White Lilacs in Latvia: A Summer Gazebo: Part 1

Amy has given us permission to use excerpts from her book. Enjoy.

In the 1930s, in a garden in Latvia, we can imagine mature white lilac bushes forming a gazebo that serves as a shady place for summer activities, not only when the lilacs are in bloom, as shown here, but all summer long, under their leafy canopy. 

   It is surprising that there apparently were no all-white flower gardens in the independent Latvia that existed between World War I and World War II. Latvia is one of the Baltic states—a term that has the word "balts" (Latvian for "white") embedded in it—and there are many ways to connect the color white with this country. The garden presented here has so many white elements that we feel it belongs in this collection even though it is not an all-white garden in the more usual sense of only white blossoms.

Anyone familiar with the culture of Latvia in this brief period will know about Latvian white-work (pulled-thread embroidery on white linen); white nights; the overwhelming billows of white-blossoming fruit trees in spring; the white sands on the beach of the white sea (the Baltic Sea); the white-haired children; the national affection for the white-trunked birch; the Latvian celebratory expression "many white days" meant to wish someone "many good days in your future"; and many other happy references to the color white.

The closest we come to white gardens in this white land is to note that white lilacs and their leafy canopies were used often as the covering for a house's outdoor patio, or, (...) to create a gazebo that was at its most spectacular when the lilacs were in bloom but was used also all during the rest of the summer. 

After World War II ended, so did Latvia's independence. With Soviet occupation came exile for many to Siberia: one can imagine these dispossessed Latvians imprisoned in the deathly dark depths of freezing, starving Siberia remembering the safety, freedom, and abundance of the white homeland they had left behind (to say nothing of loved ones left behind or lost). Other Latvians migrated all over the world, many after spending several years in displaced person camps following the end of the war. The 50 years until 1991—during which Latvia was either war-torn or occupied by the communists under very harsh economic, social, and political conditions—were dark times indeed for Latvia. So the memories of these good years between the two world wars remained precious to those who survived.

To be continued...