DISSERTATIONES FOLKLORISTICAE UNIVERSITATIS TARTUENSIS

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DISSERTATIONES FOLKLORISTICAE UNIVERSITATIS TARTUENSIS

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TOMS ENCIS
A disciplinary history of Latvian mythology

Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, Faculty of Philosophy

This dissertation is accepted for the commencement of the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy (Estonian and Comparative Folklore) on 23.07.2012 by the Institute
of Cultural Research and Fine Arts, University of Tartu.
Supervisors: Professor Kristin Kuutma
Professor lo Valk
Opponents:

Dr Pertti Anttonen (University of Helsinki)

Dr Rta Muktupvela (Latvian Academy of Culture)

Commencement: 05.10. 2012 at 14.15 in the main building of the University of

Tartu (Senate hall)
All translations from Latvian and Russian to English are by the author of this
thesis. Regarding German source material, Ieva Jirgensone was consulted, while
regarding Swedish Laura Ziemele was consulted. Language editing was
conducted by Daniel Allen. Modified according to requirements of University
of Tartu; the Taylor & Francis Books (Routledge) style guide and system of
references are applied with an exception for the Encyclopaedia Britannica. For
repeatedly published or translated works the year of original publication is
noted in the text if crucial for the discussion, but otherwise in the bibliography
only.
This research was supported by the European Union through the European
Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence, CECT).

ISSN 14067366
ISBN 9789949321124 (print)
ISBN 9789949321131 (pdf)
Copyright: Toms encis, 2012
University of Tartu Press
www.tyk.ee
Order No. 439

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................

CHAPTER I: History, postmodernism, and reflexivity

in relation to folklore and myth ......................................................................
1. Dialectics of modernity and folkloristics ...............................................
1.1. Construction of the research object ................................................
1.2. Herder and the location of the Other ..............................................
1.3. The Grimm brothers and the setting of scholarly standards ...........
1.4. Archival politics and the loss of identity ........................................
2. From deconstruction to reflexivity .........................................................
2.1. Framework: Postmodern analysis of knowledge and power ..........
2.2. Disciplinary specifics: The crisis of representation ........................
2.3. Reflexive ethnography and history .................................................
3. Reflexive links to nationalism................................................................
3.1. Imagined communities: The process of articulation .......................
3.2. An international discipline with a national agenda .........................
3.3. Mythology as a national history......................................................
4. Conclusion: Positive program of reflexive disciplinary history.............
CHAPTER II: Genesis and historical dynamics ............................................
1. Sources of reconstructed mythology ......................................................
1.1. Sources: Historical records .............................................................
1.2. Sources: Folklore materials ............................................................
1.3. Sources: Linguistic data ..................................................................
2. The creation of Latvian mythology ........................................................
2.1. The creation of Latvian mythology: The context of nationalism ...
2.2. The creation of Latvian mythology: Mythology in public
discourse .........................................................................................
2.3. The creation of Latvian mythology: The first pantheons................
2.4. The creation of Latvian mythology: The birth of scholarship ........
2.5. The creation of Latvian mythology: The institutionalisation of
research ..........................................................................................
2.6. The creation of Latvian mythology: International relationships.....
3. The Dynamics of research......................................................................
3.1. The dynamics of research: Soviet Latvian academia ......................
3.2. The dynamics of research: Exile scholars.......................................
3.3. The dynamics of research: Latvian mythology within Baltic
mythology within Baltic studies .....................................................
3.4. The dynamics of research: The Moscow-Tartu school
of semiotics ....................................................................................
3.5. The dynamics of research: The transition from Soviet to
national scholarship ........................................................................
4. Conclusion: Periodisation of the research ..............................................
CHAPTER III: The interwar period ..............................................................
1. Personalities and theories .......................................................................
1.1. Personalities and theories: Pteris mits ........................................
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1.2. Personalities and theories: Arveds vbe .......................................

1.3. Personalities and theories: Mrti Bruenieks ..............................
1.4. Personalities and theories: Krlis Straubergs..................................
1.5. Personalities and theories: The phenomenologists
Voldemrs Maldonis and Ludvigs Adamovis ..............................
1.6. Personalities and theories: Preference for particular
folklore genres ................................................................................
2. Power and knowledge ............................................................................
2.1. Power and knowledge: Krlis Straubergs .......................................
2.2. Power and knowledge: Arveds vbe ............................................
3. Mythological Space................................................................................
3.1. Mythological space: Straubergs eschatology ................................
3.2. Mythological space: Adamovis world outlook ............................
4. Conclusion: Diversity within uniformity ...............................................
CHAPTER IV: Parallel trajectories................................................................
1. Exile scholars .........................................................................................
1.1. Exile scholars: The quest into the netherworld by Krlis
Straubergs .......................................................................................
1.2. Exile scholars: The celestial pantheon and mentality
of Haralds Biezais ..........................................................................
1.3. Exile scholars: Mythological space in discussion with the past .....
2. Soviet Latvian mythology ......................................................................
2.1. Soviet Latvian mythology: The politics of mythology ...................
2.2. Soviet Latvian mythology: The establishment of a new
discipline ........................................................................................
2.3. Soviet Latvian mythology: Revisions and prohibitions ..................
2.4. Soviet Latvian mythology: The single correct interpretation .........
3. Indo-European studies............................................................................
3.1. Indo-European studies: The birth of modern scholarship ...............
3.2. Indo-European studies: Baltic mythology and
the recontextualisation of Old Europe ............................................
4. From Moscow to Tartu ..........................................................................
4.1. From Moscow to Tartu: Reconstructions of the proto-myth ..........
4.2. From Moscow to Tartu: Layers of Latvian mythology ..................
5. Conclusion: The mapping of the post-war period ..................................
CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................
SUMMARY IN ESTONIAN .........................................................................
ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................
APPENDICES ................................................................................................
Appendix I .............................................................................................
Appendix II ............................................................................................
Appendix III ..........................................................................................
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................
CURRICULUM VITAE ................................................................................
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INTRODUCTION
This is a thesis on the history of a discipline that does not exist. A discipline
that has no chair in any research institution, that does not provide a degree, that
freely fluctuates between lay end expert discourses. Research on Latvian
mythology is a discipline dwelling under the names of various other disciplines;
not interdisciplinary by nature, emerging from time to time under different
titles, within different contexts, and hiding different agendas. At the same time,
its subject matter is constantly present: it circulates within the systems of
knowledge production, infused with claims of authority, power, and authenticity. Therefore, the first task is to define: what does the term Latvian
mythology really mean in this thesis?
Anchoring the subject matter
Leaving aside epistemological questions of whether there are narratives which
from a particular point of view can be categorised as myths, or whether a class
of phenomena characteristic to such narratives exist, mythology is certainly a
system derived from the lived experience, historical evidences, and folklore
materials with instruments of selection, interpretation, and systematisation. The
individuals or groups of people sharing such narratives have lived without
having to categorise and separate their myths in analytical terms. Once
conceptualised, myth has been the object of scholarly interest over at least the
last two centuries. During that time, multiple definitions of myth have been
produced, from contradictory definitions to those complimenting each other,
universal and particular, related to ancient religions (Frazer) as well as to shared
structures of the unconsciousness (Jung) or specific modes of signifying
(Barthes) just to mention some opposite directions where this vast field
stretches. Systematisation of this variety is an area of scholarly interest in its
own right. Such is the agenda of the voluminous treatise on mythography by
William Doty (2000); multiple definitions and variations of mythological
research are also presented in the collections of articles edited by Alan Dundes
(1984), restricting the variety of theories to those more or less contributing to
the definition of myth as sacred narrative explaining how the world and man
came to be in their present form; similarly the overview of historical developments and closer analysis of several influential directions provided by Laurie
L. Patton and Wendy Doniger (1996). Research into mythology is a discipline
with genuinely blurred boundaries. Most often conducted within the areas of
folkloristics and history or studies of religion, it is friendly with research into
literature as well as archaeology and philology, akin to social and cultural
anthropology, it sometimes borrows vocabulary from theology and becomes
part of ethnology. Moreover, these disciplines as well as others not mentioned
here have various theoretical schools, branches and directions, not so rarely

overlapping with each other or constituting interdisciplinary approaches thus

the variety and niceties of definitions of myth only increases.
As my research concerns scholarly production of Latvian mythology, I will
avoid ready-made definitions of myth and mythology which may narrow the
research subject according to formal criteria, but instead use a genealogical
model: following the self-defined object of study as it is embedded in scholarly
discourse. Specifically, the point of departure of this study is works written by
academic researchers and entitled Latvian mythology, or which directly define
that they concern Latvian mythology. As such, Latvian mythology might be
initially defined as a system of supernatural beliefs shared throughout the period
of at least several hundred years by people speaking Latvian and its dialects. It
is related to religious practices and narrated in folklore materials. Depending on
a particular researchers standpoint, it was defined as the old Latvian faith
(mits 2009), the dimension of tradition within religion, besides cult and dogma
(Straubergs 19341935), temporally restricted to ancient Latvian religion in
late Iron Age (Adamovis 1937), positioned as a set of views characteristic to
pre-class society (Niedre 1948), etc. These and the other definitions I discuss in
thesis share the idea of the linguistically marked ethnic particularity of this
mythology (therefore it is Latvian) and, to some extent, its elements.
However, the structure and exact content of this system differ from work to
work, not to mention investigations concerning, for example, only one deity,
characteristic, or domain of the ancient world-view.
The next step is mapping the transformations and variations that the same
self-defined subject matter undergoes in the works of various researchers, thus
finding both its ancestors and offspring. This procedure will allow a complete
map of disciplinary history to be accomplished, at the same time avoiding
formal (due to an existing definition) or institutional (choosing one particular
existing discipline) biases. Such an approach is chosen to focus attention on the
scholarly construction of the research subject, discovering the initiatives that lie
beyond it and the contexts that shape each particular form that it takes.
Consequently, it is an investigation into the knowledge production process
rather than the content of knowledge, analysis of representational form rather
than the object of representation. From this perspective the history of research
into Latvian mythology had not been written: all previous works concerning the
subject matter either touch it as a part of folkloristics (e.g. Ambainis 1989) or
analyse exclusively theoretical approaches and sources for similar research (e.g.
Biezais 2008).
Scholars with different backgrounds and interests have been concerned with
the reconstruction, description and explanation for presumed Latvian myths
and, especially, mythical beings like gods and deities. The lines between
description, explanation and analysis, selection and interpretation of particular
evidences from the past, or texts, or their characteristics are not clear, and cannot be made without categorisation and reduction of some kind. No ethnographic description or evidence from the past is free from theory; and even

though some notions seem common knowledge, yet their understanding differs
among various parties involved. The criteria for what constitutes mythology
differ between the fields of knowledge and between those who engage in them.
Even in one field, Latvian folkloristics for instance, there are obvious differences in this regard between more historically or philologically inclined
scholars, or scholars belonging to different institutions. What was incontrovertible evidence for the antiquarian enthusiast of the nineteenth century was
not the same for the researcher working in 1960s, and what constitutes ancient
mythological world-view is not identical for historian of religion and comparative mythologist. Those are not the same gods which theologians, archaeologists
and linguists appear to be analysing. The differences are even more obvious
when it comes to selection and interpretation of folklore materials. This is
equally true of the methods of those who rely principally upon comparativehistorical reconstructions as opposed to those who engage in phenomenological
analysis; of writers guided by maxims of this or that school and inspired by
events of their lifetime, philosophy, or culture. Therefore, instead of trying to
establish agreement upon the subject matter, I am examining differences
between works of researchers who had selected and interpreted evidences from
the vernacular culture and ancient manuscripts to construct their object of study,
and thereby have affected the view on the sources themselves. Facing such
diversity, this study does not attempt to provide a total overview and examine in
detail everything that has been written on Latvian mythology. My aim is rather
to connect and compare on the one hand the most influential works written on
the subject matter and, on the other hand, sketch the diversity of the field,
linking analysis of radically different approaches. Thus, the final result is a
virtual map of ideas with multiple centres and peripheries stretching across
time. For this reason, I have made no attempt to submit the more technical
notions involved in studies of myth to critical examination, even though some
of them (e.g. syncretism or genre) raise issues of substantial significance.
Instead, the research is focussed on the genesis of particular scholarly productions and their intertextual dimension, tracing origins of particular ideas and
giving an account of the historical and institutional circumstances in which they
were conceived: their role in political settings and determination by developments of cultural, including academic, history. No knowledge emerges outside
society and history, therefore an analysis of knowledge production necessarily
requires analysis of the social, political, and even economic settings of its
origins in genetic and historical terms as expressions of the particular stage in
the development of society and scholarship. Knowledge of the social history, of
the modes which determine the shape taken by circulation of knowledge and
power in particular times and places, and of problems which these generate, is
also needed to assess the full significance and purpose of disciplines which
seemingly deal with the subjects distant from the society within which these
disciplines emerge and develop. Therefore the knowledge of social, ideological,

and intellectual conditions is undoubtedly indispensable in writing about any

disciplinary history.
Still, to avoid losing the subject matter in its contexts, special attention is
paid to mythological space; the latter is described either particularly, or in
passing, in the majority of reconstructions of Latvian mythology. Several
reasons advocate this particular choice for closer study: (1) comparability due to
presence in multiple studies, (2) interdisciplinarity due to presence in studies
divided by different perspectives, (3) reconstructive sensitivity, clearly showing
the importance of initially selected source materials, (4) structural independence: space as an empty notion is not necessarily bounded to a pantheon
of gods or other elements of mythology, (5) interconnectivity: the understanding of mythological space as part of a specific world view that connects
high religious realms with everyday cult practices; this is the setting where life
and afterlife coexist, inhabited equally by humans, spirits, and gods; it is the
parchment on which living experience is written in the form of myth. Thus, I
will describe several models of mythological space to analyse the contexts that
had shaped them.
Project positioning
Initially interested in mapping Latvian mythological space, an idealistic project
that fuelled my BA and MA theses, I encountered puzzling diversity in the
secondary sources. Recognition that both my interest and the causes of this
diversity are grounded outside the subject matter led to me re-think the whole
project and to question its epistemological grounds. This might be the most
personal, biographical reason for my current study. Self-insight, a form of
reflexivity. Further, the reflexive relationships between cause and effect
gradually became central for my research for positioning on the local and
international level, and for the theoretical apparatus adopted and constructed to
write the disciplinary history of Latvian mythology.
Rooted in the occidental hierarchy of knowledge production1, according to
which status and scholarly authority are distributed, followed by recognition,
influence and funding, and apart from complicated routine, academic practice is
still a matter of belief. I believe that my study will contribute, both with its
generalisations and particularities, to the discourse of reflexive disciplinary
history writing from which it has emerged. In the same way that Irish folklore
has been located in the international arena by Diarmuid Giollin, American
folkloristics and the discipline of Volkskunde in German-speaking countries
1

Although views of various agents involved my differ, even the views of the same agents
in various situations, different types of knowledge (as rumours, evening news, scholarly
writings, statements of the church or governmental officials, textbooks etc.) differ by truth
value generally attributed to them. Assuming such general hierarchy, each of these levels
with their own rules of construction have their centres and peripheries, defining further differentiation.

