The Latvian national costume is basically the traditional
festive outfit of peasants, craftsmen,
fishermen, and other ordinary folk as
worn in the 19th century, approximately up to the 1870s. There were, of
course, also work clothes, just like today, the outfit matched the season and
weather.
The national costume, however, is not just a certain type of
festive garb: it is an expression of a nation’s sense of beauty, ability to
form an ornament and put together colors, as well as knowledge of the craft. It
embodies centuries-old traditions of making, adorning, and wearing the costume.
The Latvian national costume is a composite of a variety of
festive outfits. There are many local varieties that are combined based on the
five cultural-historical or ethnographic areas of Latvia: Vidzeme, Latgale, Augšzeme,
Zemgale, and Kurzeme. It is possible that at the basis of the older, barely
determinable distinguishing marks of the traditional costume are the outfits of
Baltic tribes and Livs living in what is now the territory of Latvia.
Yet in every historic period the various costumes have shared many features in
common. The costume has changed over time, retaining something of the old and
supplementing the new. The peculiarities of the costumes of a certain area
became more pronounced over the long centuries of serfdom when the peasants
were not allowed to move around freely. The 19th century, particularly
the 1860s also left their mark on the variety of the traditional outfits.
The basic element of the traditional costume is the shirt,
which is an undergarment and an over-garment. Women’s shirts were long, coming
down to under the knee and serving both as a blouse and a petticoat. Over the
shirt, the women put skirts, bodices, jackets; whereas men wore a vest and a
short jacket or a longer or shorter overcoat. The full outfit was not
thinkable without a headdress: a crown for girls from their teenage years to
the day of their marriage and a hat or a headscarf for married women; the men’s
hat wearing was not so strictly regulated. A part of the costume was also knit
woolen or cotton lace socks and black flat heel shoes (in places – leather
pastalas), for men sometimes boots. The shirt was closed by one small brooch or
several ones, the big brooches were used to keep the cape in place. Another
element was the woven belts.
The traditional costume or rather a stylized variation of it
became a symbol of Latvian culture in the 1880s, as part of the national song
festival. To this day, the traditional costume is an essential element of the
song festival.
LIELVĀRDE BELT
The Lielvārde belt is regarded as an outstanding example of
a hand-woven adornment, a two-colored (red, white), patterned combination with
the middle or the edges interwoven with a green or, more rarely, blue or
purple thread, and with a variable motif (geometric pattern). Historically, its
geographic distribution was Jumprava, Kastrāne, Krape, Laubere, Lēdmane,
Lielvārde, Madliena, Meņģele, and Rembate parishes. Although traditional belts
from elsewhere in the country stand out with their rich ornamentation, only the
Lielvārde belt has become the basis for a modern myth of the belt’s very
ancient origins, the cosmic code that is written into it, and its special
powers of protection. In Latvian contemporary culture, the Lielvārde belt leads
its own independent, symbolic existence in people’s consciousness and its
motifs are often used in contemporary culture.
This independent life began with director Ansis Epners’s
documentary "Lielvārdes josta" (The Lielvārde Belt; 1980) whose script
was written by Estonian graphic artist Tenu Vint. Comparing the Lielvārde belt
ornamentation with other national and cultural patterns, Vint raised the
hypothesis that this belt had preserved the information code of an ancient
civilization; that the story of the universe was inscribed therein. A German
mystic and healer by the name of Dina Ries, encouraged by Latvian Rasma Rozīte,
"read" the belt’s ancient information in 1986. The Lielvārde belt was
one of the most powerful symbols in the years of Latvian national awakening
movement in the late 1980s and has not lost its importance even today.
The information that ornamented belts in antiquity were not
used only as a personal adornment but also served to protect the wearer is
found in a number of traditions, although that does not necessarily mean that
the Lielvārde belt must have been a part of, for instance, a priest’s clothing.
The scenario for the origins of the Universe read into the belt; the belt as a
meditative system; as a yet untested piece of knowledge of the Universe may or
may not be true: much will depend on what and how we want to see. One thing is
more or less clear, however: it is the Lielvārde belt that possesses a mythical
power far beyond that of other belts and it is not because of the technology
used in making it or because of its complicated patterns or beautiful colors,
but because of its powerful symbolism.
THE SONG AND DANCE
CELEBRATION
The Song and Dance Celebration has been the most powerful,
enduring, and all-encompassing Latvian cultural phenomenon since the 19th
century.
