"Vilki" stress that it is a day of victory for our people and should be a day of celebration.
"We all always say "Happy Holidays!" But what a holiday if parents are at work, children at school and the family is not together," says Andris Balcers, the initiator, a member of the men's band "Vilki".
He is joined by Gundars Kalniņš, a member of Vilki, who says that this is a real day of victory, so it should be a holiday.
There are 16 public holidays in Latvia. But the first day of Easter, Mother's Day, and Pentecost will always be on a Sunday, while the day off after the Latvian Song and Dance Festival is only once every five years. Latvia does not have a huge number of public holidays among European countries.
Meanwhile, the Employers' Confederation believes that Latvians should work more. The President of Latvia would like to have a broader discussion in this regard, proposing to consider a public holiday that could perhaps be abandoned in favor of other important dates.
"There are definitely two dates that deserve special celebration, and I would even say the status of a public holiday. These are August 21 - the de facto adoption of the constitutional law on the restoration of our independence, and Lāčplēsis Day," President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs said.
Over a couple of days, around 3,500 people had signed the initiative.