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revised by Regina Bendix, the history of Finnish folkloristics, politics and

concerns with tradition analysed against the background of the diverse facets of
modernity by Pertti Anttonen, and the history of Estonian folkloristics and
ethnology explored by collective of authors in edition by Kristin Kuutma and
Tiiu Jaago. This is to mention just but a few seminal folkloristics-related books
from the blooming field of knowledge production analysis in the social and
human sciences, characterised by multiple articles published in academic
journals, research projects conducted and their outcomes presented at various
conferences, congresses, and workshops. It seems that after the crushing wave
of post-modern, -colonial, -structural, -feminist and other criticisms, resulting in
short-lived denial or contra-critique by some parties involved in the business of
representation, and in unbound relativism and the so-called crisis of representation for other parties, the closely related disciplines of folkloristics, anthropology and ethnology have reached a new stage of development, building new
identities in the complex world of twenty-first-century scholarship with strong
interdisciplinary focus, with awareness of political processes and the power
relationships with which the scholarship is involved, and with awareness of
these disciplines own historical roots. Historical roots not as a romantic biological metaphor or linear sequence of progressive developments through the
time, but more as a subconsciousness of scholarship long forgotten or denied
memories of formative moments, indirectly manifesting in the contemporary
world, lurking behind the seemingly innocent and clear concepts, ideas, and
directions of research. Paraphrasing Bourdieu (2000), by turning to study the
historical conditions of production, practitioners of human sciences can gain a
theoretical control over their own structures and inclinations as well as over the
determinants whose products they are, and can thereby gain the concrete means
with which to reinforce their own capacity for objectification. My dissertation is
intended to contribute to this discourse in several ways. First of all, by warmly
welcoming any generalisations and extrapolations in order to demonstrate a
multi-sited or multi-dimensional approach to particular disciplinary history.
This is not primarily theoretical work; despite the fact that it includes the
program of consecutive steps I follow to reach my goal, accompanied by
mandatory disclaimers against the totalising of knowledge produced, its main
procedure is historiography bound to the subject matter, form of knowledge,
and place. Still, analysing the social, epistemological, and political conditions
that have shaped the research into Latvian mythology, I hope a foreign reader or
a reader involved in another academic field can use my findings at least by
analogy, or explore them to lay the foundations of his or her national disciplinary history, either by concentrating on the similarities of the knowledge
production in particular historical periods, or by comparatively highlighting the
differences and their causes, discovering which determinants are variable and
which are invariant in different research traditions or trajectories. On the other
hand, selected parts of this thesis may compliment already established fields of
study by providing illustrative cases of national particularity. For example, for

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research on cultural nationalism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

(chapter two of the thesis) or the formation of national disciplines and academic
institutions in the interwar period, related to state nationalism (chapter three);
similarly, for the generally less researched areas of academic endeavour of the
post World War II exile scholars or construction of the disciplinary identity in
new Soviet republics (chapter four). The different angles from which my case
studies are conducted provide material for institutional, social, political, or discursive investigations. Portraits of homo acdemicus latviensis, an EasternEuropean relative of Pierre Bourdieus homo academicus gallicus, may as well
illustrate the intellectual history of a particular period and region. At the end of
the day, my study following the subject matter shared by different disciplines
might challenge the general mode of writing the disciplinary histories from
perspectives of the same disciplines, thus being restricted by the same determinations which historically constituted the boundaries of the fields of knowledge.
To achieve this, I compare comparative mythologists from different backgrounds and led by different agendas, point out the shared folkloristics and
history of religions resources, and invoke the context of global trends and metatheories.
One may ask, as I did myself, what is the rationale of writing Latvian
disciplinary history in an Estonian university? It turned out to have the unique
benefit of uniting the insider and outsider perspectives on the subject matter. As
an outsider, apart from receiving appropriate training and guidance for the task,
I may more clearly objectify the field of analysis, relatively excluding my position from the power play that shapes the rules of the game of truth in the institutions of higher education in Latvia. 240 kilometres2 seems a small distance
geographically, but it provides enough critical distance for research into stillliving history. At the same time, as an insider, a native speaker and employee of
the Archives of Latvian Folklore, the central institution of the field in Latvia, I
am able to explore the niceties that may pass unnoticed for a total outsider,
receive valuable consultations and support from my colleagues, as well as
utilise my knowledge in other areas of Latvian culture and history, accumulated
during more than a decade of study and research. At the same time, my belonging to the Latvian scholarly community demands recognition of my double
agenda and leaves reflexivity as the only way to legitimise my position within
the contemporary arena of academic knowledge production. Positioning within
the current epistemic situation differentiates this research from works written by
Latvian exile scholars, who were in a formally similar situation in the years
after World War II. Symbolically, closer parallels might be drawn with the
studies in Tartu of Juris Alunns and Anna Brzkalne. Alunns was the first
Latvian writing on mythological subjects in the mid nineteenth century, but
Brzkalne was the first Latvian folklorist to acquire a doctoral degree in
Estonian and comparative folkloristics, in 1942. Positioned in the international
2

The distance from the hometown of the University of Tartu to Riga, the capital of Latvia.

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arena, my thesis still is intended to contribute to Latvian scholarship demonstrating the historical roots discussed above and thus establishing the grounds
for more self-aware, efficient scholarly practices in the future. Such disciplinary
history is especially necessary regarding the interwar and Soviet periods; this is
the relatively recent past, which had not been properly revised, categorised and
analysed. Similarly, the history of research into Latvian mythology has been
only partially written in other studies from narrow disciplinary context or
restricted by aims of researching particular mythological motifs or structures.
These previous, narrower historiographies are a valuable source for my
research, at the same time they also constitute part of the object I am
researching and are, from such a perspective, treated as historical evidences.
Creation of the context: methodological considerations
Stemming from the textual nature and above-described genealogical definition
of the subject matter of my research, its method in a nutshell could be summarised as a kind of discursive analysis. Centred on the Latvian mythographies, it is a back and forth reading of widening circles of texts constituting
the contexts of those primary texts, contextualising the latter within circumstances of their production and foregrounding the intertextual connections that
link them. The primary corpus of texts consists of monographs, introductions to
folklore collections, journal and newspaper articles, and encyclopaedia entries
concerning Latvian mythology. The secondary or contextual corpus consists of
memoir literature, biographies and autobiographies, archival materials, related
historiographies, popular and educational articles, and other texts concerning
the primary texts, their authors, or institutional settings within which these texts
were produced. The findings of such reading are contextualised within the
framework of general socio-political and scholarly histories.
The current presentation of the results of my research is subordinated to its
aims: to demonstrate how a particular object of study is constructed, how it
gains or loses its scientific legitimacy, how its variations are related to the theoretical, social, institutional, and political positions of its creators during different periods of time and within various traditions of research. By relating the
space of works or discourses taken as differential stances, and the space of the
positions held by those who produce them, the methodology of this thesis suggests a tendency towards the sociology of knowledge production conducted
from constructionist positions. However, the more precise umbrella term for
integrating theories, life histories, institutional histories, and political histories
into a complete whole, would be reflexive cultural critique. As such it takes the
constructionist critical position towards the nature of scholarly objects (cf. REP:
1778), respects concerns towards representation and textuality shared by range
of theories emerging in late twentieth century cultural studies, ethnology and
anthropology, and highlights reflexivity as one of the central terms in understanding scholarly productions. The notion of reflexivity, various theories con-

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cerning and exploiting it as well as its implications for the current study are
analysed in the second half of the first chapter of the thesis. Briefly, reflexivity
designates a bidirectional relationship between cause and effect. It is a recognised property of language as well as financial markets, sociological research
and philosophical thinking. In my study, reflexivity first of all refers to the
relationship between knowledge and power: between scholarly projects and the
agendas from which they were defined. As a result, the basic structure of the
work involves moving from general context to author biographies, from analysis of their involvement in studies of myth to particular descriptions of
mythological space, and then back again to general context, showing the mutual
influences between these levels.
Structure and content
My starting point is the connection of (a) intellectual history that gave birth to
studies of mythology and (b) theory that provides tools and grants legitimisation
of such history. As will be argued further, early studies of other mythologies
provided models that later served for the studies of Latvian mythology; therefore it is the necessary context for the understanding of the seemingly distant
subject matter: regarding both theoretical models and modes of political
instrumentalisation of such studies. Similarly, the methods of analysis applied
in the course of this thesis are informed by seminal works relating to studies of
the historical establishment of the discipline. Therefore, the first chapter of the
thesis contains, firstly, investigation of the general history of studies of
mythology, and folklore as its main source, secondly, analysis of the modality
of power and knowledge circulation specific to the field, in this case, focusing
upon nationalism as the main ideology behind it, and, thirdly, description of the
theoretical framework of the thesis, from the philosophical ideas and theoretical
developments behind it to the formulation of reflexive disciplinary history. A
historical overview highlights the influential heritage of Johann Gottfried von
Herder and the Grimm brothers, people who have played the central roles in the
establishment of folkloristics and comparative mythology, shaping the
discourse on the temporal and class Other with scholarly authority, bounding
language, vernacular culture, and the idea of national spirit in the politically
charged whole, which further led to the emergence of both popular interest in
the subject matter and diverse directions of scholarly investigation. Analysis of
their works, pointing out the relationship between scholarly endeavours and
political ideologies, especially nationalism as it is characterised in one of the
sub-chapters, is to a large extent informed by postmodern and post-structural
philosophy. As this also forms the background of my theoretical approach, the
central ideas of Foucault and Lyotard as the most influential representatives of
this school of thought are summarised; as such, they help to understand more
specific developments of the human and social sciences that led the discipline to
the so-called crisis of representation in the 1980s. The crisis, both calling for the

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revision of the previous scholarship and the finding of a new approach to the
subjects of anthropology, folkloristics and kindred disciplines, is examined in a
separate sub-chapter, helping to characterise the theoretical environment from
which the reflexive approach emerged. As the latter constitutes the
methodology of this thesis, the notion of reflexivity, understanding of social
construction of the object of study, and several techniques of analysis constitute
a corresponding section. Finally, I will conclude the chapter by conceptualising
the method and particular consecutive steps of analysis upon which other parts
of the thesis are built.
The second chapter sets temporal, national, institutional, and discursive
borders of the subject matter as well as highlighting its internal dynamics and,
as a summary, provides the periodisation of scholarly research into Latvian
mythology from the rise of romantic nationalism to the re-establishment of
independence in the 1990s. First of all, the chapter contains chronological and
analytical description of the sources used in the reconstructions of Latvian
mythology: historical records, folklore materials, and linguistic data, mapping
their availability within different periods of scholarly interest and briefly
characterising the nature of sources: principles of collection and edition, time of
publication, and problems connected to their nature. Concerning linguistic data,
two case studies are provided to illustrate the role of comparative linguistics and
its history in the research of the subject matter. Further analysis deals with the
establishment and dynamics of scholarly research into Latvian mythology:
relating its origins to cultural nationalism in the nineteenth century, drawing
borders between the lay and expert versions of the same subject matter,
describing early developments of scholarly research, and then proceeding to
process the institutionalisation and initiatives related to it. The nationalistic
nature of the research is juxtaposed to international relationships established by
individual actors within the field and relating it to general intellectual history of
the time period observed. After drawing the borders of the research area,
scholarly activities are analysed according to modes of internal dynamics and
general political/historical context; as a result distinguishing several discursive
clusters, characterised by mutual differences and internal coherence. Specifically, these are (1) the conceptualisation of mythology in the Soviet Socialistic
Republic of Latvia, (2) works written at the same time by scholars belonging to
the Latvian exile community, (3) Latvian mythology as a part of Baltic
mythology, (4) its place and modality within the Moscow-Tartu school of
semiotics, (5) merger and revision of all other research traditions during the
decline and fall of the Soviet Union, forming the contemporary situation. The
conclusion of the chapter summarises these developments and provides
periodisation of the research into Latvian mythology according to the major
factors and historical contexts that have influenced the scholarship.
The third chapter concerns analysis of the most fruitful time in research into
Latvian mythology: the interwar period, roughly from 1918 (establishment of
the Republic of Latvia) to 1944 (the second Soviet occupation). Former