The preservation of national identity in a shifting context,
bringing fresh creativity to time-tested tradition, is at the heart of a
festival based upon choral singing, especially a capella, with contemporary
professional musicians working upon a foundation in folklore.
Choirs from every corner of Latvia converge in what may be the
largest choir on the planet.
The traditions of the festival, passed on from generation to
generation, are concentrated in a week’s worth of intensity where art and
celebration are inseparable.
Preserving these traditions and mounting the festival is a
far longer, complex process with amateurs, professionals and masters working
together.
Weaving together these traditions is a unique work of folk
art, the positive, healing energies of singing passed down with a work ethic
and a sense of national collective effort.
The repertoire of the Song and Dance Celebration accentuates
what’s seen as vital to the nation’s spiritual growth – nature, love for the
land, and the ethics of human relations.
The creation of the national costumes unique to each region
applied art, and clusters of concerts of all kinds, from sacred music to brass
bands, expand the context.
The endurance of the tradition depends on new art in
choreography and the introduction of new compositions. Historic classics
happily co-exist with innovations. The Song and Dance Celebration is the story
of the national experience.
The symbolism and repertoire of the event has reflected the
dramatic turns of history since the festival’s inception. The foundation,
however, is what is unique to the nation. The celebration is not only one of
song but also of togetherness.
Shortly before the first festival took place, a local bishop
observed that the Latvians were a small tribe with an unclear future. Whether
they would become a nation was unknown.
This small tribe gathered in Riga
on 26 June 1873, arriving in boats, by train, and by horse-drawn carriages to
begin a tradition that would carry Latvia to independence and through
the occupation to the restoration of its nationhood. The Song and Dance
Celebration was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2003.
RYE BREAD
The rye field blooms for two weeks, for two weeks the grains
mature and for another two they dry and then it’s time for Jēkabs’s Day!
Jēkabs’s Day, July 25th, is the ancient new rye day when a loaf of bread made
from the new harvest must appear on the table, everyone tasting a piece in
respectful silence. The newly baked bread was first presented for tasting to
the head of the household, then it had to be tasted by everyone else.
In the old days, bread was baked in every Latvian country
house. The mainstay bread, the daily bread was dark rye. The bread was
baked in a special oven and special tools were used for the various stages of
preparing and baking it. The dark rye "rupjmaize" was baked of rye
flour, the sweet-and-sour from fine rye flour, on Saturdays karaša, a type of
bread made of barley and roughly ground wheat flour, but finely ground wheat
flour was reserved for white bread.
Rupjmaize, literally "rough bread" is also called
the "black bread". For making the dough a trough made of light wood
was used. Usually, boiling water was poured over the flour; mixed with lukewarm
water, yeast was supplemented by a starter from the previous baking. The rather
runny dough was left in the trough overnight to ferment. In the morning the
kneading started. Kneading was hard but holy labor, so women who did it would
put on a white shirt and put a white scarf around their hair. The kneading took
a long time, adding more flour and caraway seeds. When the dough would no
longer stick to one’s hands the kneading stopped. A loaf was formed, drawing a
cross on its top, and then it was covered and left to ferment further. Once the
oven was hot, three pinches of flour were thrown in. If they burned, the oven
was swept with a damp broom made of leafy branches to steam it up a little. The
trough with the dough was put next to the oven and little loaves were shaped on
the baker’s peel that was covered with a dusting of flour or maple leaves and
quickly put in the oven.
The sign drawn on the top of the loaf was usually a
Christian cross, but sometimes older signs were pressed into the dough,
pronouncing special spells.
A special tool was used to scrape the dough sticking to the
sides of the trough and a small loaf was made of the dough. That was ready
first and could be eaten by children and the bakers. A small ball of dough was
left as a starter for the next batch. Sometimes a loaf was baked with a
filling: sauerkraut with meat or pilchards, or salted meat with chopped onions.
The whole loaf was never given away for fear of giving away
the good luck of the household. The first piece of the freshly baked bread was
given to the head of the household who had tended to the crops, whereas the
children and the young girls waited for the heels. The cutting was started at
the wider end of the loaf so that the older daughter would be married first and
for the ears of rye to get bigger. The loaf was never left upside down, because
there was the belief that the devil then can feed himself and send famine to
the house.
