1 lat coin from national collector coin program Latvia. Times and Values.

The traditional world of Latvians, as poetically recorded in legends, fairy-tales and folksongs, certainly contains the motifs of destiny and predestination. Upon the birth of a child, three Latvian deities - Laima, Dekla and Karta - decide the path and meaning of its life, keeping a watchful eye over its entire duration. The essential objectives of this divinely predestined life are its ethical fulfilment, developing positive traits to counteract the negative ones, and triumph of good over evil.

The coin's reverse features a symbolic and archetypal sign - an apple tree, which is set against a background of a stylised landscape. The apple tree connecting heaven and earth, the profane and the sacral stands for the world tree, a core symbol in the mythology of many nations; it is the axis that serves to keep man's life in balance with the familiar forces of the natural world and those impenetrable forces of the underworld. The apple tree also stands for the happiness of earthly life granted by the divine powers to the righteous and morally impeccable heroine or hero.