Latvian Folklore (Documentary with ENGLISH SUBTITLES) - Ancient Pagan Rituals & Folk Songs

Latvia has a rich folklore heritage. Many ancient pagan traditions still exist today. One of the most widely celebrated festivals is the summer solstice. This festival is celebrated in Latvia as well as the New Year.
A unique element in Latvian folklore are hundreds of folk songs or Dainas which are still sung and recited to this day. Dainas are the verses of 4 lines that are impossible to translate accurately into other languages. Dainas are lyrical, philosophical, like aphorisms and contain the wisdom. The most often are wedding songs, labor and seasonal rites. The traditional instruments are used, such as kokles, bagpipes, violin, pipes, reeds, drums, rattles ...

Пікірлер: 63

  • @MrAndregonsalves1
    @MrAndregonsalves16 жыл бұрын

    The Baltic Paganism is so rich and full of joy. Mother Nature and the folks living as one, in harmony since immemorial ages. We need to assure that this culture never perish from the face of the Earth, it has to be preserved for the upcoming generations. The beauty of the Baltic Culture is unique and transcendental.

  • @princessfreesia
    @princessfreesia4 жыл бұрын

    I come from Latvian heritage on my father’s side, yet am only in recent years finding these beautiful wellsprings of ritual, song, food and folklore that is invigorating and awakening my heart and soul... thank you for posting this priceless treasure, I am so very grateful 🙏🏻💖

  • @tracywright6908
    @tracywright69083 ай бұрын

    What a treasure trove I have found on my Latvian odyssey! Paldies ❤‍🔥

  • @piotrmariuszlazarewicz-kla892
    @piotrmariuszlazarewicz-kla8929 жыл бұрын

    DĪNKUN PĒR STAS SPĀRTS LABBAN BE SPĀRTS SPĀRTS GRAZZIUS FĪLMS We Prussians are very thankful to you Baltic Folk for this masterpiece . Its very important for all of Balts to be more united in cultural case and to grow our brotherhood get more closer . Ebkaīlina iz Lõndonsu pēr wissemans ... Mes Prūsai asmai gīwai ;)

  • @ulverumba4447

    @ulverumba4447

    9 жыл бұрын

    Man prieks ka kāds vēl bez mums bīdā prūšu valodas lietu tālāk. Katrā ziņā prieks dzirdēt!

  • @piotrmariuszlazarewicz-kla892

    @piotrmariuszlazarewicz-kla892

    9 жыл бұрын

    Ulve Rumba jā mēs asmai iz Põlai adder nūsai palikkei buwūns Prūsai kāigi mēs asmai dīgi ;)

  • @ulverumba4447

    @ulverumba4447

    9 жыл бұрын

    Tici man to ir ļoti patīkami apzināties mums. Ļoti jauki ka mēs varam saprast viens otru.

  • @veselibasmiljardieris3756

    @veselibasmiljardieris3756

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@ulverumba4447 Iesaku paklausīties jaunākās ziņas par to kas notiek Latvijā un pasaulē! kzread.info/dron/XeWQso2ikWLLeBwfhpCjLg.html

  • @Rustam655
    @Rustam6553 жыл бұрын

    Это круто и интересно....это какое то счастья я не знаю...рай..по ту сторону....

  • @rachelcoleman4693
    @rachelcoleman46933 жыл бұрын

    I envy this example of family, community, tradition, and culture.

  • @karfomachet7265
    @karfomachet72653 жыл бұрын

    when people ask what does spiritual actually mean u can show them this piece , no doubt one of the best videos / films on you tube .

  • @generalrotholz977
    @generalrotholz9774 жыл бұрын

    Finally, I found something on Latvian paganism! Thanks for uploading!

  • @karfomachet7265
    @karfomachet72654 жыл бұрын

    this video shows us the rich culture of Lativia - Livonia and what is missing in western European culture - a real connection with the Ancestors . Thank u for this lovely video .

  • @lettophile

    @lettophile

    Жыл бұрын

    Now what the fuck is a “Lativia Livonia”

  • @karfomachet7265

    @karfomachet7265

    Жыл бұрын

    @@lettophile the cultural mix that modern Latvia emerged from

  • @lettophile

    @lettophile

    Жыл бұрын

    @@karfomachet7265 no such thing.

  • @karfomachet7265

    @karfomachet7265

    Жыл бұрын

    @@lettophile as if u would know

  • @Moostaukind
    @Moostaukind9 жыл бұрын

    Liels paldies tev par tulkotaajumu!!!!! Es nerunaaju latviski labi un man bija gruuti visu saprast, bet tagad es visu saprotu.

  • @vilks7657
    @vilks76575 жыл бұрын

    Recently I was in Latvia to visit Riga. From the first moment on I fell in love with this amazing country, the people and the culture. Over here in The Netherlands we have multiculturalism and many immigrants from muslim countries. They take over our culture and dominate our society every day a bit more. Our government don't have the guts to do anything about it, to affraid for being accused for racism and the word ' nazi '. Please keep your beautifull country the way it is ! You all are so privelaged to live in such an amazing country...!