LATGALIAN POTTERY
In what is today’s territory of Latvia,
traditional pottery established itself for substantial periods of time in two
districts, Latgale and Kurzeme, but only in Latgale it has survived to our time
representing the brightest pages of traditional culture. The stylistic range of
Latgalian pottery is very broad, encompassing both the newer, baroque cartouche
furnace technique (especially clay candelabra, whistles, mugs, plates), and the
older style minimalism and colors (blackened ceramics), which are based on
archaeological material.
Latgalian pottery is characterized by two lines of
development – one practical, the other decorative; the latter is newer and has
truly evolved only since 1930. Practical pottery developed in Latgale over
several thousand years and is most strikingly represented by vāraunieks (pot
for cooking and, more recently, storing food), milk pot (for storing milk),
pārinieks (two pots fastened together, which in the past were used to carry two
different dishes to workers in the field), pārosis (similar to vāraunieks, but
with a clay handle over the top), medaunieks (pot for storing honey, milk
products, jam), bowl, and jug (storage containers for liquids). The most
outstanding examples of decorative pottery are the candelabra, svilpaunieks
(clay whistle in the form of an animal or a bird, or a mythical creature); wall
or table plate or dish ensemble; vazaunieks or flower pot.
The craft of pottery was passed through the generations,
hence the potter clans in Ludza, Rēzekne, Krāslava, Preiļi, Daugavpils, Balvi, and the surrounding areas.
The greatest prominence in the 20th century was earned by the so-called
Silajāņi ceramics (families Paulāns, Ušpelis,
Čerņavskis, Vilcāns, Babris, Riučis, Dubovskis, Backāns, Zagorskis,
Dūbe-Dubovskis).
Latgale pottery traditions are passed from family to family
as well as learned from old masters of pottery and in various specialized
schools or camps. The most visible among those is the so-called "Pūdnīku
skūla" (founded in 1990), based on studying and practical use of the
Latgalian clay processing techniques (L. Zeiļa, A. Bernāne, L. Čible,
Vasilevsky E. St. Viļums, I. Vecelis, A. Ušpelis, P. Gailums, L. and A. Pakne,
A. Dātava, V. Petjko, V. Bīriņa et al.) and concentrating on the so-called
black or blackened ceramics produced in the so-called pit-type kilns fired with
wood and without using any industrial methods and techniques. In addition,
there are a number of other associations of Latgalian potters - "Rēzeknes
apriņķa pūdnīki" (est. 1989), A. Paulāns’s "Tautas lietišķās mākslas
studija" (est. 1975).
Although in recent times Latgale pottery has been dominated
by beauty understood as the simple and the ascetic (black, minimalist in shape
and ornamentation), alongside the tradition originating in the 1930s of beauty
as the prettified (the richness and diversity of glazes and ornamentation). The
most outstanding samples of 20th century pottery can be found both in museums
and private collections (Jānis Backāns, Antons Buivits, Donats and Antons
Baugulis, Polikarps Čerņavskis, Apolinārijs Dieglis, Jānis Dūbe-Dubovskis,
Jānis Kaļva, Staņislavs Kaļava-Kalvis, Ādams Kāpostiņš, Andrejs Paulāns,
Meikulis Reidzāns, Anton Riučs, Antons Šmulāns, Antons Teirumnīks, Antons, Sr.
and Pēteris Ušpelis, Polikarps and Staņislavs Vilcāns, Vaclavs Zagorskis et
al.). Middle-aged as well as young potters continue to work in all of Latgale
districts, not only continuing the old pottery traditions, shaped by centuries,
but also searching for innovative designs.
JĀŅI
When the day is longest and the night is shortest, at the
summer solstice, Latvians celebrate Jāņi, St. John’s Eve, staying awake around
bonfires or burning barrels raised high on poles so that singing, wandering
neighbors can find the celebrations. Of the seasonal ancient Latvian
celebrations, the summer solstice has most fully retained traditional
activities that include preparations awaiting the great day and not only the
festival itself. There are local variations, myriad nuances, and different
traditions handed down within families. In one period the celebration was
banned, in others organized; collective farms would organize collective Jāņi
just as civil parishes and towns still do today. People pick their venue,
celebrating with their extended family, among friends, or at a public
celebration – or trying to take in more than one as the long twilight turns
into brief night.
