LATVIA AND ITS FOLKLORE


Aldis Putelis


Folklore in Latvia is considered as an important part of the nation's culture. It is not a recent development, although folklore played its role in the fight for independence six years ago - during the so called singing revolution. The tradition of using folklore as a basis for the modern culture is preserved since the mid-XIX century, when the first national revival or awakening - atmoda - took place. But to explain that it is necessary to give some information on the historical background.

Not much is known about the life of the Baltic tribes which formed the modern Latvians before the XII century. There is archaeological evidence, some hints in the travelogues, as well as some references in the chronicles of other nations - the Vikings carried war with the inhabitants of the Western Latvia - kurshi, the tribes of the central and Eastern Latvia had relations with the duchies of Russia thus they came to be mentioned in the respective histories. At that time there was no uniform Latvian language and no writing in Latvian or by a Latvian - as in fact there were no Latvians, just several tribes having later merged into one nation. At the end of the XII century first German missionaries appeared on the soil of the modern-day Latvia. Soon afterwards they were followed by crusaders, and baptising by sword and fire - as it is referred to in the Latvian tradition - began. The locals were fighting the intruders, but also rather frequently - their own neighbours (in alliance with the German knights), so the tribes which later formed modern Latvians were never united. Therefore pretty soon the fight was over in favour of conquerors who had better military skills and techniques. Thus the Latvians have never had a great king of their own ruling a united country or any greater part of it - as the Lithuanians have. But the fight is remembered as a heroic one, with all the available evidence of the battles won being extracted from the ancient chronicles and cherished. Also the unsuccessful attempts are remembered - like that of kurshi - the tribe from (modern) Western Latvia - coming in their boats to destroy the German stone-built town of Rîga. Kurshi had some experience of such warfare at that time as it is obvious from the chronicles and recorded prayers of the Nordic people - the Danes - Vikings. Allegedly there is a prayer for deliverance from fire, storm and kurshi. And sometimes I, as a descendant of this tribe, am rather proud of my ancestors having been threat to the warriors of such well-established fame.

Here the notion of myth is to be mentioned once again. In Latvia this notion has mostly preserved the original meaning of a story narrating the origins of the world and the deities. But here we confront myths in the more modern sense - as some narrative or idea used to back a particular social phenomenon, based on history, but created for the purpose and therefore non-verifiable, but depending on public credibility. This pre-German period is believed to be the golden age of Latvians, with general prosperity, freedom and unspoiled, i.e. uninfluenced culture being the main ideal features. At the same time the paganism of Latvians was a political myth created and maintained by the intruders, as in the Western Latvia the Christianity was introduced by Danes in the X century, but by the time of German invasion many chieftains of Vidzeme - 'Midlands' - were subjects of Russian duchies and at least nominally christianised.

There is at least some ground for the pride of the Latvians in having preserved their language and their own ways. The Latvians did not disappear like the third Baltic nation (tribe?) - the Old Prussians who have left not more than their name. On the other hand it might be just the result of different historical circumstances beyond the influence of the would-be Latvians.

As the conquerors considered themselves of higher social status, they did not merge with the local people who were made serfs. Neither did they show any interest in their customs and lifestyle. The main aim was to make the serfs work - and attend church on Sundays. As many examples nowadays show, formal Christianity is no obstacle for retaining some different rituals and traditions, in fact it takes a long time even to introduce any 'proper Christianity'. So it is believed that the Christianity had very weak impact on Latvian traditions, customs and rituals for a rather long period, giving the opportunity to trace the original unspoiled Latvian ways. It might be true for several centuries after the conquest, but the situation changed dramatically with the Reformation, when the need for church services in Latvian came into being. With that came also necessity to study the local language, traditions and as a result - the attempts of the Germans to "enlighten" their subjects. That also proves the fact of modern life having passed them unnoticed. There are brilliant descriptions of the Latvian festivals, customs and rituals, just with one remark - they are compiled by German pastors to show how savage the locals are.

The Latvians were not looked upon as a nation, but as a social class instead; the division in Latvians and Germans was not built on the actual belonging to a nation, but on belonging of a person to the class with the division being the education. The only available education higher than primary was German - even as late as the end of the XIX century. Therefore any educated person was "a German", while the Latvians were the uneducated. It was extremely difficult for a Latvian to enter the "Germans". They had to break all relations with their fellow Latvians; they could try to enter the better families through marriage. The language a person spoke was of extreme importance, so they spoke German even at home. Although hated by the Latvians and designated kârkluvâcieshi ('willow Germans') they knew that was the only way to reach a higher social status.

