Christianity only came to Latvia at 11. century but was enforced completely by crusaders at 13. century. So Latvians was one of the last people in Europe to convert to Christianity. Even when Christianity was official religion in Latvia, the elements of Paganism remained active even until 18. century. Latvians managed to keep their Pagan practices and myths and they are very well known until this day. Many grand Latvian intellectuals like Krišijānis Barons recorded the old Latvian folk songs and sayings. Today Latvian mythic folklore is studied by such famous people like Doc. Janīna Kursīte, now a deputy of Saeima and ex-president of Latvia Vaira-Vīķe Freiberga. Latvian mythology is rather complex thing to discuss but I will give the basics in this post.
The first accounts of Latvian Pagan beliefs comes from archaeological findings such as sacred objects, amulets and other findings. The written sources, mostly made by German Catholic chroniclers show rather subjective accounts. The bull (special Papal declaration) by Pope Innocent III tells about “barbarians who gives the God’s honor for dull creatures, leaf trees, clear waters, green trees and unholy spirits”. The 16. century Jesuits reports that “everyone here around Ludza and Rezekne are horrific Pagans. They make offerings to Pērkons, Ūsiņš and other fetish. Almost in every house lives a witchdoctor, shaman and other kinds of devil servants.” The geographer Sebastian Miller (1489.-1552) in his 22 volume encyclopedia “Cosmographia” with unpleasant surprise finds out that in the ranks of peasants of Vidzeme “are many of those, who know nothing of God and his saints. One worships sun, other- moon, one chooses beautiful tree to worship, while other a stone or whatever he pleases”. Chronicler Baltazar in his “Livonian Chronicle” (1578), reports that “Livonian Pagans were devoted to many dreadful fetishes, like Sun, Moon and Stars, just as snakes and other creature. The hold some brushwood as holy sites, which were forbidden to cut down. They superstition was so great that who would cut down a tree in the holy place would killed immediately”. These are just some of the accounts who tells that Latvian peasants worship god Pērkons, Ūsiņš, and smaller deities. The sources makes an conclusion that Latvian Pagan religion was based on natural and cosmic phenomena like Sun and Moon and other stars. The sources however give no details about special priests who carry special rituals, the Latvians made rituals themselves. The holy sights were groves and trees. One the main Paganic celebration was Jāņi which takes place on summer solstice from 23. to 24. June. Jānis is most common male word in Latvia. Jāņi are officially celebrated today as the Summer holiday and are one of the most active Latvian celebrations.
The other sources for Latvian mythology are folksongs, gathered since 19. century and tales (Teikas), and legends. The ethnographic sources like ornaments and symbols gives good information about Latvian mythology. Latvian mythology is full of syncretisms from Christian beliefs, and traditional customs which affects all Latvian life’s.
The main groups of Latvian deities are spilted in six. 1. The gods of nature and space. 2. The universal being- The God. 3. The gods of human destiny. 4. The gods of fertility. 5. mothers. 6. The minor deities of various functions.
The worshiping of nature was shown by wearing special jewels and amulets- crosses, rounds, snakes and special axes. The main cosmic god as noted by many sources is Pērkons (The Thunder), same god is also known to Lithuanians as Perkūns, Prussian Perkun, ancient Indian Parjanja, Scandinavian Fjorgin. He is close to ancient Greek god Hephaestus. He is the skyforger who rides across the sky hitting Suns word tree making sun cry (an explanation for thunderstorm), when Pērkons roars the God angers ridding the stone carriage. He is also a fighter against the Devil and other evil spirits. The main symbol of Pērkons is swastika. The swastika is one of the most oldest religious symbols found in India, Russia, Europe and even America, long before Adolf Hitler made swastika as the symbol of evil. The swastika is Pērkoņkrusts (Thundercross) in Latvian. When you see Swastika used in Latvian traditional celebrations and dresses it has nothing to do with Nazi ideology. At the time of Republic of Latvia before the Second World War swastika was popular national symbol and was associated with Nazism in very rare cases.
Latvian Swastika
The symbol of Pērkons.
The Sun cult was associated with cycles of time. The Sun got children- the Moon, Auseklis and Sun Daughters. The Sun raided a carriage around sky and took sleep at the sea at night.
Latvian Symbols of Sun
Auseklits
The Symbols of Sun and The Symbol of Auseklītis.
The main ruler of everything is God or Dievs as called in Latvian. The name is close to ancient Indian deva meaning God and dyaus meaning sky. He could be close to ancient Greek Zeus. The name Dievs is close to other Baltic languages and the name comes from the word deuio- the shining sky of the day. The name Dievs is recorded in 9750 texts of Latvian folksongs (Latvju Dainās). The God is the rightful ruler of all the guider of stars, nature and humans. The God is fighter against evil the judge of human destiny. The God is personified, but he got no children or family. There is no direct offerings to God but God could be prayed like the Christian God. Māra is not close to Christian Virgin Mary.
The deities of destiny are Māra and Laima (Happiness, luck), and other minor deities. The Laima regularly persists in Latvian tales as guider and judge for individual humans destiny.
God, Mara, Laime. Painting by Jekabs Bine
The painting by J.Bīne showing God, Māra and Laima. (Laime).
There are numerous minor deities for all kind of spheres of life. The Ūsiņš was the god of horses. Jumis is the God of fertility. Māršava and Māra helps the cattle breeding activities.
There many Mothers as the Deities of many natural and spiritual aspects. There are Forest Mother, Sea Mother, Garden Mother, Wind Mother. There is even War Mother. One of the main Mothers are Mother of Dead Souls (Veļu Māte) which takes care of dead humans in their afterlife. There are beliefs that at certain nights the dead souls comes to their lifetime houses to visit them. They must be greeted with goods or the souls could get angry and bring bad luck to present day housemates.
There more minor spirits- Dieviņi. They need offerings to bring good luck. One of the best known spirits is the god of the fireplace who takes care for every single family.
Jānis is the deity of fertility he could be close to Roman god Janus. The leader of evil is the Devil (Velns, Jods), who is to blame for bad happenings and calamities, however it is not clear whether the Devil comes from Christian beliefs, because there is no Latvian universal deity of evil.
Latvian Paganic beliefs persisted so long because Christianity was not fully introduced to them. They were baptised by force, but there was little done to explain the basic teachings of Christianity to them. All ministrations and Holy texts were in Latin- the official church language, which was unknown to simple Latvian peasants. Only in 16.-17. century when Reformation came to Latvia the first ministration and holy texts were translated in Latvian. During the 18. century the movement of Congregation of Brothers or Hernhutism made a large effort of teaching Christianity to Latvians. At the end of 19. century Christianity finally defeated Latvian Paganism. Despite that the old beliefs and customs were kept for generations until this day. At 2o. century there a neopagan movement like Dievturība which a new Latvian religion based on the Latvian mythology. It’s not very popular among Latvian and faced repressions during Soviet Era but lives this time. The Latvian old rituals are carried at special dates by folkgroups and bands and active nationally minded Latvians. Latvian mythology is a complicated subject to discuss but some aspects here had been witnessed and probably will appear in future posts.