In the Latvian farmer’s calendar, Jāņi marks the first
haymaking and follows the beginning of astronomical summer. Traditions in
awaiting the holiday include the conclusion of spring labors, weeding, tending
flowerbeds, learning folk songs, cleaning and tidying the home, making the
special cheese in the shape of the solar disk, brewing beer, baking pīrāgi, and
on the day preceding the festivities – decorating the farmstead with birch
boughs, bouquets of flowers, garlands, oak branches and wreaths.
Scholars of religion connect Jāņi to solar cults and
fertility rites, debating the extent of pre-Christian and Christian influences
on the festival as we now know it. Austris Grasis, a researcher in Baltic
folklore and the Latvian language, notes that the idea that Jānis as a divine
son takes on some of the functions of the sun is insufficient in explaining the
traditions; a solar cult alone cannot account for the figure of Jānis. Those
rites connected to fire, awaiting the sunrise, dancing around the flames and
some other aspects of the celebration can be connected to a solar cult, but an ancient,
phallic fertility cult is another root of the Jāņi traditions. The birch
boughs, the gathering of specific, magical plants, the dancing around the
fields and use of the boughs at their perimeter to encourage fertility combined
with the sexual symbolism in folk songs and the root of the incessantly
repeated word līgo, which refers to swaying and swinging, make the erotic
content of the festival clear.
Singing has a central place in the celebration. Many of the
songs with the līgo refrain (leigū or rūto in the eastern region of Latgola)
were originally sung by nubile girls, herders and ploughmen as they decorated
the farmstead. The sounds of nature, especially lovely in the long, mystical
twilights of the northern summer, blend with the traditional songs, giving the
celebration the unique atmosphere that makes it the most loved Latvian holiday.
St. John’s Eve is also known as the Day of Grasses. The
brief summer is at the peak of bloom, different plants having their traditional
uses in folk medicine, divination, as decoration and in the weaving of wreaths.
All guests are considered "children of Jānis," the host and hostess
the father and mother of the "children." Beer – especially
home-brewed, smoky beer – and the special golden cheese are essential to the
celebration.
GRAVE TENDING AND CEMETERY
FESTIVALS
Cemeteries are one of the visible expressions of Latvian
cultural heritage. Over time, they have changed, but the graves received
regular visitors and the tradition of their care has been sustained over
several centuries.
Looking at this tradition of gravesite care, a study by
archaeologists shows that both the Cours’ fire graves and Selonian burial
mounds show respect for the deceased. In the 16th and 17th centuries, in the
Duchy of Courland (Kurzeme) and Swedish Vidzeme, the landlords, clergymen and
other outstanding individuals were buried in cathedral arches and courtyards.
Farmers were still buried into burial mounds into the 18th century, when the
Great Plague felled many residents of Kurzeme (1710) and Vidzeme withstood the
Russian pillaging during the Northern War, turning the land on both sides of
the Daugava River into a huge cemetery field. It
took two to three generations for people to recover somewhat. Only in 1773,
when Vidzeme was under Russian rule, the Governor ordered the cemeteries to be
marked off by a fence or surrounding rampart. Burials in the churches or
churchyards was prohibited, which explains why Vidzeme developed vast
cemeteries. In Courland, after the abolishment
of serfdom in 1864, many acquired economic independence and could purchase land
for their family and relatives and homeowners arranged small cemeteries on
their newly-acquired land. Over time, these evolved into parish cemeteries.
Covering the grave with flowers was apparently first
practiced by Herrnhutters - members of the so-called Brethren congregations
around Valmiera and Cēsis at the end of the 18th century. In Courland
fishermen’s villages the tradition was to carve ornaments into the cross or
adorn it with ribbons and cords. Tombstones with words cast in them, coats of
arms and commemorative plates, had already started to spread in 15th century in
Riga. When the
law was adopted that provided for establishing burial places only outside the
city limits, in 1773, the citizens of Riga obtained the so-called Great
Cemetery. In 1910, the Riga City Council granted a nearly 100 hectares to
install a suburban cemetery in the forest. The Forest Cemetery,
which is over a hundred years old, has now become a very large "city of
the dead", whose territory was originally divided into religious
congregations. The cemetery developed around the gravesite of Latvia’s
greatest national poet, Rainis, was the first to be independent of
denominational influence. The two world wars covered the territory of Latvia
with the graves of soldiers.
During the summer, from late June to early September,
cemetery festivals takes place attended by the relatives, friends and neighbors
of the deceased: they congregate to commemorate the dead even if they live far
away and even outside Latvia. This cemetery festival tradition has not existed
for more than a hundred years, but it is strongly rooted and maintained by
people belonging to the local community.
