After exchanging rings and vows, we did the "lidzinasana" or "equalizing". This was an important part of the ancient Latvian wedding tradition. The feeling that I get and have always gotten is that historically Latvians, while recognizing that there are differences in men's and women's roles in the family, it was not considered that women should be submissive to their husbands, thus the "equalizing".
For lidzinasana, we needed to find a large rock. (See back to my previous post about rock duty - this was a fun job for me!) We found a rock which we thought would do, but the folklorists, when they came to scope out the scene a few days before the wedding, immediately found another and ideal rock. You can't see from the picture, but it is diamond shaped from above, white, gray and pink with sparkles. Just in the the middle on the top of the rock, is the rock's "heart", a perfectly pink indentation, and a bit to the side, there is the "soul", a perfectly white indentation. Since we had to relocate the rock, KB had to dig it into the ground a bit - the rock needs to be solid and sturdy, as it is the foundation for our future together. So we each put our right foot on the rock and joined hands.
Then our vedeju paris also put their right feet on the rock and covered our hands with their hands, from the top and the bottom, as they are our guides into married life and are also responsible for helping to protect our marriage. And we breathed together, inhaling from the earth, and asked for strength and blessing. 
And there is the godson, helping with the drums (a musician's son - how can you deny him?)! I absolutely loved this about the ceremony, that really everyone, everyone participated as they saw fit, and that the folklorists allowed and welcomed this. It was very "real", not a show to be put on, but it is all about a series of rituals, designed to teach the young couple lessons about what is important and necessary in marriage, gathering strength from the earth and from the community as well.
After the fire had burned down a bit, it was time to bless the rings. These are our rings, being blessed over the fire.
Exchanging of rings (the second time - now they are legal AND blessed).
Then we stood back to back - first as all the guests together chanted a blessing for us and then as the folklorists blessed each of us individually. They were burning a small torch of all kinds of dried grasses tied together (kind of like incense) and in front of each of us they "drew" Latvian symbols in the air while saying their own blessings/wishes for us.
Here we are exchanging our vows. I can only remember a bit of what we promised each other (can't wait for the video so I can hear it again), but I just remember thinking how beautiful it was what we were saying, and how right that this was exactly what a husband and wife should be promising one another. You will notice that our hands are tied together - that is with an ethnic belt which my grandmother designed and made for my folk costume. (Ever heard of "tying the knot"? We did this LITERALLY!) So the final vows, I do remember, were that love unites us and love also frees us, and then the belt came off, and they reminded us that while our souls are now bound together we are not physically bound together, reminding us each to keep our own, and that our souls being bound together is much stronger and more lasting than any physical bonds.
Hands down, this is one of my top two favorite photos of the day.
A kiss to seal the deal. :)
This picture may be a bit out of order - I think it is just after she removed the belt and saying how love unites us and love frees us!
And here we are, taking a stroll around as the newlyweds, KB "showing off" his new wife. :) He has this goofy "saimnieks" (farmer) face - including a smile and a nod - that he was making the whole time in the video (he noticed this himself) and we had a big laugh about it... :)
After we had built the fire, we sang some verses to get the fire going. I'm not sure of the meaning behind all the verses, but at least one verse was thrown in and they whispered to me that this was a verse to ward off accidents with fire in the new home we are planning to build right there. I know that we were also singing something to the effect that there always would be a fire burning between me and KB in our relationship. There were several of these moments during the ceremony when little things were whispered just to me and KB by the folklorists, making it extra special, and we knew that what they were doing was just for us. It may have left some of the guests a bit confused, but for us it was kind of nice...
With our expert fire-building skills and awesome singing, we had built it a bit too big to start with the exchange of the rings, so while we waited for the fire to burn down a bit, KB gathered strength from the men at the ceremony and I gathered strength from the women. The men went first, and did the "dance of the bear" around the fire. Then they passed the energy around the cirlce, starting and ending with KB, by clapping hands with the next person, saying "HO HO!" The first time around, it was a bit weak, but as it went on, we could literally see the men gathering their energy. I would say from the outside it looked a lot like a sports team gearing themselves up for the event, getting more and more into it. KB said it was pretty powerful the second time around and he really felt it. It went faster and louder, and to me sounded like a heartbeat travelling around the cirlce.
The women were next, and women gather their strength from being able to sit together with a girlfriend or other females, and talk and share. So we went around the cirlce singing, all holding hands, every so often breaking down into circles of two or three, continuing the singing. In the end, I was "returned" to KB, and, strength now gathered, we were ready to go on.
