Zosēni parish seniors invited to celebrate life

On Saturday, the seniors of Zosēni parish invited near and far friends to a celebration of life in the spring.

Locals performed a rich cultural program for those gathered in the parish cultural and social center: the ladies’ dance group “Vēlais pīlādzis” led by Ingūnas Kalniņas, senior community activists with the repertoire and small skits created by Zinaida Šoldres and Ilzes Cīrules, as well as the debut of the sonorous duet of Anita Mišinas and Alekseis Sidoraks. The award ladies from the plešu (accordion) ensemble “Ama” took care of a warm and musical presentation with lights and singing throughout the evening.

The event turned out to be impressive, powerful and at the same time fun, admits Dzidra Pruse, head of the cultural and social center of Zosēni parish. “We met after a long period of covid and had fun until late at night. Among the invited friends, friends from Jaunpiebalga, Vecpiebalga, Taurene and, of course, this time in a larger group, the people of Zosen themselves came to the celebration of life. At the event, the new group of senior citizens – community activists Zinaida Šoldre, Ilze Cīrule, Ināra Slavēna and Ieva Dulberga together with the previous senior citizen activist Aina Lauka – said Dz. Pruse about the activity of the parish residents. During the event, Aina Lauka, who has been taking care of diversifying the life of the parish’s older generation for many years, solemnly handed over the powers to the new group to take care of the well-being and recreation of the local seniors.

Zinaida Sholdre says that everyone liked the event very much, it was clearly felt. “Everyone was happy, everyone got involved and happily celebrated life from one in the day until seven in the evening. Not a single one, when driving home, admitted that there could be nothing better than such an event,” shares the experience from Zosenia. Talking about his future plans, Z. Šoldre said that he plans to hold themed evening gatherings, encouraging seniors to leave the house, get moving, and also plan an excursion – closer at first, and then, with time, he would see where he could go further. “People really like to learn, see something new, they like excursions, so we will think about them as well. During these years of the pandemic, many people have been sitting at home, it is difficult to move, but we will try to help them do so. And this event also showed that everyone felt good, were happy to meet each other, to be together.”

Seniors from the informative, educational and entertaining club “Randiņš” in Taurene had also come to visit. Its leader, Sarmīte Liela, said: “The event was wonderfully organized. It was beautiful and heartwarming to see how the previous convener of the seniors passed the baton to the new group of activists, saying that she would not deny her advice. It was fantastic that the locals had prepared a proper holiday program – they sang, danced, and performed skits themselves. We celebrated life for honor. We liked it very much, so we decided to invite the people from Zosenia to our house in Jāņi to celebrate the holidays together in Gaujmala, because we are neighbors. Getting together is a very valuable thing, especially at this senior age.”

Sarmīte Liela said that the older generation of Taurene also actively comes together, despite the fact that after a break it is difficult to resume the previous routine. “But when it starts, you tend to say – where was I before, because the meeting really gives very positive feelings. We like to visit, but even more like to host. I must say, getting to the villages is a bit of a challenge, because there is no public transport, so we get into private cars as much as we can and drive. We also organize a themed event every month, we always come up with something and encourage people to come. For example, on May 4, the White Tablecloth Festival, we have held exhibitions of family tablecloths, we just showed our cups at the beginning of April. On May 10, we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of one of our gentlemen. Celebrating club members’ birthdays is a tradition for us. We are active – we prepare events both in our circle, and we go out to the nations, and we also invite them to visit us,” S.Lielā shared her experience, emphasizing once again how much the imagination of Zosēni seniors connected, preparing performances that they can enjoy themselves and make guests happy.