In preparation for celebrations, the cemetery is decorated
with vases of flowers on the graves, candles are lit and fresh sand strewn
around the graves; flowers are planted and decorative shrubs trimmed.
Latvians care for the cemetery as if it were a garden, and landscape
architects recognize that the Latvian cemeteries may be considered parks of
sorts.
Cemetery festivals include a pastor-led church service or
lay ceremony with music poetry, speeches and celebrations that take place
either in the family circle by the cemetery if there are no relatives living
nearby, at the nearby family home, or in the wider local community -- village
or town celebrations tailored to the cemetery festival period.
MAY OPEN-AIR SERVICES IN
LATGALE AND AUGŠZEME AND OFFICIUM FOR THE DEAD IN LATGALE AND AUGŠZEME
MAY OPEN-AIR SERVICES IN
LATGALE AND AUGŠZEME
The May open air services by the roadside or village crosses
is a new tradition, but the possibility that it may be indirectly related to
the old outdoor singing traditions cannot be excluded. The age of the May
services cannot be determined with any precision, but in all likelihood they
started in the second half of the 19th century.
According to the Roman Catholic church calendar, May is the
month of Virgin Mary when services and prayers are devoted to her. The May
services, celebrating the Virgin, originated in Latgale and Augšzeme as a
localization of a tradition widespread in the 19th century Catholic world. They
took place in the evening, usually on weekends, as people gathered by outdoor
crosses – crucifixes installed by the side of the road, in the center of the
village, in the nearby cemetery or church. Often they were encircled by a
low fence, with benches inside. In May, the crosses were lavishly adorned with
bouquets of flowers and garlands. Participants, dressed in their Sunday’s best,
sat on the benches. The young and those who did not get a seat stood.
The May services are called "dzīduošona pi krusta"
and they are held without the presence and guidance of priests. The leader of
the service comes from the midst of the participants. Usually it is an older
woman who knew the structure of the ritual and the melodies and could start
every one at a suitable pitch.
Songs devoted to Mary are at the center of the May service.
They tell the story of Mary’s life, suffering, and her sacrifice for humanity.
The singers know the melodies by heart, they are inherited by oral tradition,
whereas the lyrics come from the prayer books used during the service. The
choice and sequence of songs are determined by the experience and local
traditions of those gathered. The singing is usually conducted in two voices.
The melodies and texts are usually localizations of those common in Central Europe.
An obligatory part of the service is also the Virgin Mary
litany (the Loretto litany from the 13th century) and the pulling of
"značkas". The word značka is of Polish origin and denotes a
numbered rectangular piece of paper. Its number indicates the task that the
person who has pulled it, for instance, avoiding lying. Should the person
transgress, they must immediately say a particular prayer. The značkas are
pulled from the leader’s prayer book where they are kept throughout the
service.
An another essential element is reading from the Bible. Each
particular day has its own designated reading.
The sequence of the above elements may differ from place to
place. Even though the services devoted to Virgin Mary are characteristic of
the Catholic world, the open-air form both in terms of the form and content is
unique.
In the Soviet era, many of the roadside crosses were
destroyed and the May service tradition suppressed. It was preserved in the
more remote locations. At present, the tradition has been powerfully revived in
Latgale and is spreading to other Catholic areas in Latvia, for instance the areas
inhabited by the Suiti.
OFFICIUM FOR THE DEAD IN
LATGALE AND AUGŠZEME
Since the end of the 18th century, a peculiar musical ritual
has been widespread a peculiar musical ritual in Latgale and the Catholic
parishes of Augšzeme called "Psalms" (saļmes, salmys, saļmas,
depending on the dialect) in folk parlance but the Officium for the Dead (from
the Latin officium defunctorum) in the Catholic Church practice and scientific
literature.
Officium of the Dead is historically a kind of prayer of
hours (one of the two main service genres, the other being the Holy Mass). It
originated around 800 A.D. and was performed as a part of the funeral liturgy
as well as at the wake and on All Saints Day, November 2. Over the centuries,
the Officiums of the Dead has become known as a prayer said by priests in
Latin. In Latvia,
however, this Officium has been localized as a folklorized phenomenon occurring
mostly at home, without the presence of the priest, and in the native tongue of
the participants.
