From Riga to Aglona, on foot. On 7 August 1989, a small group of pilgrims set out for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Aglona, and the history of Aglona Basilica calls that walk the first after 50 years. Diena later wrote that since then, pilgrims on Latvian roads in August have again become a familiar sight. The date is not fuzzy: both sources give 7 August exactly.

It happened during the Awakening period, when public religious life in Latvia was becoming visible again. Aglona was already Latvia’s Catholic spiritual centre, but this walk restored a living, foot-travelled link between Riga and the Latgalian shrine.