  • @polskastronk2700

    @polskastronk2700

    5 жыл бұрын

    I felt this too. Visiting Riga 2years ago I felt a certain Aryan essence in the atmosphere. A beautiful place, clean, calm, respectful people. 😍🇱🇻

  • @karfomachet7265

    @karfomachet7265

    3 жыл бұрын

    when u look at the rich culture of the Latvians / Livonians against what is brought from islamic countries u feel like being sick .

  • @lizelantt
    @lizelantt Жыл бұрын

    As someone from a completely different cultural background (I'm from Greece) , this is extremely interesting

  • @remestvo
    @remestvo9 жыл бұрын

    80th years time of search of national roots. The Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian documentary films about native traditions something are similar at this time. It is a pity that we Russians, didn't manage to come off the Soviet ideology which has eaten our people :(( It is sad that the national culture isn't held in respect in Russia. And you can make the Russian subtitlings?

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    9 жыл бұрын

    Антон Каменский Unfortunately, I don't know Russian well enough to be able to make subtitles - I can understand spoken Russian but I can't write in Cyrillic well... Recently I've been watching old Russian documentaries about the national cultures in various regions of Russian Federation: the series from Фильм киностудии "Этнос" and Мировая деревня and it's amazing how much folk traditions and wisdom was still left at the time when those series were filmed. It really is a pity that the young generation doesn't show much interest in it :(

  • @fureur17
    @fureur176 жыл бұрын

    What is the name of the orginal movie used in this video ? From a religious point of view, and from an artistic point of view, this is great stuff and I want to see more of this. Thanks, from Canada

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    6 жыл бұрын

    It's "Latviešu folklora" (1983) by director Andris Slapiņš: www.filmas.lv/movie/3099/

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    6 жыл бұрын

    I wish there would have been more of it... Unfortunately, the film's director was killed by a Soviet sniper when Latvia was breaking free from Soviet Union.

  • @borisegorov2738

    @borisegorov2738

    5 жыл бұрын

    @@Balticfolk Or maybe not by Soviet, but by provocateur who shot both sides

  • @veselibasmiljardieris3756

    @veselibasmiljardieris3756

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@Balticfolk Iesaku paklausīties jaunākās ziņas par to kas notiek Latvijā un pasaulē! kzread.info/dron/XeWQso2ikWLLeBwfhpCjLg.html

  • @willderkacz
    @willderkacz9 жыл бұрын

    The melody at 14:37 sounds familiar. Reminds me of something Medieval. Hmm.

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    9 жыл бұрын

    William Pagan That's my impression as well but, unfortunately, I'm not very knowledgeable in such late folk dance music to be able to say anything more about the melody, other than that it's performed with *trīdeksnis* (a bell tree), *bunga* (a drum) and Latvian national woodwind: *stabule*.

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    9 жыл бұрын

    William Pagan Ok, so I've found out that this Latvian dance is called "Garais dancis" (that literally translates as "the long dance") and it is a local variation of Polonaise (Polonez) dance which is of 16th century Polish origin.

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    9 жыл бұрын

    William Pagan Jar's take on it is certainly interesting! I first realized what this is when I was listening to the album of ensemble Rasa "Music of Solar Rites" and remembered that this was the melody from the documentary that you've previously commented on; there's another version of this dance in CD "The Bagpipes of Latvia", both can be downloaded here: soundcloud.com/baltic-folk If I ever find some visual material awesome enough to go with them, I'll upload them to youtube too. I don't think I've ever heard any kind of Polonaises in Lithuanian folk music, so at the moment I find this melody very fresh and enthralling, can't stop listening to it...

  • @haroldocanuto692
    @haroldocanuto6928 жыл бұрын

    Does anyone know what kind of camera they used to film this?

  • @haroldocanuto692

    @haroldocanuto692

    8 жыл бұрын

    And, is it just with me or are the english subtitles a little bit wrong? I mean, they sometimes do not appear, or appear too fast to be read.

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Haroldo Canuto I've made these subtitles myself, so it's perfectly possible that there are some quirks. I would appreciate it if you could point out the places where you've noticed some problems, so that I could fix them (youtube's inbuilt subtitle feature allows editing them post-uploading). Some of the songs featured in this video are very repetitive: each line is repeated trice in different intonations - in those cases I've just made the subs for the first repetition assuming that people will understand that it's the same text that's being repeated. Maybe that was a wrong assumption... Unfortunately, I don't know what camera was used.

  • @haroldocanuto692

    @haroldocanuto692

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Baltic folk Thank you. Actually, I have watched barely five or six minutes, and the subtitles still appeared very fast, even though, most times it is possible to pause the video and read them. Maybe this is because I am watching on a tablet, I'm not sure, And thanks for explaining about the repeating verses, there's no need to subtitle them too.

  • @adahs6994
    @adahs69947 жыл бұрын

    The name of the Song at 12:15? Its beautifull, Also that instrument

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    7 жыл бұрын

    I'm not sure about the name of that melody - it's very generic, that melody could fit many folk songs, it's performed with a Baltic psaltery in Latvia known as kokle, in Lithuania as kanklės, in Finland as kantele, in Estonia as kannel.