A full performance of the Officium takes one-and-a-half to
two hours and, in the view of the rural inhabitants of Latgale and Augšzeme, is
an integral part of the home life. In Latgale, especially in the countryside,
people still tend to die at home instead of the hospital or old people’s home.
The dead person remains in the house until the funeral, the body being
kept in some clean, cool place like the veranda or the granary. The funeral
often being a few days off, the living are preparing for the mourning ceremony,
including performing the Officium in the evenings. In the old days the
performance took place every night, but these days it is mostly reserved for
the last evening or last two evenings before the funeral. The members of
the household, relatives and friends of the deceased come together and conduct
the Officium prayer. The table, usually an ordinary rectangular table in the
living room, aroung which the singers sit, is covered by a white linen table
cloth. In some parishes of Latgale, a pinch of salt and a piece of dark rye
bread is placed next to the crucifix and candles: these are the symbols of the
spirit of the house.
The performance takes place at the house also a year after
the person’s death or if it is an annual memorial service for all the dead
members of the family.
Marking a year after the person’s demise is still widespread
in Latgale, whereas the annual tradition of performing the Officium for all the
dead in a particular family is disappearing. The latter flourished in the 1920s
and 1930s when in the dark time around All Saints Day an Officium was held in
almost every household. Where the tradition is still alive, it also serves as a
time when all the members of a family gather in one place. Since, in common
prayer, the images of the dead are recalled in the consciousness of the living,
it also serves as a meeting between the living and the dead.
The church Officium is usually held once a year on All
Saints Day: the churchgoers gather about two hours before mass and perform the
prayer. The cemetery ritual is similar.
In its essence, the Officium is one of the most powerful
prayers for the dead in the pyres of Purgatory. The people of Latgale are well
aware of the dogmatic context of the Officium and consider its performance a
valuable opportunity to express their love and support for their loved ones
even after their death. This awareness of participating in the destiny of a
loved one even after their death provides powerful motivation to perform
Officiums even under very trying material circumstances.
In many places, the performance of the Officium starts with
the recital of the rosary. The psalms, however, are the principal structural
element. In the first part, psalms are interspersed among solo readings of the
Bible and responsoriums performed in a choir. A string of religious songs
is usually added to the Officium.
In Soviet times, the practice of the Officium for the Dead
was not particularly suppressed. However, the fate of the tradition was
affected because the cycle of inheritance was interrupted: children and young
people no longer participated. Nowadays, the performers are usually old people,
which means that the existence of the tradition is on the brink of extinction.
SUITI CULTURAL SPACE
Suiti is a small Catholic community in the predominantly
Lutheran Kurzeme, inhabiting the Alsunga novads, Gudenieki parish in the
Kuldīga novads, and Jūrkalne parish in Ventspils novads in the Western part of Latvia.
Historically, Liv, Cour, Scandinavian, German, and Polish
cultures have intermingled and replaced each other. Each has left a
certain impact in the formation of the unique Suiti heritage. The unique
character of the Suiti culture also bears the features of their religious
otherness, and the traditions rooted in the lifestyle of farmers and fishermen.
The attempts to separate themselves from their Lutheran neighbors acted to
promote marrying withing the community, and that’s why it’s difficult to find a
Suits who would not be related to another Suits.
In the Suiti culture Christian ideas are inseparable from
folk traditions. One of the obvious markers is the use of protective
signs: to protect one’s property and the health and security of people and
animals, the Suiti use both the slanted and incubus crosses, the so-called sun
ornament, and the formula K+M+B (the first letters of the Biblical names of
three wise men from the East), blessed chalk, coal, medicine, and water are
kept in the house.
The cultural space of the Suiti is marked by a unique
variant of the Latvian language (the Liv dialect), which is an important
vehicle for the Suiti oral tradition (folk songs, beliefs, toponyms, tales,
biographies, etc.).
Of the important life events (christening, wedding,
funeral), weddings for Suiti are most important. The structure of this event
has been meticulously documented (including films "Dzimtene sauc" or
"Kāzas Alsungā" directed by Aleksandrs Rusteiķis, 1935) and
"Cerību lauki" (directed by Andris Slapiņš, 1987). Suiti singers have
been used also in feature films "Pūt, vējiņi" (directed by Gunārs
Piesis, 1973) and "Dzīvīte" (directed by Aivars Freimanis, 1989). The
Suiti believe that some day they are bound to have a real wedding among their
community members, that’s why the traditions are being kept alive.