15

developments important for the scholarship of this time, which are not
characterised in the second chapter, are here integrated into the analysis of
scholarly biographies and relevant works. First of all, twofold mapping is
performed, characterising the main approaches to mythology and key personalities related to them, unfolding the diversity of studies, the nature of
dialogues between various researchers, and the nature of criticism regarding
both previous studies and contemporary versions. From the sociological
approach to phenomenology of religion, theoretical standings as well as their
embeddedness in life histories and careers of scholars representing them are
described and contextualised within general disciplinary and institutional
developments. After this overview, the political dimension of knowledge
production as it relates to two influential scholars Krlis Straubergs and
Arveds vbe is analysed in detail, providing more precise biographical and
historical context that enlightens their theoretical standing and particular form
the interest in mythology took in their works. Similarly, two case studies of the
conceptualisation of mythological space follow, showing the models generated
by two different understandings of mythology, based on different methodology
and sources. A special conclusion to this chapter analyses the influence of the
understanding of folklore genres as theoretical highlight of this time, demonstrating how meta-theory regarding source material influences succeeding
research in a relatively self-contained field of knowledge. At the end, I propose
several conclusions regarding the regime of truth and dynamics of theories in
the interwar period.
The fourth chapter concerns disciplinary history (more precisely, histories)
after World War II, most notably characterised by the emergence of parallel,
self-contained research traditions, each differently related to prior developments. Thus, the first section deals with the research into Latvian mythology by
Latvian exile scholars, more closely examining continuities and discontinuities
in the mythology-related writings of Krlis Straubergs and characterising the
most comprehensive and voluminous study of ancient Latvian religion by
Haralds Biezais. Again, scholarly production is contextualised with the life
histories of both scholars and the institutional settings where it took place,
proposing a hypothesis of particular academic and psychological strategies,
characteristic to exile circumstances. Similarly, a closer look at transformations
of continued research as well as discontinuities and dialogue with the past is
taken regarding the versions of mythological space by both authors, notably
differing in their approaches and aims. The section on Soviet Latvian
mythology examines the construction of new disciplinary identity, taking into
account the structural reorganisation and centralisation of academia, the role of
censorship in the totalitarian state, criticism and quotation culture as means of
establishment of the scholarly authority, investment in Marxism-Leninism
doctrine, and, above all, the constitution of a radically different regime of truth,
characterising the circulation of knowledge and power in this setting. With this
chapter so far concerning mainly the first post-war decades of national exile and

16

Soviet scholarship, I will further examine general theoretical context of

comparative Indo-European mythology and research of Baltic mythology as its
branch in the second half of the twentieth century. Here, in addition, the
relationships of comparative linguistics and comparative mythology are
questioned, at the same time providing insight into the main developments of
the discipline in a corresponding period of time. A special case study concerns
the editorial practices of two publications on Baltic mythology, created from the
perspective of archaeology and related to recent developments in gender studies
and feminist ideology. Finally, the last section of the fourth chapter contains the
analysis of conceptualization of the Latvian mythology within works by
scholars belonging to Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics. While general agenda
of the School is characterized also in the second chapter, here insight into works
of particular scholars shows the relationship of the subject matter to
reconstruction of Indo-European proto-myth as well as unique model of
categorising Baltic, including Latvian, mythology in seven layers. In conclusion
of the chapter I will map the parallel research trajectories of the post-war
period, generalising the relationship between political environment, mode of
knowledge production and content of work produced.
I will summarise findings and conclusions of all chapters within the general
conclusion of the thesis, providing a set of the most important influences that
had shaped the research into Latvian mythology in the twentieth century, in
addition featuring a summarising comparison of disciplinary dynamics in Latvia
and Estonia. Such comparison is chosen to highlight the similarities in construction of national and academic identities in both countries. Here comparative
historical analyses allows the juxtaposition of knowledge produced and the
context of production, because the former has been related mostly to linguistic
and ethno-genetic discourse uniting Latvia and Lithuania, while the latter
illustrates the importance of the common history of Latvia and Estonia over
several centuries an important influence shaping the disciplinary history, but
unreachable through reading only works on Latvian mythology. The conclusion
is followed by the bibliography and appendices, containing materials referred to
in the body text of the work.
Creation of the text
Informed by postmodern disbelief in generalising masternarratives, I am aware
of the constructed nature of scholarly authority in my own text, thus admitting
the impossibility of total the contextualisation of the subject matter that would
provide the absolute truth regarding history of research into Latvian mythology.
Quite to the contrary, I have been working with all respect to concept of partial
truth as it was developed by James Clifford in the mid 1980s within the
discourse of anthropology. Still, partial but more focussed insights into various
dimensions of the academic practices of various periods of time might provide
the material necessary to draw general conclusions on disciplinary history

17

without doing violence to truth by selecting and shaping the facts of the past to
fit the linear and complete form of an academic narrative. Here the seemingly
fragmentary structure of the thesis serves to separate and highlight conclusions,
drawn from each particular fragment. Naturally, focus on this or another
context, researcher, or political ideology is also related to my personal strengths
in scholarship. Philosophical dimensions are definitely related to my previous
studies of philosophy at the University of Latvia; emphasis on the context of
folkloristics in research into Latvian mythology reflects my current disciplinary
alignment with the field, studying at University of Tartu and working at the
Archives of Latvian Folklore, participating in a research project concerning the
history of Latvian folkloristics in the interwar period. Similarly, involvement in
research projects related to cultural nationalism and the institutionalisation
process of cultural initiatives allows me to describe these contexts of knowledge
production in more detail. Every historiography is an autobiography.

18

CHAPTER I:
History, postmodernism, and reflexivity
in relation to folklore and myth
This chapter concerns the outlines of European intellectual and political history
which was the setting for punishable idolatry and superstitions becoming
mythology, and the vernacular culture of the lower classes becoming gems of
true poetry and treasures of a nation in a nutshell it characterises the
establishment of the scholarly disciplines researching mythology. Starting with
the definition of the epistemic-temporal units of my research, I will highlight
some crucial turns in the discursive formation of modernity, the latter serving as
the most general knowledge production context. Special sections concern the
contributions of Herder and the Grimm brothers as central figures in the
development of national romanticism, folkloristics, and research on mythology:
Herder placed folk materials at the core of emergent European politics of
culture, while the Grimms and their associates sought to recover a Germanic
past that could be used in building a united Germany, within their scholarly
practices permanently interlinking the categories of particular social groups,
land, language, history and national spirit. The Grimms strategies of
positioning and creating their research objects, and the rhetoric they used in
legitimating the latter in some form have been evident in anthropology,
folklore, and linguistics to the present. Further, the history and present state of
the field are linked introducing several postmodernist and post-structuralist
ideas, especially as developed by Lyotard and Foucault. This is the very setting
which allows and shapes analysis of disciplinary history as it is presented at the
beginning of this chapter; this is also the philosophical background of the
changes that took place in the human and social sciences in the second half of
the twentieth century, culminating in the so-called crisis of representation.
Therefore, the later section concerns the characteristics and conditions of this
crisis, especially in fields related to the subject matter of this thesis. After this
historical outline, I will move to the reflexive approach towards ethnography
and history, principally outlined as an answer to crisis of representation. After
examining the principle of reflexivity, the milestones of further reflexive
analysis are set by mapping the most important context of power and
knowledge circulation for the discipline the birth of nation-states and
reflexive relationship between the nationally oriented culture politics and
mythology-related disciplines of humanities. Finally, the conclusion draws on
insights of each section to summarise the research methodology for following
chapters of the thesis.

19

1. Dialectics of modernity and folkloristics

1.1. Construction of the research object
The history of the scholarly research of Latvian mythology reaches back only
about a century. Still, there are grounds to claim that up to the most recent
developments, Latvian mythology has been influenced by intellectual movements, political ideas and philosophical trends, which, geographically, temporarily, and disciplinarily had occurred at a distance from the subject matter of
this thesis. First of all, these are conditions and ideas that gave birth to the disciplines of folkloristics and the comparative research of mythology. And, as
over and over proved by the scholars whose works are analysed below in the
thesis, Latvian folklore has been the main source for the research of Latvian
mythology; therefore, the conditions that shape the conceptualisation, collection, and interpretation of folklore materials are equally important for research
on mythology. Consequently, this raises the question of the conceptualisation of
research that would take into account equally the genesis and subsequent genealogy of the discipline with its specific choices, interruptions, discontinuities
and transformations. On the meta-level, it is a question of separating the particular field for more rigid analysis. As a whole this field the scholarly research
into Latvian mythology; preliminary analysis already showed the emergence of
certain clusters within the field, characterised by resemblances, cross-references
on various levels and patterns of research. At the same time, the field in general
appeared to be too heterogeneous for a coherent analysis. In sum, there is a
problem of balance between mapping the field temporally in its historical
succession, and theoretically, discovering the intertextual dimension and its
determinants. A similar problem has also been faced by the philosophy of
science, and I find that a solution developed within this discipline selectively
might also be applicable to my research. In this regard, I have chosen to use
Larry Laudans term traditions of research to designate different strands
within the research on Latvian mythology. Laudans definition is as follows: a
research tradition is a set of general assumptions about the entities and
processes in a domain of study, and about the appropriate methods to be used
for investigating the problems and constructing the theories in that domain
(Laudan 1989: 374). As such, research tradition is an answer to two main
theories of scientific change, represented by Thomas Kuhn with his highly
influential notion of scientific paradigm, and by Imre Lakatos with research
programmes, the latter itself being a revision of Kuhns paradigm (Laudan
1989: 372; REP: 4458). Kuhn pointed out the problematic status of the concept
of paradigm with its two general and particilar meanings (Kuhn 1996: 175).
For my research, the design of Kuhns concept also seems too dependent on
specific modes of knowledge transfer the articulation of normal science in
textbooks (ibid.: 34, 137), the experimental mode of knowledge accumulation
(ibid.: 61), and, problematic to all so-called human sciences, the relation to
natural phenomena (ibid.: 89, 109, 135). Equally problematic are this concepts

20

relation to another rather uncertain concept the scientific community (ibid.:

176) and the incompatible nature of paradigms (ibid.: 94), pointed out also by
other scholars as one of the main flaws of Kuhns theory (e.g. Laudan 1989:
370; REP: 4425). Several of these problems as well as the concepts general
dependence on research into empirical and logical content (Laudan 1989:
372) are also shared by Lakatos research programmes, both projects rather
ignoring the influence of external and non-structural factors upon the
knowledge production that has became a self-evident procedure in contemporary scholarship. How far it concerns the relationship between scientific
progress and rationality as main factors explaining the changes in scholarship
and thus allowing to map the ruptures and revolutions of thought, dividing larger periods of normal science, I tend to adopt the concept of research traditions, for it to offer a healthy middle ground between (on the one side) the
insistence of Kuhn and the inductivists that the pursuit of alternatives to the
dominant paradigm is never rational (except in times of crisis) and the anarchistic (anything goes) claim of Feyerabend and Lakatos that the pursuit of
any research tradition no matter how regressive it is can always be rational
(Laudan 1989: 379). In a way the same problem larger-than-theories epistemic-temporal units of analysis in knowledge production form a totally different point of view and on a different level was approached in early works by
Michel Foucault. The most comprehensive of his terms episteme3 designates
a kind of linguistic system, characteristic to certain periods of thought (REP:
2886). Such are, for example, classical episteme (see Foucault 1994: 309) or
modern episteme (ibid.: 385), the latter still determining the knowledge production mode in the Western world today. Examining this notion lies beyond
the scope of my treatise, and the adaptation of reflexive theory involves certain
doubts of such a possibility accepting Foucaultian division means to work
from inside the modern episteme, while theoretically it was constructed
against a background of classical episteme and is therefore otherwise selfreferring; however, there are particular relationships between my object of
research and modernity that will be analysed below, to some extent as an
integral part of this modern episteme. Too broad is also another concept
developed by Foucault in the form of discursive formations. The discursive
3

By episteme, we mean, in fact, the total set of relations that unite, at a given period, the
discursive practices that give rise to epistemological figures, sciences, and possibly
formalized systems; the way in which, in each of these discursive formations, the transitions
to epistemologization, scientificity, and formalization are situated and operate; the
distribution of these thresholds, which may coincide, be subordinated to one another, or be
separated by shifts in time; the lateral relations that may exist between epistemological
figures or sciences in so far as they belong to neighbouring, but distinct, discursive practices.
The episteme is not a form of knowledge (connaissance) or type of rationality which,
crossing the boundaries of the most varied sciences, manifests the sovereign unity of a
subject, a spirit, or a period; it is the totality of relations that can be discovered, for a given
period, between the sciences when one analyses them at the level of discursive regularities.
(Foucault 2002: 211).