This changed again in the middle of the XIX century. Feudal system had outlived its time, still the Germans were content with their position and suspicious towards the changes in the society, which could affect the ständische Ordnung. It was the time for the first educated Latvians to emerge. As it was explained above, at the time the dominating principle was "born a Latvian, but became a German through education" *1. Curiously enough also these first educated Latvians were sponsored by their German landlords who could have expected them to turn into "Germans" later. They were disobedient enough to try the opposite. Garlieb Merkel (1769-1850), a German who wrote a book showing the miserable situation of the Latvians under their cruel masters, received a tombstone with an inscription of Garlîbs Meríelis, latvis ('A Latvian'). Krishjânis Valdemârs (1825-1891), the eventual leader of the jaunlatvieshi movement ('Young Latvians'; parallel to Young Czechs or Young Germans and designated so by a German - pastor Brasche) dared to indicate his Latvianness on the calling card on his room door at the Dorpat University (in nowadays Estonia; Tartu). Not to delve into the complex history of emergence of the jaunlatvieði movement, Valdemârs' case can be taken as an ultimate expression of the change - a Latvian, sponsored by a German patron, announced that even after acquiring his "German" education he is a Latvian (a contradictio per se taking into account the present-day situation of the period). This angered the rulers to such an extent, that, although in private correspondence, statements like the following were made:

Those who know 'our nationals' (unsere Nationale - synonymous to 'barbarian') have long lost all hope for the Latvian people. It is a stillborn nation. The Latvians have no national past and no history, they cannot have a future. The only character traits which distinguish them are their totally backward and crippled language ... and their blinding hatred for the Germans. *2

This was written in 1860's by the same pastor Georg Brasche in a letter to the President of Lettisch-Literärische Gesellschaft - Latvian Literary Society of which Brasche himself was an outstanding representative. This society was made up by Germans interested in study of Latvian customs and language, as well as in "enlightenment" of Latvians. On one hand Brasche's statement is well-grounded - Latvians have no glorious past of kings, victorious wars and learned culture; the modern ways including production techniques, towns and urban life, writing and even grammar of the Latvian language were introduced by the Germans; the Latvian language has preserved many structural features similar in their complexity to those of Latin, therefore out-of-date. On the other hand - the German rulers were responsible for this state of the Latvians and that "blinding hatred" was as well-grounded considering just the attitude expressed in the above quote.

So the Latvians had to prove their rights as a nation, the existence of their identity, their particular features, which could not be denied. But national identity is an international idea, a general scheme to be filled with particular contents suitable for this idea. The time when Young Latvians faced their task was the time of 'epic nations' and the ideas of antiquity revisited. So on one hand jaunlatvieshi had to propagate the ideas of the modern age among their nation - to help them achieve the same cultural level as that of the established nations (in fact a similar task was undertaken before by the Germans, with the aim to replace the 'savage' ways of the Latvians).

On the other hand they became extremely interested in Latvian oral culture as the only indigenously Latvian source. The Latvian customs and songs had been recorded for already more than two hundred years, as the first Latvian folksong - both the characteristic stanza of four octosyllabic lines and the melody - was published by Fredericus Menius in his work De origine Livonorum in 1632. (The same poetical structure is still alive and can be observed and collected nowadays, so - supposedly - it was even much more abundant one and a half centuries ago.) The interest of the local educated men - practically only of German origin - had been strengthened by Johann Gottfried Herder. He worked in Rîga for 5 years making the Latvians proud of it, as supposedly the Latvian singing traditions influenced the development of Herder's views. Actually Herder can be looked upon as the founder of the folkloristics as we know it - as the idea of the voice of a nation expressed in its songs is his.

By mid XIX century the first published Latvian folksong stanza and a couple of sentences in Latvian to be found in guild registers and the documents of witch trials were complemented by several collections of 'the best Latvian folksongs' arranged by the German pastors. The collection work was then taken over by the Latvians themselves. Thus the first inherent contradiction appeared, as in words of the German scholar Otto Böckel 'Reading is the enemy of singing'. The historical situation demanded to overcome this contradiction and achieve the two goals at the same time - to bring the knowledge of modern culture to the Latvians and to cultivate and collect the oral culture material. As a proof of rights this material was of enormous importance for the nation-to-be although it could be looked upon also as a proof of an out-dated way of life. But there was already the Finnish example of Kalevala. Although the Finns are proud of having never been serfs, in many aspects the situation was very similar to that in Latvia.