There are also certain seasonal festivities that, being
inherited from pagan times, have been mixed with Catholic traditions.
One of the most striking expressions of Suiti culture is the
singing of Suiti women: the bourdon polyphony that is formed the narrow said
melody (recitation) overlapping with the so-called bagpipe bourdon (on ‘e’ and
‘o’sounds). One and the same melody (with variations) can be performed in
several functional contexts (family and seasonal festivities, various work and
life situations), changing the text accordingly. The singing is often teasing
and critical, directed at a particular person or a group of people.
Another important marker is the opulent national costume.
The Suiti are proud not only of the beautiful clothes, but also of the preserved
traditions for making them.
Because of their unique culture the Suiti have often become
the center of attention for researchers and the society at large. In 1924 in Riga, they demonstrated
their singing and playing of their traditional instruments. Over the decades
they have performed at various events of both traditional and contemporary
culture both in Latvia
and abroad. Their presence at the national song festivals is indispensable.
Even though history has not been kind to the Suiti and their
culture, they still try to maintain their traditions. There are singing groups
in Alsunga, Gudenieki, and Jūrkalne. Children’s groups have been formed in
Alsunga and Basi.
An important contributor in promoting the awareness of Suiti
etnic identity and preservation of their cultural space is the association
"Suiti Ethnic Culture
Center" established
in 2001. Owing to its activities, the Suiti have been more enthusiastic in
finding people who still know the old traditions, renewing some of them
(playing the kokle and bagpipes, learning traditional crafts etc.), and
popularizing this old culture in the country at large.
LIV TRADITIONAL CULTURE
Livs are one of the aboriginal ethnic groups in the
territory of present-day Latvia,
which has played an important role in the genesis of the Latvian nation. In the
past, the Livs inhabited large areas in Vidzeme (e.g., in Riga,
Salaspils, Ikšķile, Sigulda, Turaida, the Salaca river basin) and northern Courland (Kurzeme), the approximate direction of
Užava-Abava-Ragaciems. In Vidzeme the neighbors of the Livs were the
Latgalians, but in Kurzeme the Cours. In Vidzeme the Liv fusion with Latvians
and the language replacement process ended already in the second third of the
19th century. In Kurzeme the Livs as a homogeneous ethnic group lived along the
coast, approximately from Ovīši to Gipka. Nowadays, twelve villages in northern
Kurzeme are considered Liv: Melnsils, Kolka, Vaide, Saunags, Pitrags, Košrags,
Mazirbe, Sīkrags, Jaunciems, Lielirbe, Miķeļtornis or Pize and Lūžņa. These
villages constitute the Liv cultural space and, along with the Liv language,
customs, and belief system, which includes both Latvian and Finno-Ugrian
motifs, can be considered the foundation of the traditional culture of the
Livs.
The Liv villages in northern Kurzeme were the last territory
in Latvia
where the Livs lived compactly and had preserved their culture. Today, there no
longer exists such homogeneous cultural area: the Livs live dispersed in
various locations in Kurzeme and Vidzeme and, in higher concentrations, in Riga and Ventspils as
well as Kolka and Tārgale parish. Despite the fact that that most Livs have at
least two ethnic identities - Livonian and Latvian – and that the Liv
traditional culture is on the verge of extinction, Livs are still trying to
cultivate and protect their unique cultural heritage. That heritage is no
longer passed from generation to generation in the family, but learned from
other well documented sources (language, traditions, oral history).
Although they share much with the Latvians, Livs are not
Balts: it is a Finno-Ugric people, whose language along with Estonian, Finnish
and some other smaller languages, is included in the Baltic Finnish language
group. Living in close contact to neighboring Latvians, Livs have left a
significant impact both on Latvian culture and language. The Liv language
inspired both the phonetics and vocabulary of Latvian (words "sēne"
(mushroom), "kaija" (seagull), "muiža" (manor),
"māja" (house), "kukainis" (bug) etc. are borrowings from
Liv). Also in terms of traditions and customs, an interaction with the nearest
neighbors, the Estonians and Latvians, has taken place, so many of them are
similar, especially along the Kurzeme coast.
The fact that the traditional Liv culture is still alive is
confirmed by the Liv Festival, which since 1989 takes place every year on the
first Saturday of August in Mazirbe, as well as by Liv singing groups that have
been active in the Liv communities since the mid 1950s. Liv art and literature
written in the Liv language have also been documented.
Revised: 25 March 2016
