The Baltic Centenary Way
On August 23, 1989, we formed a human chain by holding hands across the Baltic countries in order to claim our right to freedom. 28 years later, on the morning of August 23, 2017, we recreated this event together with the Latvian Institute to show that we can be united not only in hardship, but also in joy and celebration. And this time, there was a good reason to be joyous.
Thanks to our unity in 1989, this year we can celebrate 100 years of statehood together with our neighbours. We wanted to show our support and gratitude to Lithuania, Estonia and Finland, in a personal way, from person to person - with happy birthday wishes and a cake.
Therefore, we created the digital platform baltijassimtgadescels.lv. We invited the people of Latvia to take part in a project, where special birthday cakes would be passed from person to person in a unique and creative manner, all the way to the neighbouring countries. When the potential enthusiasts were found, on the morning of August 23, 2017, three cakes and their film crews commenced their journeys.
We met at sunrise by the Latvian National Library, our Castle of Light, to receive the birthday cakes baked by Liene Zemīte. They were lovingly made using her grandmothers’s recipe, which was nearly a century old as well. Through a ceremony of song and dance we initiated the first Baltic Centenary Way.
From sunrise to sunset, each cake’s journey was documented by the film crews. The cakes flew over the Gauja Valley, made their journey in carriages, tractors, aboard a ship, in retro cars, on bmx bikes, SUP boards, longboards and many other modes of transport. And with each person passing the cake to the next participant of the chain, each cake became more invaluable as every contributing person added to them their good thoughts and wishes.
We are certain that a cake like this tastes way better and means much more than a regular one, because of the secret ingredient - love.
Baltijas Simtgades ceļš - Igaunija from DDB Latvia on Vimeo.