21

formation of Latvian mythology, even if one investigates it strictly within the

modern episteme, would contain multiple practices and discourses far beyond
the scholarly research of the subject matter. Some of them such as clerical/
judicial actions against the remains of heathen sacrifice customs in the midnineteenth century or the role of the mythology-related imaginary in formation
of national fine arts still require fundamental research; others, characterised
by more explicit intertextual links with scholarly discourse, for example reconstructions of the ancient pantheon in poetry and national epic, are sketched
in the second chapter of the thesis (p. 4046)4. Foucault himself also states that
Discursive formations can be identified, therefore, neither as sciences, nor as
scarcely scientific disciplines, nor as distant prefigurations of the sciences to
come, nor as forms that exclude any scientificity from the outset (Foucault
2002: 199200). The oeuvre of a certain author as well as the body of work
relating to certain theories, form part of corresponding discursive formation;
however, following an author or theory is not enough to characterise the specifics of the given formation. Therefore, informed by works of Foucault and
many who have been influenced by him in the research of knowledge production, I intend to use the term research tradition to mark clusters within disciplinary history, while also taking into account relations between disciplinary and
non-disciplinary domains within multiple registers of discursive formation to
which the tradition belongs, also following Foucault in rejection of a uniform
model of temporalisation (Cf. Flynn 2005: 37). In addition to research traditions I am using term research trajectories to emphasise the simultaneous
existence of several teleologies for one and the same discipline.
Although somewhat inevitable, the application of terms (research) tradition
and modern (episteme) might appear highly confusing if not contradictory
within the a treatise on mythology scholarship the former term, besides its
widespread everyday usage, is one of the core concepts of the discipline, the
latter is often used juxtaposing it to the phenomena it researches and,
sometimes, also the very practice of research. As such, these relationships must
be examined more closely to separate the research traditions from the research
of traditions, and modernity as an epistemological constituent from modernity
as discursive temporal marker. One of the most concise studies of these themes
is Pertti Anttonens Tradition through modernity: Postmodernism and the
Nation-State in Folklore Scholarship (2005). The authors starting point, which
I choose to follow, is the concept of tradition. Here tradition is inseparable
from the idea and experience of modernity, both as its discursively constructed
opposition and as a rather modern metaphor for cultural continuity and
historical patterning (Anttonen 2005: 12). Taking this constructivist point of
view, it is necessary to locate particular traditions (or myths, or folklore) as well
as related disciplines, which state they research such subject matters, within the
4

If not indicated otherwise, numbers in brackets refers corresponding chapter and section
of the current thesis.

22

conditions and discourses which gave birth to them, namely, modernity.

Perhaps the most general definition would conceptualise modernity as a Eurocentric spatial-temporal marker characterising culture and society between the
Renaissance and postmodernism; more precisely Western European culture
since the Enlightenment and French Revolution, when it was conceptualised
and also implemented a new world order, followed by the long nineteenth
century with industrialisation, urbanisation, the birth of political ideologies,
secularisation, institutionalisation of multiple new academic disciplines, and
other changes constituting the Western world as it is now. The late eighteenth
century faced the rise of two somewhat juxtaposed but inseparable
philosophical and cultural movements: the Enlightenment and Romanticism.
The concepts of customs, traditions, folklore, and myth were to a large extent
outlined within the dialectics of these two movements, often conceptualised
within diverse pro-modern and anti-modern discourses, described in more detail
by P. Anttonen (2005). From the pro-modern perspective, traditions, customs,
and often also religion are treated as regressive superstitions, negatively
valuated forces that lay in the way of a universal, rational evolution of science
and technology with accompanying forms of consciousness. A diversity of promodern conceptualisations of the ways of the past in this thesis is exemplified
with the conceptualisation of folklore as a heritage of the (modern) nationstates identity (p. 7982) and a threat to the newly constructed collective
identity of a totalitarian state (p. 8790). Traditions and forms of social
organisation related to them acquire a positive evaluation from the anti-modern
perspective. Since modernity is the status quo, anti-modernity rather than
challenging it and offering a different model is a critique of the current state of
things, often bearing strong nostalgic connotations. Again, this tendency is
articulated in multiple ways: from idealising the spatial (e.g. Rousseaus
concept of the noble savage), temporal (e.g. the concept of the Golden Age,
for example, also attributed to the Latvian and Estonian past by Garlieb Merkel:
cf. p. 7477), or class (e.g. in Herderian concept of Volksgeist and conceptualisation of rural life as a pastoral idyll from an urban perspective) Others5
to the emergence of neo-pagan and other revivalist movements, as well as
manifesting in state propaganda materials (e.g. p. 129). The critique of changes
created or represented by industrialisation, technologisation, bureaucratisation,
5

The concept of Other established its importance within the arena of philosophy and
critical thinking as late as the second half of the twentieth century; however, different kinds
of Other had already been the subject of thought a long time before. For example, In the
eighteenth century the concern with the Other was also a concern with the progressive goals
of civilizing and educating. In the search for suitable governmental policy, much research
needed to be accomplished, and such pragmatically oriented effort already had established
itself before the revolutionary period (Bendix 1997: 34; cf. Foucault 1978). Important for
the research on cultural history is the recognition that scholars construct the Other they
purport to describe. Their works also simultaneously construct the image of themselves and
their readers (cf. Briggs 1993: 387).

23

commercialisation, different forms of alienation, etc., doubles in a narrative

ethos of loss and decadence, claiming the disappearance of communality,
sacredness, and spirituality (Anttonen 2005: 41). Among the central terms
uniting discursive realms of scholarly research and critique of modernity has
always been authenticity, attributed to pre- or anti-modern phenomena on the
one hand, and involved in the establishment of scholarly authority as an
evaluating expertise on the other hand (cf. Bendix 1997). Thus both value-laden
discourses pro-modern and anti-modern contribute to conceptualisation of
the research field shared by such disciplines as philology, folkloristics, history,
and anthropology. Instrumentalised in political currents of the nineteenth
century, these disciplines were most often (and to a large extent still are) related
to a particular ideology: nationalism. And, as Anttonen states, Nationalism is a
modern ideology, but nationalists are often traditionalists. Thus, the
promodernist and antimodernist perspectives on modernity are in a dialectical
rather than in a categorically oppositional relationship to one another
(Anttonen 2005: 4243). Within the discourse of nationalism, tradition
(language, myth, folklore) as bearer of identity has often been naturalised, i.e.
regarded as a natural phenomena instead of a socially and historically
constructed reality. Naturalisation can occur at a rhetorical level, manifesting in
unquestioned biological metaphors of an individuals or nations roots or
genes; furthermore it can be developed into determinist scientific discourse,
characterising nations or races. Summarising, modernity as a temporally
analytical category gave birth to its opposite tradition; consequently, modern
conceptual framework and methodology are formed to research pre-modern
phenomena.

1.2. Herder and the location of the Other

Through a convergence of romantic nationalism and scientific perspectives in
the second half of the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth century a set of
rhetorical, analytical, and political practices was developed for creating,
representing, and interpreting the discourses of marginalised groups along with
evocation of the national idea. As wrote the theologian Johann Gottfried von
Herder (17741803), a personality equally important for the birth of folklore
studies 6 and nationalism (cf. Leerseen 2006, Bendix 1997, Nisbet 1999),
national language, culture and character are as natural as fauna:
These human beings then it is alleged invented for themselves such a
regional and national language of their own as had a whole construction that was
made only for this region. On this account, the little Lapp, with his language and
6

Herders Volkslieder nebst untermischten andern Stcken (177879) also featured the
first publication of Latvian folksongs. For Herder folksongs were anthropological and
historical documents in which a nation records its own natural history (cf. Nisbet 1999).

24

his thin beard, with his skills and his spirit, is as much a human animal original
to Lapland as his reindeer [is an animal original to Lapland]; and the Negro, with
his skin, with his ink-bubble blackness, with his lips, and hair, and turkey
language, and stupidity, and laziness, is a natural brother of the apes of the same
clime. One should it is alleged as little dream up similarity between the
languages of the earth as between the [physical] formations of the [different]
races of human beings
(Herder 2002 [1772]: 150).

Stereotypes of his time, with no rude intentions invoked here by Herder, also
demonstrate the above mentioned role of Other as pure, precise example
illustrating the natural order of things: the differences as well as similarities of
nations in their relation to natural environment. These similarities and
differences were in a way treated as essences, in almost timeless terms (cf.
Leerssen 2006: 123). Herders belief in the individuality and uniqueness of
every nation thus establishes the basis of cultural relativism. Notwithstanding
this, the Herderian concept of folk (das Volk), inspiring the advance of literary
and scholarly romanticism as well as later acquiring rather dark connotations in
the policy outlined by forerunners of the national socialism, involves not only
the natural cum geographical, but also the class dimension. Post-medieval
European colonial expansion as well as the involvement of Herders fellow
intellectuals in the discovery of Sanskrit and incredibly rich culture of (ancient)
India had created the image of a radically exotic Other7. Herder brought this
idea closer to home: discovering or rather constructing the locus of authentic,
pure, and natural spiritual culture in the rural way of life in ones own region,
and describing it in almost ecstatic, emotionally saturated language. Native
songs and poetry were an answer to his search, showing humans blissful use of
their reflexive capability blissful in that the sentient aspects of being and
thinking were not at the corroded stage of Herders contemporaries (Bendix
1997: 37). Important to understanding Herders conception of the folk is the
fact that it was not a simply lower class of society, less influenced by modern
culture, except the rural lower class, because Volk does not mean the rabble in
the alleys; that group never sings or rhymes, it only screams and truncates
(Herder 1807 [1774], quoted from Bendix 1997: 40). This illustrates one more,
the cleansing dimension of the folklore project, presuming an ideal folk culture
opposed not only to high culture but also to the everyday lore of the rising
urban proletariat. Therefore, the role of the intellectual elite was not only to
salvage the manifestations of folk spirit but also to make the distinction between
pure and contaminated, true and false, authentic and inauthentic materials;
briefly, there is a need for a specialist who would restore the original beauty of
folklore materials. Championed by Herder, the powerful union of the rhetorics
of authenticity, nationalism, and nature with the rhetoric of science was crucial
7

On early colonial policy and imagination see Greenblatt 2007; on the discourse of
Orientalism and its role in shaping of European identity: Said 2003.

25

in that this hybrid discursive complex reserves, to scholars, textual authority

over language, folklore, and the culture of Others (Briggs 1993: 404). Starting
from the exchange of ideas in short-living literati journals, personal correspondences between the members of vast network of European intellectuals, and the
collection and publishing practices of folklore materials a methodology and
corresponding theories of folklore genres, age, authenticity etc. were
crystallised many decades ahead of the institutionalisation of the discipline.

1.3. The Grimm brothers and the setting of scholarly standards

In this respect, the key figures are German scholars, brothers Jacob Grimm
(17851863) and Wilhelm Grimm (17861859). The brothers clearly stood on
Herders shoulders, embracing his nationalist project and advancing his lead in
providing it with linguistic and textual base (Briggs and Bauman 2003: 197);
within the debates on modernity they pioneered a cosmopolitan practice that
assimilated provincialism and nationalism as its discursive foundation (ibid.:
198). Treated variously as disciplinary heroes or discredited patriarchal figures,
the Grimm brothers stand at the cradle of folkloristics and research on
mythology. Like most intellectuals of their time, the brothers scholarly interests combined various subjects from legal studies and cartography of Germanic
languages to publication of folklore collections and ancient manuscripts. The
point of departure for the Grimms both political and scholarly endeavours was
linking the language and the nation, the linguistic and the ethnic category. This
idea was related to recent developments in the research on languages. Actually,
the formulation of Grimms Laws around 1820 (systematizing consonant
shifts marking the branching between and within language families) was a
triumph of the comparative-historical method, raised linguistics to the status of
a prestigious science and made [Jacob] Grimms name as one of the Europes
foremost scholars (Leerssen 2006: 260). The Grimms most popular work for
the general public, Kinder- und Hausmrchen (Children- and House-tales,
1812; hereafter referred to as KHM), is a collection of fairytales still enjoying
popularity and multiple new editions in various languages. While other
collections of tales were already published at this time, the preface and notes of
KHM were a complete novelty in the publication of simple folktales (Bendix
1997: 50). The Grimms created a model of textual stability and fidelity, sometimes expressed as Echtheit or authenticity, in vernacular transmission (Briggs
and Bauman 2003: 207). This textual ideology called for the collection and
publication of texts as pure and unchanged as possible, with accuracy
preserving the initial tale and adding no details. At the same time, the Grimms
applied multiple metadiscursive practices that transformed the tales in a host of
ways, summarised by Briggs and Bauman (2003: 208211): they introduced
direct speech, identified characters with personal names8, added proverbs to text
8

For example, there were no names for Hansel or Gretel in original KHM manuscripts.

