South Kurzeme Children Invent Legends That Will Make People Forget Even About Riga's Daugavgriva Fortress

While children in Riga learn about ancient myths from books, the new generation of South Kurzeme simply invents their own. And, to be honest, they turn out much more interesting than those boring stories about Riga's founder.

The closing ceremony of the 'South Kurzeme Legend Book' competition was a real adventure – children didn't have to sit in boring rows as usual, but had to solve riddles and search for hidden letters. 'My son went to a cultural event willingly for the first time in his life,' admits local mother Aina. 'Usually he just plays on his phone, but here he even forgot his phone at home.'

The best part was that the children created their own prizes – fabric bags with fragments from their own stories. In Riga they would have just bought some standard diploma and sent everyone home. Here the youngsters learned both to write and to sew – universal skills that will be more useful in life than knowledge about Riga's history.

The jury was most impressed by the story about the Virga rose legend and various ghost stories from local manors. 'The children invented such things that I myself started believing it was all real,' laughs library director Līga Jučere. 'One boy wrote about Pāvilosta's ghost who helps fishermen – I was already starting to wonder if it might actually be true.'

Now 38 young authors can be proud that their works are in a real book. Riga's children, meanwhile, can continue reading about how some baron built a castle 800 years ago. Which version is more interesting – let everyone decide for themselves.