who never thought this would be possible.
On Christmas Eve, the Lutheran services from the Riga Dom Church are beamed across Latvia on television. In Ludza, a town near the Russian border in the predominantly Catholic province of Latgale, almost all the students from the local high school, and younger children as well, attend midnight Mass; two years ago this would have been unthinkable defiance. At the same time, Latvian television offers a surprise broadcast of midnight Mass from the Vatican, relayed by satellite.
Comments