26

both helping to motivate characters and actions as well as increasing their aura
of traditionality and authenticity, constructed many tales from fragments or
from several shorter narratives, created symmetrical repetitions of actions and
episodes, and crafted clear social types 9 that exemplified moral conduct (cf.
Briggs 1993). Thus, the editorial practices of early collectors and publishers
were intended to restore texts to their imagined, ideal traditional form10 with all
their aesthetic appeal and claims of ancestry, etc.11 In this way the shaping of
the literature of the nursery contributed to the emergence of the bourgeois
family and its child-rearing practices (Briggs 1993: 393). The brothers interests
later took different paths concerning particular genres, Jacob Grimm taking up
the challenge to recover and reconstruct German (Teutonic) mythology,
restoring it from the remains dwelling in the language as well as analysing
various folklore genre 12 to classification, to which both brothers had contributed. The language, a national language, was perhaps the first composite
social-natural13 phenomena defined as such by scholarship of the late eighteenth
and early nineteenth centuries, and thus being a firm ground for further
investigations in related fields. Jacob Grimm, investing enormous labour in
restoring Old High German and Middle High German, in the preface of the
second edition of Deutsche Mythologie (1844) legitimates his new subject of
research on these very grounds: One may fairly say, that to deny the reality of
this mythology is as much as to impugn the high antiquity and the continuity of
our language: to every nation a belief in gods was as necessary as language
(Grimm 1883 [1844]: vi). The language as an object of research led to methods
of research and
The comparative-historical method turned Grimm-style philology into the nineteenth
centurys cutting-edge discipline. Grimm was to apply the method to his research of
literary imagination, comparing mythologies, saga material and themes like the animal
fable. Philology, in short, became something that embraced linguistics, literary history
and cultural anthropology
(Leerssen 2006: 123).

For example, the mother of Snow White (KHM 53) from the first edition (Brder Grimm
1812) is replaced by a stepmother in the second edition (Brder Grimm 1819).
10
Not in terms of surface, but by the degree to which oral texts and their written representations express the spirit, force, navet, freedom, innocence and the like
presumably underlying the creation of oral texts (cf. Briggs 1993: 400).
11
Regarding similar practices in fundamental editions of Latvian folklore materials see
p. 5963 of this dissertation.
12
In addition to the fairy-tale and folk-tale, which to this day supply healthy nourishment
to youth and the common people, and which they will not give up, whatever other pabulum
you may place before them, we must take account of Rites and Customs, which, having
sprung out of antiquity and continued ever since, may yield any amount of revelations
concerning it (Grimm 1883 [1844]: xvi).
13
Cf. shift from the God-created to human language in Herders On origins of language
(1772).

27

Comparative linguistics were leading the way to studies of mythology by

providing a method; as it is explained with Jacob Grimms preferred water
metaphor: Now if such inferences as to what is non-extant are valid in
language, if its present condition carries us far back to an older and oldest; a
like proceeding must be justifiable in mythology too, and from its dry
watercourses we may guess the copious spring, from its stagnant swamps the
ancient river (Grimm 1883 [1844]: vi). While Herder was concerned with the
influences of modern culture on authentic folk culture, thus locating it away
from the contaminated quarters of the working people in urban settlements,
Jacob Grimm, taking into account his comparative studies of language and
methodology of restoration the original forms developed during the edition of
KHM, isolated both language and epos in their pure, i.e. more valuable,
authentic form: Every nation seems instigated by nature to isolate itself, to
keep itself untouched by foreign ingredients. Its language, its epos feel happy in
the home circle alone; only so long as it rolls between its own banks does the
stream retain its colour pure (Grimm 1883 [1844]: xxiv). As a result, multiple
reconstructive studies of mythology, including Latvian mythology, show
purging of any possible foreign elements, seeking the historically purest form,
the mythology shared by predecessors of one particular nation only. Not only
the scholarly, but also an aesthetic and emotional justification of the research
object was necessary, in a way making it more appealing for the imagined
audience: Crude, unkempt it cannot but appear, yet the crude has its simplicity,
and the rough its sincerity. In our heathen mythology certain ideas stand out
strong and clear, of which the human heart especially has need, by which it is
sustained and cheered (Grimm 1883 [1844]: xlvii). At least it appears so
judging from this and other14 statements by Jacob Grimm. In the long run, the
rationale of such justification also contributes to the establishment of national
research institutions.

1.4. Archival politics and the loss of identity

As the majority of reconstructions of Latvian mythology are based on folklore
materials, they are to some extent influenced and restricted by practices of
folklore collection, the latter being determined by the agendas of collectors.
Folklore as culture of the Other and myth as the religion of the Other are
juxtaposed to our, modern, world, serving as metaphors for that which is solid,
14

For example: Polytheism is tolerant and friendly; he to whom all he looks at is either
heaven or hell, God or devil, will both extravagantly love and heartily hate. But here again
let me repeat, that to the heathen Germans the good outweighed the bad, and courage
faintheartedness: at death they laughed (Grimm 1883 [1844]: lii). Interestingly, due to German national socialist propaganda institutions appeal of German mythology and war gods,
the research and particular interpretations of German mythology has been an issue of
scholarly suspicions also at the second half of the twentieth century (see Lincoln 1999).

28

fixed, unchanging, and thus providing psychological shelter from the ephemeral
world. At the same time, against the background of overwhelmingly
progressing (or, at least, changing) modernity, studies of folkloristics had
shaped their object of study as something belonging to vanishing, pre-modern,
pre-literate societies which seemingly lack all aspects of internal social
organisation (see Anttonen 2005). With the advancement of the modern world,
these societies are disappearing, echoing into the institutionalised nostalgic
paradigm of loss: Loss of culture, loss of tradition, loss of identity, loss of
traditional values, loss of morality, and loss of exceptionally valued folklore
genres (Anttonen 2005:48). Such, for example, was the agenda behind
establishment of the Archives of Latvian Folklore, calling for the collection of
treasures very soon to be lost (p. 7982). Folklore, collected at the moment of
now, is disappearing; from the contemporary scholarly standpoint the only way
to capture the pre-modern worldview is to reconstruct it from remains.
Regarding ethnography in the broader sense, James Clifford argues that its
disappearing object is, in significant degree, a rhetoric construction legitimating
this representational practice (Clifford 1986b: 112). Recovery of lost knowledge
as a method of research of mythology was established by the Grimm brothers
and their theory of survival. As stated Jacob Grimm on the Christianisation of
heathens:
The heathen gods even, though represented as feeble in comparison with the true
God, were not always pictured as powerless in themselves; they were perverted
into hostile malignant powers, into demons, sorcerers and giants, who had to be
put down, but were nevertheless credited with a certain mischievous activity and
influence. Here and there a heathen tradition or a superstitious custom lived on
by merely changing the names, and applying to Christ, Mary and the saints what
had formerly been related and believed of idols
(Grimm: 1882 [1835]: 5).

So, the research on the mythology of the European people became the
archaeology of these remains, which had survived under the mask and
translation of Christian appearances. In addition, the very coinage of the term
folklore by William Thoms in 1846 was already fallowed by the definition of
a slowly but surely disappearing knowledge (Ben-Amos 1984: 104). It must
therefore be collected, archived, edited, and stored. Thus, archival institutions,
publication ventures, and editorial practices play an important role in disciplinary history (p. 5963), providing the material for analysis and reconstruction
of the mythology. This way, the social practice is transformed into a textual
representation, acquiring its own meaning within the general cultural policy:
The archive paradigm in folklore studies, which is stronger in some countries
than in others, implies a political standpoint according to which cultural identity
is best protected and argued for by depositing representations of both vibrant and
receding practices in the archive and then selecting material for public

29

presentations, for example in the form of museum displays or books targeted at

the consuming and reading public. Folklore speaks for example the language
of nationalism through collections
(Anttonen 2005: 52).

In a way, scholarly pursuit of truth beyond the folklore materials is already

caught in the illusion of authenticity created by the archival politics of selecting
items valuable to be collected and represented; in this way the scholarly study
of mythology manifests in the third level of representation where the first
level is a living tradition, amorphous vernacular reality, and the second is
selected, categorised according to genres, stored folklore materials. Involving
the power relationships, creating a collection is not a merely innocent activity:
It is an activity pertaining to the politics of culture and history and contributing
to the discourses on difference and the political construction of continuities and
discontinuities (ibid.). Latvian folklore in archival materials is also haunted by
collectors agendas on the one hand and the aesthetics of perfect taxonomy on
the other hand (cf. Vilks 1944). For a long time until the invention of audio and
video technologies and their application to folklore collection, the main form of
representation of vernacular entities was text. These are fragments (as are video
and audio materials) of a larger whole, which have been decontextualised and
transformed into literary imitations of their original orality (cf. Briggs and
Bauman 2003). Such textual representations are politically charged for two
reasons: firstly, according to archival practice they bear territorial identifications complementary to the construction of national and regional cultures
and consequently the incorporation of particular areas and populations into
particular political and ideological entities. This practice, in its turn, was to a
large extent formed by the Finnish school of folkloristics, the scholarly
environment in which the first folklore archive was founded, and which had
also informed initiatives behind the Latvian analogue (p. 7982). Secondly,
since the formation of the subject called national literature and its circulation
within the corresponding educational systems, entextualised folklore texts are
later contextualised within the linear narrative of literature studies as first, oral
literature (cf. Meistere 2000, Leerssen 2006); that, in its turn, serves for
identity construction, testifying the age of a nations culture, an important
characteristic with which to claim the cultural and political autonomy of
particular ethnic group among other nations. Folklore is becoming a territorially
bounded representation of the folk, and mythology of the most ancient (and
thus must valuable in political debates) layer reconstructed from this representation. Even more than in scholarly discourse, folklore-derived mythology has
been exploited for the construction of anti-modern identities in lay discourse
from epic pagan-metal hymns to quasi-theological systems of neo-pagan
religions in multiple countries, including Latvia (see p. 7074). In both
scholarly and lay projects, it is essential to note the discontinuity of living
tradition: That which was perceived as vanishing came to be valorized,

30

politically established as cultural heritage in a national arena and/or regarded as

an embodiment of preferred moral properties (Anttonen 2005: 58). So, the
discourse of loss contributed to the establishment of archival institutions, which
later served and still serve as the material basis of the scholarship concerning
tradition, thus establishing a temporally conditioned timeless object.

2. From deconstruction to reflexivity

2.1. Framework: Postmodern analysis
of knowledge and power
The mode of analysis explored in the previous section of the thesis as well as
applied below to the research on Latvian mythology is particular to the selfconscious, reflexive approach of the human and social sciences topical since the
last decades of the twentieth century. In addition to initiating paradigmatic
shifts within various disciplines, some philosophical ideas of the era have been
highly influential on the meta-level, later directly or indirectly resounding in a
multitude of studies concerned with the histories of knowledge production. My
study would also be impossible without the critical distance that allows
observation of the modern developments of the discipline without being
determined by the same epistemological conditions that constituted all previous
research into Latvian mythology. The theoretical framework of approaching
knowledge as a socially constructed object is anchored within postmodern (also
including post-structural) philosophy (cf. Anttonen 2005, Flaherty 2002).
Postmodernity is not simply a development of modernity, it is rather a
movement defining and criticising (deconstructing) modernity and its various
manifestations in the sciences, arts, literature, and philosophy. One of the main
tasks of postmodern thought was to retrieve the gestures and motifs that
modernity has been compelled to erase in order to institute itself as an ever
renewable project or method. Postmodernity appears in its own right once these
projects and methods can no longer guarantee their own legitimacy (REP:
261), previously secured by various meta-narratives. Thus, postmodern thought
can be understood as a wide-ranging effort to come to terms with and not
simply denounce or repair the failure of all philosophical attempts to secure
the legitimacy of knowledge (ibid.). Post-structuralism as a particular branch of
postmodern thought sought to transform human sciences through critique of
structuralist presuppositions. Post-structuralists continued to accept
structuralisms elimination of the conscious subject but maintained that human
existence could not be adequately understood without taking account of nonstructural causal factors such as power and desire (REP: 6759). As important as
structural studies in their Western or Soviet manifestations have been for the
research into mythology, post-structuralism is important for the analysis of
these studies and their contexts. The postmodern approach called into question
the very foundations of folklore, mythology, and related studies. First of all,

31

these were questions of the construction of research object what does the term
folk means, what is its political value, how is it constructed in relation to
understanding language, society, morality and other dimensions of human life
(cf. Dundes 1980); similarly, what is lore, why had it been separated as a
distinct category from other forms of knowledge and narratives, how are its
narrative qualities defined, how and why are particular forms categorised, and
how are these forms based on and intertwined with the notion of folk (cf.
Ritchie 1993: 365, Abrahams 1992: 32, Bauman 1986)? Secondly, these were
questions related to all human sciences how is scholarly authority established,
how do scholarly studies contribute to politics? What legitimises particular
discourses and how they are embedded in power relationships and socioeconomical or symbolical hierarchies? Many of these questions will also be
asked within the following pages of the thesis, in relation to this or other facets
of the research on Latvian mythology, thus adding a somewhat deconstructive
dimension to the study.
In the context of my research, especially influential as well as characterising
the general agenda embraced by post-structural and postmodern scholarship are
ideas of French philosophers Michel Foucault (19261984), Jean-Franois
Lyotard (19241998) and Pierre Bourdieu (19302002). As Foucaults and
Lyotards works manifest two opposite poles of the postmodern approach a
scrutinised bottom-up exploration of power and truth relationships on the one
hand and abstraction and categorisation of the most general discursive
formations on the other hand a short insight into their main ideas might well
illustrate the basic trajectory of influential French deconstructive thought and its
relation to the writing of the disciplinary history. Foucaults works deserve
special attention. Not that my intention is to adopt his methodology (if the
archaeology of knowledge could be called so), more because of his works
immense influence on authors and approaches, which has informed my own
research to a more significant extent than Foucaults own writings. Among
others, the Writing Culture movement, the Lingustic Anthropology of Charles
Briggs and Richard Bauman, and the New Historicism of Stephan Greenblatt
certainly must be mentioned here. Foucaults approach also allows the
maintenance of equilibrium between the history of ideas (a linear, causal
account of the human sciences) and the history of science (a Kuhn-style
research of paradigmatic developments). Consequently, my interest lies not in
an overview or critique of Foucalts works, but in highlighting and defining the
terms and ideas which to a large extent through other authors have emerged
as central for my thesis; for example, discourse, power, and knowledge,
overlapping with Lyotards metanarratives and legitimisation of knowledge.
Both Foucault and Lyotard attacked so-called grand narratives globalising
discourses of all kinds and with them any claim to speak for a unified and
comprehensive scientific view of the world. As such it is a study of texts, in
both literal and extended senses of the notion of texts; at the same time, the aim
is to reveal relationships between these texts, the fabric of discourse, forming

