They have drank and they have eaten, ligo ligo
They await the arrival of Janis, ligo ligo

Preparations begin well in advance with rehearsals for the official performance. Ever since she can remember, Olga along with her brother and sister have participated in this performance. Their father is a musician and choir director. His name is Janis. This makes him the perfect embodiment for the symbolic Janis as well as the ideal musical director of the performing group.

Some years the performances are quite elaborate, like a concert, while other years there are simply a few songs sung in harmonies while dancers or actors provide the main performance. In any case, Olga's household echoes with the sounds of ligo choruses for several weeks before Jani, as her family members sing individually or in groups, memorizing their words and harmony parts.

Other preparations happen as well. Her father makes beer in the basement while, up in the kitchen, her mother tries several batches of store bought milk before she can get one to behave and curdle properly for the traditional cheese with caraway seeds in it. Minor variations in ingredients and setting methods are coveted information. The maker of this cheese is well aware that the resulting texture and flavour will be discussed and compared to these same qualities in the other cheeses sampled throughout the celebration of Jani. There are of course Latvian delicatessens in the city of Toronto that make the cheese to sell to those whose efforts from homogenized and pasteurized modern day ingredients utterly fail.

Along with the cheese, Olga's mother makes piragi (pee-raw-ghi). Olga is sure that no one in the Latvian community makes tastier piragi than her mother and she has sampled many. Piragi are buns of yeasted dough wrapped around a filling of finely chopped onions and bacon. Yummy! Olga's mother makes generous amounts of these tasty morsels, spending the better part of a day at this labour. Olga is allowed to eat as many as she wants as the piragi come out of the oven.

With the same dough, Olga's mother also makes platsmaizes (plots-migh-zehs). She spreads the dough thinly over large flat pans and puts different toppings on it. Olga's favourite is sliced apples with brown sugar and cinnamon sprinkled over them. She hovers around the kitchen to be there at the right time to arrange the apple slices neatly in rows and sprinkle on the sugar and cinnamon.

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