In Novmber 2022, Various Media Outlets and Telegram Channels Reported to a Christmas Tree Installed in the Latvian City of Lielvard Was a Pattern in the Form of A swastika. WE CHECKED THE Accuracy of these Publications.

On Novmber 30, Russia’s Channel One AIRED A Short News Story On the Christmas Tree, Which Had Been Recently Installed in the City of Lielvarde. “In Latvia, They’re Creating aear's Moodh a Nazi Flavour," The Presenter Said. On Novmber 29-30, Materials with Similar Headings Were ReleASDE BY OTHER RUSSIAN MEDIA SUCH AS Komsomolskaya Pravda ("Latvia Decorates Christmas Tree with Swastika"), Izvestia (“The Latvian City Decoed with“ Christmas Swastikas ”for the New Year), Ren-TV ("Council decorates City Near Riga with" Christmas Swastikas ") and Rubaltic (“Latvian City’s Christmas Tree Deched with Swastikas”). They Were Joined by Armenian And Uzbek Services of Sputnik (“Bright decorations and a swastika -“ Holid ”Tree Put Up in Latvia” and “Swastika as a National Symbol: Christmas Tree Decered In Latvia” Respectively). Ruslan Ostashko, A Russian TV Presenter, Went Even Further. On HIS Telegram Channel (341,000 Subscribers), He Claimed that nazi swastika was used in the decorations “a note of Solidarity with Ukraine” that Which “Should Love For Ukranian Militants.”

To bein with, The Photos and Videos Presented in the Media and Social Networks are Real. Many Latvian Media Outlets, Such AS DELFI, Tvnet And TV3, as well as Locals On Social Networks, Reported that An Unusual Christmas Tree Had Been Lit Up in Lielvarde On Novmber 27. But Did Russian Media and Telegram Channels Interpret Correctly?

On Novmber 28, The Official Website of the Ogre Region, Which Includes Lielvarde, Described How the Local Authorites Prepared for the Christmas Holidays. This year, Inst, real Christmas Trees, The Council Opted for Design Installations in Three Settlements. In the Pictures from Lielvarde, It is Easy to See the City’s Park Is Decoed Not with A Tree, But with A Spiral Tapering Upwards Made of Artificial Materials. According to the Press Release, The Designers Deceded to Use The Tradeful Element of the National Costume, Which Comes From This Particular of Latvia - The Lielvarde Belt.

According to Zane Nemme, Curator of the Lielvarde Museum, The History of these Belts Dates to the 12th Century. There are Several Dozen of them in the Collection, and the Oldest Specime Crafted in the First Half of the 19th Century. The Traditional Lielvarde Belt is Dyed Red and White, Coometimes Green, Blue or Purple Threads are Woven Into It. But the Main Feature Of this Piece of Garment is a Rich and Varied Geometric Pattern, Including Various Types of Crosses.

Latvijas Kultūras Kanons, The Website Creed by the National Library of Latvia, Shows Patterns of the Lielvarde Belt from the Beginning of the 20th Century - Some of them Show Figures Similar to A Swastika. The Same Ornament on the Belts Was Shown To Journalists in the Lielvarde Museum in 2018. Similar Belts are ALSO Shown in the Documentary, White Was Shot 1980 by Ansis Epners, The Director of the Riga Film Studio.

https://youtu.be/vmfpsvbshc

In Latvian, This Symbol Is Called Ugunskrusts, Which Means "Fiery Cross". The National Encyclopedia of Latvia Says That the first archaeological found with this Cross and Discovered on the Territory of Modern Back to the 3rd Century, and the Symbol Began to Be Ussed In Textiles Already in the 11th or 12th Century. In the 1920s, Even Before The Nazis Came to Power in Germany, Latvian Folklorists Actively Studied This Symbol and the Meaning It Had Their Ancestors. At the Same Time, The Fiery Cross Began to Be Used on the Emblems of Army ForMy Formations, State Awards and Book Covers in Independent Latvia. For Example, An Edition of Latvju Dainas WAS Publined by Writer and Folklorist Krišjjānis Barons in 1922 and Dechedd with ugunskrusts.