32

the rules of the practices in which the genres of discourse are embodied (cf.
REP: 8082).
Michel Foucault analysed historical configurations of the relations between
power and knowledge production 15 , and mechanisms of how the so-called
human-sciences invent, construct or discover their objects of study (Foucault
1984, 2002, cf. Kuutma 2006a: 18). In addition to the factual history of particular institutions (e.g. clinic or prison), it is the reconstruction of epistemic
context within which particular bodies of knowledge become intelligible and
authorative. Although Foucaults influence within the current thesis is considered mainly at the level of analytical position, his main works investigate the
emergence of particular disciplines and practices that took place simultaneously
with the emergence of scholarly interest in folklore and mythology, in the same
context of western thought. Regarding this context, crucial for my thesis
concepts of Foucaults studies, knowledge and power are correlated with the
third term truth (or regime of truth16). The latter, in a nutshell, is understood
as a particular, contested, historically changing, reflexive disposition between
the content of knowledge and power relationships, shaping the former and
legitimised by, as well as legitimising, the later. The political economy of truth
is characterised by several tendencies: truth is centred on the form of scientific
discourse and the institutions which produce it; it is subject to constant
economic and political incitement (the truth is demanded as much for economic
production as for political power); it is the object of immense diffusion and
consumption; it is produced and transmitted under the control, dominant if not
exclusive, of a few great political and economic apparatuses; and it is the issue
of a whole political debate and social confrontation of different groups
(Foucault 1980: 73). In academic discourse, textual economy of truth functions
through scholarly authority, constructed on both extra-textual (status, institutional affiliations, publishing context, etc.) and intra-textual (sources, rigour
of method, field of references) levels. Both dimensions political and textual
of truth and their correlations constitute the regime of truth of particular
research traditions.
Consequently, outlining the power-related dynamics of knowledge production in the field of Latvian mythology, I am analysing institutional history,
political and economic demands of particular forms of knowledge, consumption, contestation, and configuration of scholarly produced knowledge outside
15

These two notions are also inseparable for Lyotard: knowledge and power are simply
two sides of the same question: who decides what knowledge is, and who knows what needs
to be decided? (Lyotard 1984: 89). Both authors, analysing the interlinkage between
science, ethics and politics, also speak about the same setting the occidental society.
16
In short, there is a problem of the regime, the politics of the scientific statement. At this
level its not so much a matter of knowing what external power imposes itself on science, as
of what effects of power, circulate among scientific statements, what constitutes, as it were,
their internal regime of power, and how and why at certain moments that regime undergoes
a global modification (Foucault 1984: 5556).

33

academia. Although the Soviet configuration of the discipline shows exemplary

exception (p. 153154), in general the connection between power and
knowledge is neither only institutional use of knowledge as a means of domination, nor a direct political control of knowledge production. Truth virtually
exists within the network of power relations; as such it is a social phenomenon.
Crucially, power is not possessed by a dominant agent, nor located in that
agents relations to the dominated. Instead, it is distributed through complex
social networks; power, in the ultimate Foucaultian sense, is internalised by all
participants of social relationships. The actions of the peripheral agents in these
social networks are often what establish or enforce the connections between
what a dominant agent does and a subordinate agent desires (cf. Rouse 2005:
109). Any academic text, gesture, procedure is infused with power it determines its place in the hierarchy of knowledge as the reverse side of the
scholarly authority. Bodies of knowledge are not autonomous intellectual
structures that happen to be employed as instruments of power. Rather, precisely as bodies of knowledge, they are tied (but not reducible) to systems of
social control (REP: 2886). Similarly, as demonstrated by Bourdieu (1988) any
academic position (or a position contesting it from outside academia) is located
within the certain social dispositif. Of course, there are large-scale structures of
power17 (the state above all), but more likely it is a chain or horizontally maintained system of relations, characterised by multiple disjunctions and contradictions which isolate particular focal points from one another. Due to the
dynamic structure of power relationships and their involvement in knowledge
production the analysis of this process must also be reflective about its historical limits and be experimental in spirit. However, the writing of disciplinary
history cannot be reduced to analysis of power relationships, for then the latter
would become an all-embracing, almost transcendental principle. Power, separated as an analytical category and external factor, cannot exist without
knowledge of the latters own rules of articulation and a language that ultimately unites both factors of knowledge production knowledge and power.
Foucault representing a more post-structural approach to the objects of his
studies, Lyotard was a philosopher generally considered the leading theorist of
postmodernism. The term meta-narratives or grand narratives mentioned
above is one of the key concepts in his highly influential study La Condition
postmoderne (The Postmodern Condition, 1984 [1979]). In opposition to the
thinking of the German social theorist Jrgen Habermas, Lyotard defined
postmodernism as a suspicion towards the meta-narratives that have served to

17

Rouses comparison of power modalities and styles of reasoning clarifies it: There can
be various modalities of power (such as juridical power or bio-power), which are different
modes of alignment through which the effect of actions upon other actions is distributed, just
as there can be different styles of reasoning through which statements can bear on the truth
or falsity of others (Rouse 2005: 117118).

34

legitimate 18 (scientific and academic) knowledge since the establishment of

modern academia 19 (Easthope 2001: 19; cf. Lyotard 1984). So, The grand
narrative has lost its credibility, regardless of what mode of unification it uses,
regardless of whether it is a speculative narrative or a narrative of emancipation
(Lyotard 1984: 37). While the two narratives mentioned here refer to dominant
modes of modern academic practices, regarding folklore studies and mythology,
the loss of the grand narratives means that the old poles of attraction
represented by nation-states, parties, professions, institutions, and historical
traditions are losing their attraction (ibid.: 14). This loss, as will be
demonstrated further, resulted in a crisis of disciplinary identity in the 1980s.
Reaction to this was twofold deconstructive analysis of disciplinary history
and contemporary practices on the one hand, and efforts to find new ways to
differently legitimise these practices on the other hand, the latter resulting in
diverse experimental approaches. However, in the light of Lyotards theory, my
intentions are to discover the precise disposition of old poles of attraction
represented by nation-states, parties, professions, institutions, and historical
traditions constituting the context of research of Latvian mythology. An
important facet of such analysis is the tension between academic and non
academic knowledge of the subject matter, often contesting each other by
references to different poles of attraction (p. 155161). As knowledge is not
the same as science, questioning scientific legitimacy has no less socio-political
than epistemological implications. Lyotards distinction between two kinds of
knowledge scientific knowledge and narrative knowledge illuminates the
knowledge legitimisation process in folkloristics especially clearly:
The scientist questions the validity of narrative statements and concludes that
they are never subject to argumentation or proof. He classifies them as belonging
to a different mentality: savage, primitive, underdeveloped, backward, alienated,
composed of opinions, customs, authority, prejudice, ignorance, ideology.
Narratives are fables, myths, legends, fit only for women and children
(Lyotard 1984: 27).

This unequal relationship is an intrinsic effect of the rules specific for the
academic knowledge production process: it is governed by the demand for
legitimation. Scholars of folklore and related fields, categorising narrative
18

In this case, legitimation is the process by which a legislator dealing with scientific
discourse is authorized to prescribe the stated conditions (in general, conditions of internal
consistency and experimental verification) determining whether a statement is to be included
in that discourse for consideration by the scientific community (Lyotard 1984: 8).
19
Briefly, here he examines two two major versions of the narrative of legitimisation. One
is more political, the other more philosophical; both are of great importance in modern
history, in particular in the history of knowledge and its institutions. The subject of the first
of these versions is humanity as the hero of liberty. The second version envisages nationstate bringing the people to expression through the mediation of speculative knowledge
(Lyotard 1984: 3134).

35

knowledge as an object of their investigation, on the same grounds build the

authority of their own, scientific voice: a seemingly innocent distinction is
turned into hierarchy, knowledge production into power play. To a large
extent, the knowledge production process in these fields is the circulation of
signs and statements from one field of knowledge to another, and the debates
defining rules of this circulation.
Multiple inspirations, sources, and methods explored in the current thesis
testify to Lyotards statement that the erosion of both grand narratives the one
stemming from the emancipation ideas of the Enlightenment and the one based
on speculative discourse results in the questioning of the classical dividing
lines between various fields of science. Disciplines disappear, overlappings
occur at the borders of sciences as well as between sciences and other forms of
discourse, and from these new territories are born. One of the consequences of
the general shift within knowledge production was the rise of the
interdisciplinary approach, in which the relation to knowledge is not articulated
in terms of previous meta-narratives, but in terms of the users of a complex
conceptual and material machinery and those who benefit from its performance
capabilities (ibid.: 52). Regarding anthropology and related disciplines, Clifford
Geertz characterised this era as a reconfiguration of social thought: as a mixing
of genres, a turning away from the ideal of explanation governed by laws and
instances towards one based on case studies and interpretations, and drawing on
analogies of game, play, and text (just to mention few) in explanation of social
phenomena. He titled this process of reconfiguration blurred genres. The
differences between forms of textual production fade and the classification of
works and the labelling of authors as representatives of one certain discipline
become more and more difficult. Therefore, the blurring of genres is not just
another redrawing of the cultural map, but an alternation of the principles of
mapping (Geertz 1983). Ethnography has become, as stated by James Clifford,
a hybrid textual activity: it traverses genres and disciplines (Clifford 1986: 26).
Summarising, any process of knowledge production (distribution, implementation, and contestation) involves the power relationships which are in a way
synonymous for social relationships, including transnational paradigms as well
as disposition of subjects at the grassroots level. In the analysis of disciplinary
history which, in my case, is an analysis of the circulation of statements from
religious, aesthetic and vernacular domains to the field of scholarly authority
and the configuration of this field power relationships embody extra-textual
factors within the process of knowledge production: intellectual and emotional
personal motivations, external demand, subordination to hegemonic structures
as well as resistance, choice of the research object and means of scholarly
authority to construct it. Consequently, a complete analysis of such disciplinary
history, as of Latvian mythology, should include both mapping of the historical
framework within which it emerged and developed, as well as close-up analysis
of the particular institutions and agents shaping it. To complete it, Foucault and
Lyotard provide tools of analysis for relationships of knowledge and power

36

from different historical perspectives, mapping the trajectory of knowledge

production between the rise and decline of the project of modernity. Therefore,
with respect to specifics of the field, in remaining part of this chapter I will
review the consequences of the legitimisation crisis in folkloristics and related
disciplines, to fine-tune the methodology of subsequent research with more
precise and contemporary insights.

2.2. Disciplinary specifics: The crisis of representation

The general developments of academic knowledge production, as outlined by
Lyotard, also resulted in the so-called crisis of representation in the human and
social sciences with its highest point in the 1980s. An essentially realistic
epistemology, which conceives of representation as the reproduction, for
subjectivity, of an objectivity that lies outside it projects a mirror theory of
knowledge and art, whose fundamental evaluative categories are those of
adequacy, accuracy, and Truth itself (Jameson, in Lyotard 1984: viii). Based
on these three notions, questioning the legitimacy and praxis of the scholarly
paradigm led to recognition of their socially constructed, historically and
culturally determined nature. This questioning, embedded in the discourses of
post-structuralism and postmodernism, was coded in multiple ways, variously
associated with the narrative, critical, interpretive, linguistic, postcolonial,
feminist, and critical race turns in the human disciplines (cf. Flaherty 2002;
Denzin 2002). Scholars of folkloristics, cultural anthropology, ethnology, and
other disciplines representing the Other became aware of the impossibility of
directly capturing the lived experience; thus surfaced the problems of the
authority of texts, the very textual nature 20 , involving multiple meta-textual
practices of these representations, and, after all, the relationship between the
object represented and the representational form. With the researchers
scientific, authorial, authorative voice lost in these debates, the process of
writing ethnography needed to be completely restructured. This, in its turn, took
two paths: the critical revision of the history of the discipline21, and the inquiry
into new approaches. Several milestones in the process were set during the
20

From this also stems the plurality of multiple equally valid interpretations: A given
society or set of cultural practices (i.e., texts) can be interpreted in any number of equally
valid ways because there is no one correct interpretation. Furthermore, while interpretations
are always controversial and contested, there can be no recourse to the facts (i.e., data)
because what one considers the facts is a function of ones interpretive stance. On what
basis, then, can one claim any authority to represent others ethnographically? (Flaherty
2002: 481). Clifford stated that the ethnographic texts are allegoric per se, at the level both
of their form and content (Clifford 1986b).
21
For example, Clifford (1986) on Clifford Geertz, Crapanzano (1986) on George Catlin,
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Clifford Geertz; Rosaldo (1986) on E. E. Evens-Pritcherd
and Emanuel Le Roy Ladurie; Rabinow (1986) on James Clifford and Clifford Geertz,
Marcus and Fisher (1999 [1986]) on Edward Said, Freeman (1983) on Margaret Mead, etc.

