Proclamation Day of the Republic of Latvia Proclamation Day of the Republic of Latvia Proclamation Day of the Republic of Latvia is celebrated annually on 18 November. It marks the anniversary of the Proclamation of Independence of Latvia by the People's Council of Latvia in 1918. Various public events take place all over the country, including concerts and fireworks. Torchlight processions held by various organizations have been part of Proclamation Day celebrations and Lāčplēsis Day celebrations since the 1920s. The largest torchlight procession organized by the National Alliance takes place in the capital city Riga and attracts several thousand participants every year. Its route through the streets
Religion in Latvia with 17.3%. Latvia was one of the last regions in Europe to be Christianized. The inhabitants of the region that is now Latvia once practiced Finnic paganism and Baltic mythology, but this practice gradually diminished through the course of the centuries. In the 12th to 13th centuries Latvia first fell under the influence of the Catholic Church, as the Christian kings of Denmark, Sweden and the North German Livonian and Teutonic military orders fought for influence in the region in what later became known as the Northern Crusades. Parts of Eastern Latvia (notably the Koknese and Jersika principalities) shortly came