February is a time of Meteņi – Annual Custom Celebration, when winter is over and waiting for spring begins, plans are made for a new cycle of work until Easter (the Great Day)  in Spring.

This year, due to the restrictions of COVID-19 in Latvia, a joint celebration of the Meteņi festival is not organized in Turaida, but as an alternative, an open-air exhibition “Annual Custom Celebration - Meteņi - the beginning of a new year” is offered from February 6 to 28. Individually or within one household, visitors are invited to learn about the traditions of Meteņi, actively playing some of them in Turaida. You will have the opportunity to chase away moles, get a recipe for a traditional food - slokatnis, learn the song and dance of Meteņi, ride down the hill and jump in the big heaps of snow, as well as enjoy the pies or sandwiches brought with you while watching the snowy landscape.

Visitors are invited to bring a sled or other sledding equipment (saucer sled, etc.) to ride from the hill in the Folk Song Garden, because one of the traditions in Meteņi is to ride far away  to increase the fertility of the land.

Taking photographs at the banner with the masked old men and posting pictures on your Facebook account, you will have an opportunity to participate in a lottery and win valuable prizes – a table game “Become a Bailiff in Turaida!”, “Story and Game Book of David from Turaida Castle” and the entrance card of the Turaida Museum Reserve for family.The exhibition is complemented by short films form moments taken in different years during Meteņi celebration in Turaida, which can be viewed on smartphones using QR code. Meteņi postcard will also be offered, which combines all QR codes in one place, so that you can sing, dance, know the right words for chasing moles away from the garden and bake slokatnis in your own home.

For more than 30 years, the Turaida Museum Reserve has been organizing the celebration of the Latvian Annual Customs Celebrations, involving interested persons from Latvia and also visitors from other countries in learning about these traditions. Turaida is one of the first cultural sites, where a wide range of spectators has been also invited to participate in the Meteņi celebration.