10

37

advanced seminar of the School of American Research in Santa Fe, later

represented in the collection of articles Writing Culture: The Poetics and
Politics of Ethnography (Clifford and Marcus 1986). The book created a
separate critical discourse or even a movement (Crapanzano 2010: 39), also
resulting in the publication of After Writing Culture (James, Hockey and
Dawson 2004 [1997]) and Beyond Writing Culture (Zenker and Kumoll 2010).
The latter summarises vast criticism of the movement (2010: 48), ranging from
issues of epistemology to politics, especially by ethnographers from the
feminist associated circles (cf. Wolf 1992). Nevertheless, taking into account
the critical dimension as well as historical distance and differences in the fields
of interest, several concepts and ideas, formulated in the first and developed in
following Writing Culture books, have informed also the reflexive methodology
explored in my thesis.
First of all, it is the recognition of textual nature of scholarly productions,
with multiple implications of the fact. As the title suggests, James Clifford
marked out the writing as a key concept of the ethnography. It is central both to
fieldwork and thereafter, the aspect previously somewhat slipped under the
radar of ideology claiming transparency of representation and immediacy of
experience. Writing involves historical, political and linguistic processes; it is
genre-dependant, essentially constructed and artificial practice. In this regard,
apart from literary theory, Writing Culture reflects the influences and methodological concerns of other fields: textual criticism, cultural history, semiotics,
hermeneutic philosophy, and psychoanalysis. The first response to this highlighting of writing was the emergence of new subgenre of ethnographic writing,
the self-reflexive fieldwork account. More and more works now hosted not
just the authors voice, but also foregrounded the essentially dialogical if not
polyvocal relationships behind the production of the ethnographic account.
Ethnography moved into areas long occupied by sociology, the novel, or avantgarde cultural critique, rediscovering otherness and differences within the
cultures of the West (Clifford 1986a: 23).
Secondly, it is the agreement of the Writing Culture contributors that truths
produced regarding Others are inherently partial22 committed and incomplete,
but recognition of this partiality can be a source of representational tact.
Regarding the writing of disciplinary history and analysis of scholarly
production, because a check-list still might serve Cliffords summary of ways in
which ethnographic writing is determined:

22

Vincent Crapanzano elegantly describes the mediating work of an ethnographer with an

allegory: When Hermes took the post of messenger of gods, he promised Zeus not to lie.
He did not promise to tell the whole truth. Zeus understood. The ethnographer has not
(Crapanzano 1986: 53).

38

(1) contextually (it draws from and creates meaningful social milieux);
(2) rhetorically (it uses and is used by expressive conventions); (3) institutionally
(one writes within, and against, specific traditions, disciplines, audiences);
(4) generically (an ethnography is usually distinguishable from a novel or travel
account); (5) politically (the authority to represent cultural realities is unequally
shared and at times contested); (6) historically (all the above conventions and
constrains are changing)
(Clifford 1986a: 6)

These determinations with emphasis on one or another are also highlighted in

the case studies on Latvian mythological space, in chapters three and four of the
thesis.
The third important notion, rooted in both previous concepts, is representation. As classical anthropology was in business of representing the spatial
Others, concerns of folkloristics used to be temporal Others; both fields of
kindred representational practices negotiate cultural distance, are based on
scholarly authority, and invent their object of research. Representation, in the
texts concerning its crisis, is most often understood in two meanings: (1) as a
textual practice, where scholarly texts are representing reality, lived experience23 (a phenomenological and hermeneutical question), and (2) as a political
practice, a mediation of the voice of certain groups or cultures24 (an ethical and
political question). Distantly echoing Lyotards systematisation, Marcus and
Fischer summarised the crisis of representation as the result of an interplay of
two projects in anthropology: first, ethnographys commitment to a systematic
(if gradual, or partial) description of given cultural and social units; and second,
anthropologys chronic dream of discovering an encompassing totality, rooted
in dominant social theories of last century (Marcus and Fischer 1986: 4). In
general, the crisis was a turn away from the positivist science pretensions of
representing presumed objective reality.
23

Already since the 1950s theoretical debates have shifted to the level of method, to
problems of epistemology, interpretation, and discursive forms of representations themselves, employed by social thinkers (cf. Markus and Fisher 1999). Dell Hymes with his
ethnography of speaking also contributed to removing of such classicist positivist principle
the injunction to treat texts as objects, thus offering prospects for inquiry into the pragmatic,
historical, and political dimensions of storytelling practices (cf. Fabian 2001: 90). The emergence of so called interpretative turn in anthropology was most prominently represented by
Clifford Geertz and rejection of the visualism as in studies by Walter Ong (cf. also Rosaldo
1986).
24
Already before the seminal works of Lyotard and other postmodernists were written, a
notable body of critical writing in the field of culture studies was produced, for example,
since 1950s reflecting on power inequalities in research concerning colonial subjects:
imperial relations, formal and informal, were no longer accepted rule of the game to be
reformed piecemeal, or ironically distanced in various ways (Clifford 1986: 8, cf. Said
1978). Similarly influential critical approach was articulated also by the authors related to
the third wave of feminism and, for example, doubting the gender representations (see
Gamble 2004).

39

As already discussed, united by particular politics of representation,

ethnology, social and cultural anthropology, and folkloristics all have in
common the salvaging of distinct cultural forms of life from the apparent
processes of global Westernisation and modernisation; all these disciplines form
part of a much broader discursive economy and operate within a wide range of
institutional settings. Folklore has a long history of interest in the local
subjects that were stripped of agency subjects that because of their
embeddedness in their local context were invisible within the abstracting
masternarratives of modernism (Ritchie 1993: 366). Folklorists presumed to
speak on the behalf of some voiceless group or individual, implementing
hegemonic scholarly authority over them and ignoring the ways in which
context mediates presentation in both performance and scholarly production.
From this perspective, folkloristics, similarly to kindred disciplines, had to deal
with the questions of representation in both meanings as a textual production,
as well as political statements lurking behind the apparently innocent
collections of folklore. Representation continues to invent itself as an agency.
However, the crisis of representation, accumulating critique of the research
conducted in previous decades, was a historical period with its own specific
historical constraints. As Rabinow, referring to Fredric Jameson, conceptualised
this determination:
The post-modernist is blind to her own situation and situatedness because, qua
post-modernist, she is committed to doctrine of partiality and flux for which even
such things as ones own situation are so unstable, so without identity, that they
cannot serve as objects of sustained reflection. Post-modernist pastiche is both
critical position and a dimension of our contemporary world
(Rabinow 1986: 252).

Johannes Fabian points out that in this discourse objectivity as an epistemological problem has disappeared, as a result of a displacement of focus from
knowledge production to knowledge representation; emphasis on the latter also
favours a displacement of critical attention from scientific objectivity to literary
authority (Fabian 2001: 21). Postmodern awareness and the general increase of
interdisciplinary studies have resulted in the formation of a reflexive approach
in the human and social sciences; the so-called crisis of interpretation seems to
be the main source of reflexive initiatives in anthropology, folkloristics and
related fields (cf. Bourdieu 2000 [1997]: 118). It has informed also the
methodology of the thesis conceptualised below.

2.3. Reflexive ethnography and history

In general, reflexivity refers to circular relationships between cause and effect.
A reflexive relationship is bidirectional; with both the cause and the effect
affecting one another in a situation that renders both functions causes and

40

effects. Reflexivity also is a term variously applied to certain properties of the

grammatical systems and lexical forms of language, to the meanings of such
forms, to the mental or cognitive capacities of language users, to the textually
formed discourses that users create, to states of agentive consciousness of
people acting in social situations, and to the special case of researchers as
agents seeking to understand social behaviours such as the use of language in
society (Silverstein 2006). Defining the epistemological constraints of the
reflexive history of scientific knowledge production, Barbesino and Salvaggio
differentiate three forms of reflexivity: cognitive, structural, and embedded
reflexivity (1996: 3). Cognitive reflexivity refers to the capacity for awareness
and reflection. Although it is intrinsic to a variety of human activities as
reflexive monitoring, cognitive reflexivity might as well serve as a basic
ontological or epistemic principle, as in various forms of philosophy (cf. Tauber
2005). On the meta-level, such self-awareness demands the duality of theory,
which is simultaneously part of the object it tends to describe, is taken into
account. Structural reflexivity refers to dimensions of representation involving
self-reference by a statement or set of statements. Thereby it may produce one
of two logical opposites tautology or paradox. Tautological statements have
infinite truth value, but paradoxical statements are often legitimised creating the
meta-level of reference which seemingly dissolves the paradox by restricting
the field of reference to a certain portion of statements. While a researcher is
central for cognitive reflexivity and structural reflexivity characterises the
discourse, embedded reflexivity refers to construction of the research object: the
inseparability of representation and represented. Ultimately, it claims that
observation of a phenomenon cannot be conceived as independent of this
phenomenon. Within radical constructivism, the notion of embedded
reflexivity can be expressed by saying that one can only observe what one can
distinguish and indicate. One needs a distinction in order to articulate the field
one is faced with and to produce a cut, for in the world there are no distinctions
and no negations (Barbesino and Salvaggio 1996: 4). While in my study these
three forms of reflexivity refer to circular relationships at the levels of the agent,
discourse, and structure of the research of Latvian mythology, an overall design
of the reflexive historiography requires the recognition of reflexivity as a
positive move, liberating instead of constraining the study. This serves the
notion of collective critical reflexivity developed by Pierre Bourdieu. This
would consist of objectifying the subject of objectification, i.e. by dispossessing
the knowing subject of the privilege it normally grants itself and by bringing to
light presuppositions it owes to its inclusion in the object of knowledge.
These presuppositions are of three different orders. To start with the most
superficial, there are those associated with occupation of a position in social
space, and the particular trajectory that has led to it, and with gender (which can
affect the relationship to the object in many ways, in as much as the sexual
division of labour is inscribed in social structures and in cognitive structures,
orienting for example the choice of object of study). Then there are those that are

11

41

constitutive of the doxa specific to each of the different fields (religious, artistic,
philosophical, sociological, etc.) and, more precisely, those that each particular
thinker owes to his position in a field. Finally, there are the presuppositions
constituting the doxa generically associated with the skhol, leisure, which is the
condition of existence of all scholarly fields
(Bourdieu 2000: 10).

Such reflexivity as a collective enterprise should enable scientific reason to

control itself more closely, in and through conflictual cooperation and mutual
critique, and so to move towards independence on constraints and contingencies
to which the rationalist convictions aspire and by which it is measured (ibid.:
122). Finally, bringing into the light the social limits of objectification would
renounce the absolutism of classical objectivism without falling into postmodern relativism.
Reflexive theory in ethnography and reflexive history share common
inspirations mentioned in the previous sections of the thesis. Dealing with
cultural Others, reflexivity is the awareness of looking at oneself looking at the
other, and how these simultaneous gazes qualify and construct each other, has
made the anthropologist / ethnologist / folklorist aware of how ethnography is
in a fundamental way an act of representation that cannot be independent of the
discursive processes in which the objectified other is made an object (Anttonen
2005: 22, cf. Kuutma 2005a: 10). Adapting the insights from reflexive
ethnography, reflexivity in my study manifests in three dimensions: subjective
self-awareness (or cognitive reflexivity), conception of method, and object of
study. Regarding the first, I will presume an identity of historiography and
ethnography, therefore following Johannes Fabians claim that all ethnobiography is connected to (auto)bio-graphy, and moreover, critically
understood, autobiography is a condition of ethnographic objectivity (Fabian
2001: 12). Regarding the second, reflexive research of disciplinary history is,
paraphrasing George E. Marcus, a multi-sited historiography that avoids
totalising meta-narratives. It can define its object of study through several
different modes or techniques, such as: following the people, following a
certain thing, following the metaphor, following the plot, story, or allegory,
following a life or biography, etc. At the end of the day, In this cognitive and
intellectual identification between the investigator and variously situated
subjects in the emergent field of multi-sited research, reflexivity is the most
powerfully defined as a dimension of method (Marcus 1998: 97). Explored in
the writing of disciplinary history, any combination of these techniques
supposes the highlighting instead of hiding the political and ethical dimensions
of scholarly production, as well as foregrounding structural and embedded
reflexive properties of the research object as it was historically constructed
within the field of study. Regarding the third meaning of reflexivity in my
work, the reflexive disciplinary history of Latvian mythology is overwhelmingly a study of texts. Texts as a source of other texts, intertextual
connections of texts, texts as scholarly production, decontextualised and

42

entextualised texts, etc. Concerning their textual nature, my reading of the

scholarly productions of the past is informed by the approach of new
historicism 25 . With all respect to literary theory as a main inspiration, new
historicism is an interdisciplinary approach that equally draws upon a
systematic, one can say, textual understanding of cultural phenomena and their
embedment in the social fabric. The focus on the historicity of the text (or,
ultimately, a semiotic system) highlights the negotiations and economy of
exchange at the moments when, via conventional and institutional practices, the
discursive formations of one domain (e.g. aesthetic or cult-related) are transferred into another (e.g. scientific). However, New historicism is a collection
of practices rather than a school or a method (Greenblatt 2005: 3). Resisting
disciplinary hegemony, it insists on a contextual way of reading historical
documents26; it recognises construction of historical truth within the narrative
on history, but simultaneously rejects corresponding grand narratives and well
established views on particular historical periods. Ultimately, it admits the
rootedness of each interpretation in the historical moment when this interpretation takes place. New historicism questions reflexive relationships between
art and society and between various institutionally demarcated discursive
practices (for an extended list of characteristics see Greenblatt 2005: 22).
Greenblatt had informed my study regarding the textual level of the subject
matter, but the analysis of metadiscursive27 practices I have conducted with the
help of the method of linguistic anthropology represented by Charles L. Briggs.
His approach was illustrated above by analysis of Grimms work and its role in
the construction of early disciplinary identity. Referring to Foucault, Briggs has
paid special attention to the history of scholarship: Institutional histories
similarly not only accept the authority of the discourse they examine but
generally are accorded a lower rung in the textual hierarchies that define
disciplines. Rather, critical historical research can play a crucial role in critically
scrutinizing our tendency to see concepts and theories as neutral, objective
tools (Briggs 1993: 388). First, this statement means awareness of the nature of
all scholarly formulations as socially and politically situated constructions that
enter into creating, sustaining, and challenging relationships of power and
inequality (Briggs 1993, Briggs and Bauman 2003). Second, it supposes close
reading unveiling the very metadiscursive practices, along with strategies used
25

Stephen Greenblatt is the most influential practitioner of new historicism or cultural

poetics. The approach itself shares the influence of both Geertzs Interpretation of Cultures
and Foucaults The Order of Things (cf. Greenblatt 2005:4) with the Writing Culture
movement.
26
Defined as such primarily by belonging to the past not to a particular genre; new
historicism constantly re-examines the relationship between literature and history.
27
Drawing from Foucaults understanding of the discourse, metadiscursive practices
characterize discourses that seek to shape, constrain, or appropriate other discourses, and
they can be used both in generating shared meaning and obscuring meaning or rendering it
ambiguous (Briggs 1993: 389390).