  • @adahs6994

    @adahs6994

    6 жыл бұрын

    Thank you very much, I'll search for it. And thank you also for all the incredible work you have done sharing all this beautifull videos

  • @willderkacz
    @willderkacz9 жыл бұрын

    Around 5:20, that's also polyphony. Is it called something specific? I know Latvia has a polyphonic music called "burdon," something around there.

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    9 жыл бұрын

    William Pagan you're right: that genre of folk songs is called *rotāšana* but in musical terms this type of polyphony is known as _bagpipe bourdon_ Lv. *dūdu burdons* (it differs from another more ancient type of Latvian bourdon (the _figurative bourdon_ Lv. *figurētais burdons*) in that the second voice serves as a continuous uninterrupted background for the first voice, much like a bagpipe's drone). Rotāšanas songs used to be sung from the early in the spring, right after the snow melted away, till the very midsummer celebration. Girls would gather by the hills next to the rivers or lakes where the echo is strong enough for the songs to be heard many miles away. The common plots in this genre was the awakening of nature, the blooming of hackberries and apple trees, the picking of a bride, matchmaking, wedding. Young lads would respond to these songs by blowing trumpets or horns. Unfortunately, this genre died out in the live tradition - at the beginning of the 20th century it was practiced only in several places in Southern Latvia but nowadays only folk ensembles carry on the tradition, the country people have forgotten it.

  • @willderkacz

    @willderkacz

    9 жыл бұрын

    Baltic folk Thanks a lot for the information! I came across a Latvian group called "Saucējas." I believe they sing a type of burdon.

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    9 жыл бұрын

    William Pagan Yes! I came across that group several years ago and I love their rotašanas songs. Last spring they held an event where they sang those songs in the historical lands of Selonian tribe: women walking around the hills singing these ancient grim songs as the evening fog sets... How I would love to see that live! I just hope that they'll hold that event in the forthcoming year too and that I'll be able to go there :)facebook.com/events/483284091798431/

  • @willderkacz

    @willderkacz

    9 жыл бұрын

    That event seems amazing!

  • @willderkacz

    @willderkacz

    9 жыл бұрын

    Best of luck on seeing them live!

  • @willderkacz
    @willderkacz9 жыл бұрын

    I hear polyphony at 4:20. Is it just a daina, or is it something else?

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    9 жыл бұрын

    William Pagan Yes, it's just a children's folk song with _dūdu burdons_, it's a very well known song with many variations that can be found in the Latvian national archive of folk songs:www.dainuskapis.lv/daina/2675-1-Par-mezu-meza-mati-putnu-kazam-un-dazadiem-zveriem-un-putniem-kopa

  • @signesilina4771
    @signesilina47714 жыл бұрын

    Where is english subtitles? Latvian with latvian subtitles

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    4 жыл бұрын

    I have added Latvian, Lithuanian and English subtitles to this film. You can chose which subtitles you'll be seeing by pressing the subtitle button on the lower right corner of the video screen.

  • @MS-xv9oo
    @MS-xv9oo2 жыл бұрын

    Könnt ihr deutsche untertitel zu verfügung stellen?

  • @polskastronk2700
    @polskastronk27005 жыл бұрын

    @Baltic folk do you know Varg (his channel is called Thuleanperspective)? I think he has great content. It was thanks to him that I start to get awareness about ancient European paganism.

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    4 жыл бұрын

    I had some meaningful discussions about indigenous European customs in youtube, he's quite knowledgeable about mythology. It's a pity his channel was taken down.

  • @veselibasmiljardieris3756

    @veselibasmiljardieris3756

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@Balticfolk Iesaku paklausīties jaunākās ziņas par to kas notiek Latvijā un pasaulē! kzread.info/dron/XeWQso2ikWLLeBwfhpCjLg.html

  • @rudolfkraffzick642

    @rudolfkraffzick642

    Жыл бұрын

    Polska: Why do you (and many others) Use the term "pagan" for traditional and spiritual European cultures? One should know that "pagan" was and still is meant as an insult for bad and even diabolic beliefs and different lifestyles away of cities where mostly greed, fear and isolation reigns.

  • 9 жыл бұрын

    Dívaini gan,nebiju tā īsti ieklausījies,bet viens sveštautietis paklausījās un prasa: "vai tad Lielā diena nav priecīga būšana?" ,bet tās dziesmas tik skumīgas kā uz bērītēm....

  • @Balticfolk

    @Balticfolk

    9 жыл бұрын

    Imants Robežnieks vai tieši skumīgas? Man šķiet, ka tikai mierīgas, klusas - it ka šūpuļdziesmas :)

  • @user-ui3ue3ck2y
    @user-ui3ue3ck2y Жыл бұрын

    Хочу напомнить, все эти шедевры сняты при советской власти! В современной Латвии да и вообще в Прибалтике такое не возможно