The photos above show the people who helped to make the ceremony happen. The musicians as well as the folklorists, who are husband and wife. They truly made it a beautiful day for us.
Everything began as the guests came close together in a circle around the place where the fire would be built. We passed a ball of yarn around the circle, creating a circle to unite us. Then a "laimes akmens" was strung onto the yarn, this is a rock which is found in nature with a perfect hole in it. As the rock was passed around the circle, each guest introduced him/herself and how they knew us. Now that we all knew each other, we could begin!
The first order of business was making a wreath of flowers for me. This was the last time that I would get to wear a flower wreath, as they are only for unmarried women; married women covered their heads. However, before the flower wreath could be finished, KB and I each had to take a close look at all of the flowers that had been woven into the wreath, and smell them as well. Then we each had to choose the one that was our favorite. Here we are looking, smelling, choosing... :)
For those of you who don't know, I actually suffer from some pretty serious allergies this time of year from some sort of flower pollens. The allergies show up in my eyes, which become crazy red, really puffy and ridiculously itchy. Usually it actually hits me at the end of the summer (making me a fun sight as the "new teacher" on the first days of school!) but this year they were bugging me early. I had gone to the pharmacy to pick up some allergy medicine to start taking about a week before the wedding. They of course didn't have my usual medicine at the time, so I took a replacement. Anyway, during this part of the ceremony, I was really getting nervous about whether the new medicine would do it's job.
After we had chosen our favorite flowers and picked one out of the wreath, we were instructed to gently rub it over each other's faces. This was a way to mark each other with our favorite scent so that we would always know when the other was coming and we could even find each other in the dark. I had chosen a jasmine flower. I was so lucky that KB had chosen a fern leaf, as I was pretty sure that was not what I am allergic to! (That also got a pretty good laugh from the crowd, as "flowering ferns" are what young couples go off into the woods to look for on the night of the summer solstice - as we all know ferns do not flower, it's just a good excuse to go off into the woods....) :) In the end, all was well, and the new allergy medicine worked beautifully. My flower wreath was finished off by my vedeju mate, and we were ready to begin!
After we made it legal, everyone headed to Jaunvitagas. All day long it threatened to rain, but the storms totally held off to one side of the sky. In many ways, this was actually the ideal weather for us. If the sun had been out, it's quite possible we would have all melted in the field. Of course many people had commentary throughout the day about the weather. KB said it reminded him that there is nothing in life that should be taken for granted - mother nature granted us the weather that we needed, but only just so. We often get the feeling that our grandparents who are not with us anymore are watching over us, especially when we are at Jaunvitagas. I get the feeling that on that day they were there and literally holding back the storms so that we could have a beautiful day (because the storms were really circling all around us). The folklorists who led the wedding ceremony and blessing at Jaunvitagas reminded us that in Latvian mythology Thunder of course reminds us of the strength of God, so his presence was there as well. In any case, it all worked out for a beautiful day. While this photo doesn't capture the most threatening clouds, it is a great shot looking out from where our ceremony was held.
Upon arriving at Jaunvitagas, everyone lent a helping hand in final decorations, setting out some snacks and preparing the champagne toasts. That was just what we had envisioned for the feel of the day, nothing too formal, but everyone participating, helping out and enjoying their time together. Then we gathered for toasts. Again, whichever guests wanted to congratulate us at this time could, so most people presented their gifts, gave us words of wisdom or recited short poems or quotes at this time.
MP and JS gave us words of wisdom to wear. This is a reminder to us, if we ever feel like we are going to bed angry, we should put these on. We actually have been wearing them around the house quite a bit in the past two weeks (not because we are angry, just because we want to)! :)
Then we did the "formal family shots" before the next part of the day began. Us with the parents. Us with the family, including Krix and AA. Us with our vedeju paris. I'm still looking for a copy of the whole group shot that I like - since we got seated in the front, my face looks like a squished up potato in the pictures I've seen so far....
Then our vedeju paris also put their right feet on the rock and covered our hands with their hands, from the top and the bottom, as they are our guides into married life and are also responsible for helping to protect our marriage. And we breathed together, inhaling from the earth, and asked for strength and blessing. 
And there is the godson, helping with the drums (a musician's son - how can you deny him?)! I absolutely loved this about the ceremony, that really everyone, everyone participated as they saw fit, and that the folklorists allowed and welcomed this. It was very "real", not a show to be put on, but it is all about a series of rituals, designed to teach the young couple lessons about what is important and necessary in marriage, gathering strength from the earth and from the community as well.
