“Skyforger” is the loudest and most popular Latvian folk-metal band in Latvia and outside its borders. The songs are filled with the history of the Baltic region and folk music motifs. “Lec, eglīte” (‘Jump, fir tree’) is an ancient wedding song which has been recorded together with the traditional folk music band “Skandinieki”. In Latvian mythology a fir tree symbolizes eternity and the border between the realms of the living and the dead but there is also a traditional music instrument called by the same name which is strongly linked to wedding rituals. Throughout centuries this song has been sung at weddings during the moment when the bride is brought to the groom. This illustration shows a subtype of this ethnographic instrument as well as a neck-ring with decorations – an ancient traditional ornament of a wealthy woman.