It soon turned out that the Latvian oral tradition does not contain material useful for the arrangement into the form of an epic. But after the Finns (and the Germans themselves) had been able to "find" an epic, being 'an epic nation' was a historical imperative. While searching for the explanation of this lack, the Young Latvian poets started creating a Latvian Olympus in their poetry, using every material available, mostly that of the German chronicles. The result was an impressive amount of false deities introduced, but in its deeper sense this attempt was the same as that of Juris Alunâns (1832-1864), expressed in his Dziesmishas ('The Poems'). This book contained poetry of world authors translated and localised to show the possibility of the Latvian language to express emotions and ideas the same as the well-known languages. Thus to prove the existence of a golden age, it was at least useful to provide the evidence in the form of mythology as sophisticated as that of ancient Greece and Rome.

The man to be mentioned especially in the connection with the collection of the Latvian folksongs is Krishjânis Barons (1835-1923). An astronomer and mathematician by education, friend of the mentioned above Valdemârs, active participant of the movement he took over the material previously collected by another Young Latvian Fricis Brîvzemnieks-Treuland. Later designated as "the cornerstone of the Latvian philology" the edition Latvju Dainas *3 compiled and arranged by Barons is extremely demonstrative.

The image of Barons nowadays is that of a wise old man with grey hair and beard - very similar to that of the Finnish singer of runes - or that of Latvian supreme God. Entitled 'Father of Songs' Barons is occupying a significant place also in the modern Latvian culture and honoured for his ingenious principle of text arrangement in the edition as well as his careful editorial work having supposedly changed nothing in the texts originally received. Sometimes in some poetic exaggeration even the collection of the whole material published is attributed to him. In a poll organised a year ago in order to establish the 33 books considered by the Latvians as most important for them, Latvju Dainas occupied the 4th position. Folksongs are taught at school as a part of literature curriculum; sometimes it is stated that "every Latvian has a folksong of one's own - the number of the currently collected folksong texts is approximately the same as that of the living Latvians (ca. 1,300,000). Dainas are used in different studies of the Latvian antiquity as well as in modern poetry. The manuscript of Latvju Dainas in the form of a special cupboard designed by Barons himself has also achieved the status of a national symbol.

Of course, Barons has not collected his edition himself, it is a work of hundreds of collectors, with different attitudes, but still mainly that of creating the monument to the heritage of the nation, therefore less valuable material could be omitted. The personality of an informant has rarely been of interest, it simply was not the aim of the work. Still the correspondent having sent the particular material and the location where it was gathered is known and indicated. The edition consists of eight books, with the songs arranged in the sequence of human life - since the birth and until the burial.

The first National Awakening, when the very notion of Latvians as a nation came into being, was followed by the second - when in the turmoil after the World War I an independent Latvian state came into being. The need in Latvian culture was strongly felt; the example was already there. Barons edition was reprinted (in 1922-1923), in 1924 Latvieshu folkloras krâtuve (the Archives of Latvian Folklore) was founded (and is now the oldest academic institution in Latvia). It collected folklore from the regions of Latvia, not represented in Latvju Dainas (half of Latvia's parishes), organised study and publication of the material collected. There was no doubt that such an institution is vitally necessary for Latvia. It was established following the Finnish pattern, with Kaarle Krohn coming over to lecture on principles applicable in the work of such archives.

Great amount of different material came to the Archives. It had stated as an aim to acquire the manuscripts of the already published editions as well as older collections. It succeeded in acquiring the collection gathered by Rîga Society of Latvians - an organisation established in 1868 having become the centre of collection at that time. Also folklore of other nations is to be found at the Archives. In 1926 a phonograph was acquired for the recording of the melodies - to give the transcribers the chance to listen to them repeatedly instead of trying to grasp the melody from a live performance.

The Archives was active also in promoting studies and publishing material, e.g. a four volume edition of song texts, four volume edition of beliefs, studies of witchcraft and folksong text metrics to mention but a few.

Latvieshu folkloras krâtuve functioned until 1944. In 1940 it had acquired also the famous manuscript of Latvju Dainas along with some other materials which no longer could remain in private collections. At the end of the war with the battle-line approaching the actual archive was evacuated from Rîga, but fortunately enough the attempt to transport it to a seemingly more secure location overseas was just planned but never taken. A number of former staff members were also still in Latvia, so the work was restarted under a different name in 1945. Although the traditional Latvian folklore was declared in the better case 'pre-soviet', in the worst 'bourgeois-nationalist' what at that time was a synonym for socially dangerous and unwelcome, it could not be denied its existence. With the emphasis on the songs (and other material) on social relations and work, the study was still carried on. We might announce the soviet folklorists to be the first to discover the contemporary folklore as demand to collect either revolutionary or "soviet folklore" was in the first place, but the traditional folklore remained in at least partial rights. So it lead to such amazing examples as the most ancient singing style (still alive) to be combined with the texts where the word novads 'the district; the farmland belonging to or cultivated by one farmstead' is substituted by kolhozs 'the collective farm'.

