Today, Miķeļdiena, which marks the autumn equinox, was celebrated. To celebrate and experience this festivity together, persons under international protection met at the Society “Shelter “Safe House””.
Organiser of intercultural communication activities Ramona Liepiņa introduced the participants to the traditions of Miķeļdiena in Latvian culture. R. Liepiņa told about various beliefs that should be observed and remembered on this day.
Everyone was involved in creative activities. Someone cut sweet peppers, pumpkin, onions and carrots to make pumpkin soup, someone else got creative and carved a pumpkin specially brought for the evening from Ugāle gardens. Another participant prepared blue cheese cubes and bread croutons to add to the soup. While the soup was being made, everyone had the opportunity to get creative by creating paintings with autumn leaves and colours.
As usual, when welcoming guests, Latvians invited everyone to a common table to enjoy warm pumpkin soup, discuss the common things and differences in how pumpkin is cooked in each country, and taste the Latvian symbol – true rye bread, which some of the attendees tasted for the first time and found very tasty. We learned that in Afghanistan, too, no food is eaten without bread, and a person will not be full if the meal does not include bread.
Support Actions for Persons Under International Protection III project is implemented with the support of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and is co-financed by the European Union. Grant agreement No. PMIF/9/2020/3/02