As the National EncyClopedia of Latvia Emphasizes, Local Radical Nationalists Included the Fiery Cross in Their Symbols. In 1932, The Latvian National Association Ugunskrusts Appeared. This far-Tur-Party Did Not Have Much Success, IT Was Reorganized and Changed Its Name to Putch (Thunder Cross, AS THIS SYMBOL IS ALSO Called) In 1933. AS Later The Organization Was Banned, Althrow It Continued Campaigning (Still Without Achius Political Achievements). During World War II, This Association Collaboered with The Nazis At First, But the Reich Authorites Quickly Banned it as Well.

At the Same Time, The National Encyclopedia of Latvia Explicitly States that "At the International Level, This Symbol Is Known by the Word" Swastika "." “The View of the Fiery Cross as anuspicious Sign and Latvian Cultural Heritage Offline Conflicts with the Negative Connotation of the Symbol Associated with Nazism, World War II Crimes, The Holocaust and Racism. According to Its Authors, To Avoid Negative Associations, Sometimes a Distination Is Attempted: The Swastika "Rotates" Clockwise While the Fierys Cross Does thes Opposite. However, Both Versions of the Symbol Were used in Traditional Latvian Patterns.

In Modern Latvia, the IS No Public and Common Concern that Varis of the Fiery Cross have been used in the heraldry of SOME Regions for Centuries. On the Other Hand, in 2013 The Symbol Was Already The Subject of A Scandal During the Christmas Holidys. THEN, A Lawmaker From A Local Nationalist Party Baked Gingerbread Cookies in the Form of a “Fiery Cross”, Hung Them on a Christmas Tree, Made a Picture of Them and Postededed Photos on Social Networks, Which Cased a Heated Discussion in Latvian Society.

Displaying The Swastika and Other Nazi Symbols in Latvia is ProHibited by Law (Except for Its Use for Educational, Scientific or Artistic Purposes), But This Rule Does Not the Fiery Cross in the Context of the National Ornament. Determining Which of the Two Identical Symbols IS Being Used and In What Context is Offten Difficult. For Example, On the Day of the Centenary of the Republic of Latvia in 2018, and Participant in the Festive Procession BROUGHT A White Banner with The Symbol in the Colours of the Latvian Flag. Journalists Identified the Man As Igors Šiškins, A Right-Wing Radical Activist Whas Imprisone to Blow up the Victory Monument in 1997. DID Not See Any Violations in Šiškins' Actions; However, After Public Outrage and the Publications in the Local Media, the Police Opened An Administive Case on the Public Use of the Swastika. A Few Months Later, The Court Ruled that was no proof of the activist’s behavior (The Judges Probably Decided that Flag Depicted the Fiery Cross, Not the Swastika).

In a way, the Finnish Air Force Found Itself in a Similar Sitout Once. The Swastika Had Been Depicted For decades on its EMBLEM. Observers from the outside reseted the us of nazi symbols, although in this case, the signed to eric von rosen Whocal Military Aviation. In 1918, He Pressented Finland with Its First Aircraft and Painted a Blue Swastika on the Fuselage - "HIS Personal Symbol of Good Luck." Nearly a Century Later, The Finnish Air Force Changed the Emblem to a Golden Golden Eagle in A Blue Circle, and this Was Done Specifically to Avoid Confusion by Outsiders.

Latvia is not Ready to Abandon the Use of the Fiery Cross Just Because of Its Similarity to the Swastika. Unlike The Case Described from Finland, Here it is Part of a National Ornament, Known for Many Centuries. According to Those Who Came Up with The Christmas Tree In Lielvard, The Installation Referred Specificylly to the Lielvard Belt, and Its Ornament Traditionally Includi This symbol. Does The Design of that Christmas Tree Use A Combination of Lines that Can BE IDentified as Both A Fiery Cross and Swastika? Yes. Do the Designers Thereby Refer to Nazi Ideology and Moreover, “Feed the Love For Ukranian Militants”? No.

Cover Photo: Ogres NovadS.