Global Courant 2023-05-29 18:43:00
Latvians woke up Monday morning to go to work, only to find that they didn’t have to.
Their parliament had met at midnight to declare a holiday after the national ice hockey team posted its best-ever result at the world championship.
Latvia, where hockey is the national sport, co-hosted the men’s championship with Finland and the Latvians’ victory over the USA for third place in overtime was greeted with wild cheers. Canada won gold in the tournament and Germany silver.
LV team arrives in Riga pic.twitter.com/I1GTRuTAR4
An airBaltic aircraft carrying the team home from Finland made a low-altitude aerial flight over central Riga on Monday to greet thousands of fans who had gathered to welcome the team.
At a quarter to midnight on Sunday, MPs dressed in national team red and white jerseys gathered for a 10-minute session to unanimously declare the holiday.
It was “to reinforce the fact of considerable success of Latvian athletes in the social memory of the society,” according to the sponsors of the bill.
The bill was introduced by a smiling MP with her face painted in the colors of the national flag. Another giggled happily as he tried to read out the names of absent MPs, to the laughter of many in the room.
After the final vote, there was an ovation from all present.
KRISTIANS RUBINS IN OT TO WIN BRONZE FOR LATVIA! pic.twitter.com/hdN3QomvvM
But as dawn broke after the midnight meeting, confusion arose as to who was working and who was not.
Court hearings were canceled and schools and universities closed, but national high school exams continued and staff were paid at vacation rates.
The president of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Aigars Rostovskis, told public broadcaster LSM: “It will be chaos for many.”
Several hospitals chose to remain open to keep doctor appointments.
