Latvian local Culture, events and manifestations​

In total 99 cultural components of Latvia are included in Latvian Culture Canon, which, like other European countries, has been created as a set of artworks and cultural values and gathers the nation’s all-time major achievements in culture.

In Latvian Culture Canon from traditional culture there is included Liv culture, cemetery culture and Office of the dead, Midsummer’s Eve, Latgalian pottery, rye bread, the Lielvǎrde belt, kokle playing, multipart Latvian singing, Latvian folksongs (“Latvju dainas” – in Latvian), folk costumes, The Nationwide Latvian Song and Dance Celebration, Suiti cultural space and May services.

A special manifestation of cemetery culture is Cemetery Festival (“kapu svetki” – in Latvian language), which includes both public and individual commemorative rituals, which unites different communities through remembrance, demonstrate and maintain values and maintain a sense of identity. Latvian tradition of Cemetery Festival began to form in the first half of the 19th century. The unique Catholic tradition of chanting Latgalian psalms, called Office of the Dead (“mirušo oficijs” – in Latvian language) is still practiced today in the eastern regions of Latvia – Catholic parishes of the left coast of Daugava river and Latgale. Although it may sound quite ominous, the purpose of it is benign – to pray and intercede for the souls of deceased relatives, initially during the first days immediately following the death of a relative and before the funeral, and also a year after their passing. The tradition is an important part of the grieving process. It is also increasingly considered a symbol of Latgalian identity.

The dainas (Latvian folksongs) were most extensively collected and documented from all over Latvia by Krišjǎnis Barons at the turn of the 20th century. He wrote down the dainas, which ultimately amounted to six volumes, titled “Latvju dainas”, published between 1894 and 1915, containing around 300 000 texts. To aid the collation of the texts in a systematic manner, Barons created a wooden cabinet with 70 compartments to catalogue the dainas. In 2001, this cabinet was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. The source material that was sent in to Barons by thousands of informants from all around Latvia consists of over 350,000 small hand- written bits of paper, only 3×11 cm in size, complete with Barons’ annotations and editing notes. This cabinet is now located in the National Library of Latvia in Riga.

Several Latvian writers are included in the literature section of the Latvian Culture Canon – Imants Ziedonis, Ojars Vacietis, Karlis Skalbe, Rainis, Rudolfs Blaumanis, brothers Reinis Kaudzite and Matiss Kaudzite, Regina Ezera, Uldis Berzins, Vizma Belsevica, Eriks Adamsons, Janis Poruks, Janis Jaunsudrabins, Aleksandrs Caks and their works.