To show the world the happiness and well-being of the soviet nations, the rulers had to allow the traditions to carry on. So was the case of Kalevala festivities in Karelia, so the song festivals in the Baltics. It started in Latvia in 1864 with a festival of local choirs in Vidzeme. In fact it was created to prove the capability of the Latvians for a European (=German) cultural activity, and that of the appropriately arranged Latvian folk tunes to reach a high artistic level. The festival bringing together thousands of performers, nurturing patriotic, national feelings reached all-Latvia range and became regular, with participation and attendance growing especially in the independent Latvia. After the war the patriotic songs were still there, just they were different songs intended to express a different kind of patriotism - the soviet one. Propaganda of 'bourgeois nationalism' was a crime grave enough for serious court sentences, therefore nobody (or almost) tried to introduce the national symbols at the official festival. (Designation of anything or anybody as "nationalist" had equally grave consequences as that of "young Latvian" a century ago.) But the very fact of thousands of Latvians being together, whatever songs they are singing, was an expression of national feelings. Actually the official performers and audience merged in the public transport while returning from the festival site. And there are legends told on what was the singing and dancing like at the places of accommodation of singing groups from outside Rîga.

The tradition of ethnographic ensembles had originated already in the independent Latvia. In mid 1970's the movement of folklore groups - town people interested in folklore performance - widened. The ideas of the 'New Age' were also present there. In the beginning of 1980's the movement was really widespread, in 1985 came the sesquicentennial of Barons with wide celebration. With the glasnost in force and Latvian Popular Front formed, in 1988 the International Folklore Festival Baltica was to take place in Latvia. The opportunity for self-expression through folklore performance as well as the fact of representatives from many countries visiting Latvia just because of a folklore event fascinated the masses - audience was enormous, streets of the city - crowded. This was also the event when the Latvian national flag - strictly banned from any public appearance in any form, including artwork - reappeared in the streets of Rîga, carried by a member of a folklore group, not a leader of a political party - maybe it was somewhat the same. Curiously enough, the song they sang was a localisation of the German Wacht am Rhein.

With such strong traditions of collecting and studying the traditional folklore it is difficult to change the attitude. The collection and archiving project is one of the largest in the present-day Archives, still seeking mostly informants relating traditional Latvian folklore. The study of the archived manuscripts is also carried out, establishing connections, revealing the personalities behind pseudonyms, linking facts and materials. The indexing of the material in document, photo, sound and video archives is a separate and serious task. Current indices are card indices, with the introduction of computer techniques standards and demands change and material has to be registered anew.

A separate project is dealing with computerised analysis of the texts of Latvju Dainas, creating dictionaries and lists of different kinds meant for both those interested in general folksong text study and in particular linguistic perspective.

Publication of the collected material at the time being has practically stopped because of the financial hardships, but the study and arrangement of material is still going on simultaneously seeking funding for the publication. The last edition in the series of folk melodies is prepared.

A more modern approach in fact more related to cultural anthropology is a study of a fishing community on the outskirts of Rîga. Originally it was situated on an island, now it is turned into a peninsula, but the old traditions are still preserved - although the centre of the city can be reached by a bus or train, not demanding a boat-trip. Oral histories, beliefs and different narratives are collected; frequently the same event is described by several informants.

There are separate smaller projects studying contemporary legends in comparison with the traditional and usage of different poetic works (including versions of traditional folksongs) in schoolchildren's memory albums. Study of recent jokes is also begun.

At the moment being restructuring of the Institute of literature, Folklore and Art is awaited, therefore future projects and structure of the institution are hard to predict.


   INDEX   

1 Arveds Shvâbe, Latvijas vèsture 1800-1914 (History of Latvia 1800-1914); Stockholm: Daugava 1959, p. 365; quoted from Jânis Arvèds Trapâns Krishjânis Barons. His Life and Times; in: Linguistics and poetics of Latvian Folk Songs; McGill-Queen`s University Press 1989, p. 18.

2 ibid, p. 369-370, quoted from Trapâns, p.21.

3 Latvju Dainas, vol. I-VI , Jelgava and St. Petersburg 1894-1915.