43

in mobilising them and rhetorics used in justifying them. These practices

constitute powerful means of situating themselves in social, historical, and
political terms. Multiple metadiscursive practices centre around entextualisation the formal processes associated with producing particular types of
texts in the service of social and political agendas (Briggs 1993: 390). The
analysed texts, at the same time, are not perceived as static, immanent structures. Thus, one more key-term of my analysis is intertextuality; this means
that the structure, content, and significance of individual texts and contexts
emerge dialogically in the active interface between utterances 28 . Like
textuality, intertextuality is a social product; both the relative importance of the
role that intertextuality plays in a particular utterance and the way in which it is
utilized thus involve questions of tactics, strategies and discursive constrains
(ibid.). Since scholars link the texts they study to other texts, analysis of
foregrounding and backgrounding the intertextual links and gaps is crucial for
research of the knowledge production process. Elements of contextualisation
link each intertextual element indexically to both the specific social and
discursive setting in which it is produced and received, as well as to broader
social, political and historical parameters. Likewise, decontextualisation and
recontextualisation are processes linked to extra-textual practices29, leading, for
example, to commodification or exploitation of texts for propaganda purposes.
So, both decontextualisation and recontextualisation within the thesis will be
seen as strategic social processes. At the moment, concluding with the reflexive
dimension of the method of my study, as close reading of socially and
politically embedded historical texts, I will further outline the reflexive
properties characteristic to the object of this study.
In addition to the history of religion, the overwhelming context of the
research into Latvian mythology has been folkloristics by folklore constituting
the main source of the reconstructive and further comparative studies of myths
or particular motifs, and by folkloristics constituting the dominant institutional
as well as methodological framework of such studies. Therefore it is necessary
to take a look at how folkloristics, involved in studies of Latvian mythology,
have constructed their object of study texts, customs, belief systems, etc.,
which, again referring to the discursive dynamics of modernity, might be
summarised under the umbrella term tradition. The particular understanding of
this object and implications of its existence, as they will be more closely
analysed below, emerged already in the 1980s. Here I would like to stress two
now classical discussions regarding traditions authenticity and relation to
history. The first is a particular understanding of tradition as outlined in the
28

For more on the relations of intertextuality and sociality see Briggs and Bauman 1992.
The link between these specific terms is well illustrated by Briggs note on KHM:
Herein lies part of the popular success of the tales; being both more highly entextualized
and much more structurally homogeneous, the narratives were ready made for decontextualization from the collection and subsequent recontextualization in a host of new formats,
including reading and retelling in nurseries (Briggs 1993: 396).

29

44

breakthrough essay by Richard Handler and Jocelyn Linnekin (1984). Departing

from textual analysis, the motto of reflexive history might be Handler and
Linnekins statement that the past is always constructed in the present (1984:
286). This does not mean that there is no correspondence with the past; but, as
society and tradition are meaning processes rather than bounded, natural
objects, the construction of historical continuity or discontinuity is never a pure
fact. Therefore, We must understand tradition as a symbolic process that both
presupposes past symbolisms and creatively reinterprets them. In other words,
tradition is not a bounded entity made up of bounded constituent parts, but a
process of interpretation, attributing meaning in the present though making
reference to the past (Handler and Linnekin 1984: 287). The authors
understanding of tradition as a socially and symbolically constructed entity (and
as such neither genuine nor spurious) that never exists apart from its
interpretation also corresponds to the somewhat narrower but still influential
notion of invented tradition, developed by Eric Hobsbawm:
Invented tradition is taken to mean a set of practices, normally governed by
overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seek to
inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition, which automatically implies continuity with the past. In fact, where possible, they normally
attempt to establish continuity with a suitable historic past
(Hobsbawm 2009 [1983]: 1).

These can be both traditions actually invented, constructed and formally

instituted and those emerging in a less easily traceable manner within a brief
and dateable period. Although the many large-scale events, symbols or
ceremonies mentioned by Hobsbawm aim for fixity, it is now a generally
accepted view that traditions in general can be dynamic, contested and claimed
by different, sometimes even openly opposite, groups at different moments (cf.
Anttonen 2005, Edensor 2002). Importantly, they are always responses to novel
situations which take the form of reference to old situations, or which establish
their own past by quasi-obligatory repetition; thus, the inherent structural
reflexivity serves as a means of legitimising the invented traditions. Where
Handler and Linnekin in the above mentioned essay generalised two studies of
contemporary societies, Hobsbawm was more concerned with the changes of
public sphere, and subsequent formation of new ritual and symbolic
representation in the second half of the nineteenth century, i.e. the age of rapid
changes brought on by modernity, industrialisation, and the formation of nation
states; in other words, in a time which also gave birth to folkloristics. However,
in both cases traditions appear as rhetorical constructions that denote an active
political process of creating historical meaning. As my study does not concern
traditions as such but the research on traditions as a framework for the research
of mythology, these two complimentary perspectives on tradition are chosen to
highlight its embedded circular relationship, i.e. reflexivity. Consequently, in
the following subchapters I will elaborate on the reflexive properties of the

12

45

studies on Latvian mythology, as conceptualised within the scholarly discourse

and, which at the same time, legitimises the founding of this discourse.

3. Reflexive links to nationalism

For research into Latvian mythology, the most important context revealing the
reflexive relationship between cause and effect in the circulation of power and
knowledge is the symbolic and ideological construction of the Latvian national
idea and nation-state. Although the latter has been in existence for only two
comparatively short periods, now extending for four decades in total, research
into mythology was to a large extent shaped by cultural nationalism, manifested
first in imperial, later in nation-state, settings, and then contested by Soviet
ideology. Nationalism is one of the key elements, if not the main one, in
historical construction of the disciplinary identity north and east from Germany:
i.e. Eastern and Central European countries whose sovereignty was established
on more ethnic than territorial principles after the fall of Empires following
World War I, proceeded by processes of identity building via culture and
scholarship, similar from country to country 30.

3.1. Imagined communities: The process of articulation

Perhaps conditions for the emergence of nationalism or the causes of it (if there
is causality in history) are as many as the scholars trying to explain them. The
same applies to definitions of the term nation; however, most of the
definitions include among their criteria territoriality, a named human population, a common historical memory, and a density of socio-cultural communications ( Giollin 2000). However, before introducing the genealogy of
nationalism as well as shared agendas and historical dynamics which relates it
to the birth of scholarly interest in mythology, it is necessary to remind
ourselves of the distinction of nationalism as articulated political ideology and
nationalism as a constituent of national identity, deeply rooted in cultures and
everyday life. Here I refer to Tim Edensors functional definition of national
identity as an ever-shifting matrix, a multidimensional and dynamic composite
of networks:

30

Although early nationalistic movements rarely showed political ambitions towards the
establishment of the independent state, at this point I would agree with Joep Leerssen
regarding the simultaneous or overlapping coexistence rather than the linear sequence of
three phases of nationalism defined by Miroslav Hroch: (A) scholarly nationalism with the
interest in languages and antiquities, (B) demands for social reform based on the culturally
articulated self-awareness, and (C) spread and intensification of these ideas into a mass
movement, often formulating an agenda of separatism (cf. Leerssen 2006: 164).

46

Such a metaphor emphasises the relationality of the social without subjecting it

to an overarching, systemic order, and insists on an ever-increasing multitude of
connections and chains of relationality. Within such a matrix, national identity is
being continually redistributed. For emphatically, the evolution of multiple
connections does not necessarily dissipate the power of national identity,
although it undoubtedly decentres the authoritative formations consolidating
around high culture, official political power and national meta-narratives. Rather,
points of identification with the nation are increasingly manifold and contested,
are situated within dense networks which provide multiple points of contact
(Edensor 2002: 30).

Analysing the scholarly discourse, it is therefore mandatory to recognise that

academic agents are simultaneously present at several such networks and thus
interacting with the national agenda (simultaneously as its creators and subjects)
on various dimensions; importantly, this relationship is bidirectional per se.
Historically, the term nation gained its currency in political debates around
the second half of the eighteenth century and established its prime value during
the nineteenth. Even though ethnic and language diversity has already existed
for thousands of years, nation as in nationalism is rather a modern
development or invention. Among the conditions making possible the
imagination of nation is definitely the emergence of linear, homogeneous,
empty time in which the narrative of history takes place (Anderson 2006, cf.
Benjamin 2007). Multiple explanations relate nationalism to different features
of emerging capitalism; for example, the latter made possible advancement of
print technology and the emergence of print markets in vernacular languages
juxtaposed to previously dominating Latin31 (Anderson 2006) and was a cause
of the emergence of the public sphere (Habermas 1993, cf. Leerssen 2006) the
set of social institutions that allow for (open and rational) debate between
citizens in order to form public opinion. Such debate is conducted face to face,
as in associations, clubs, and coffeehouses, or through the exchange of letters
and other written communication as well as might be communicated by
journals, newspapers or other media. The emergence of the public sphere in the
eighteenth century was almost exclusively related to the emergent bourgeoisie,
since the aristocracy had no need for it and lower classes no means for it (cf.
Edgar 2006: 124; Goode 2005). For example, newspapers allowed the simultaneous communication of the same ideas and information for communities of
unlimited size using the same language, binding the social space and this
inclusive marker of identity. The historical novel is another emblematic
example, creating shared memory of the language community. Invention of the
standardised, unified print language allowed communication between people of
the same (not yet formed) nation members belonging to distant dialect groups.
31

As concludes Anderson: the fall of Latin exemplified a larger process in which the
sacred communities integrated by old sacred languages were gradually fragmented,
pluralized, and territorialized (Anderson 2006: 19).

47

Benedict Anderson proposes that nationalism has to be understood by aligning

it not with self-consciously held political ideologies, but with the large cultural
systems that preceded it religious community and the dynastic realm (2006).
With the Reformation, the spread of religious texts in vernacular languages,
and, ultimately, the rise of Enlightenment rationalism and subsequent
secularisation, nationalism took shape as a kind of secular religion, promising
the belonging to a broader and timeless community, the meaning of life, and,
even more importantly, the meaning of death. Although before the late
eighteenth century ideas of particular national characters and related stereotypes
were already circulating in Europe (Leerssen 2006), only around the time of
French Revolution were ideas of nation and language theoretically and further
also politically linked; to a large extent, almost singlehandedly by Herder 32 .
Rousseau had proclaimed the sovereignty of the nation against the power of
princes; Herder had proclaimed the categorical separateness of nations
mutually; both exalted natural authenticity above civilized artificiality
(Leerssen 2006: 101). In this way nationalism successfully combined ideas of
the somewhat opposite Enlightenment and Romanticist movements.
Standardisation and modernisation of vernacular languages went hand in
hand with the blooming field uniting lexicographers, grammarians, philologists
and other intellectuals professionally interested in languages, many of them also
holding central positions in nationalist movements (e.g. the Grimm brothers in
Germany or Juris Alunns in Latvia). Theorisation of language was theorisation
of nation and vice versa. In addition the study of folklore and creation of
popular epic poetry, publications of grammars and dictionaries, appearance of
periodicals and staging of plays in standardised vernacular language
simultaneously contributed to the same process. The formation of the Latvian
nation well characterises the complex relationship between nationalism and
language politics. The provinces, inhabited by Latvian-speaking people, were
ruled by the local Baltic German (German-speaking) elite under the political
administration of the Russian Empire. While upward social mobility in the
nineteenth century Baltic provinces almost definitely meant learning German,
the entire Russian Empire was undergoing the implementation of centrally
governed official nationalism, in this case Russification as a mean of
combining naturalisation with retention of dynastic power (cf. Giollin 2000).
While previously the language of the court at St. Petersburg was French, under
the reign of Alexander III (18811894) Russification became official dynastic
policy. In 1887, in the Baltic provinces, Russian was made compulsory as the
language of instruction in all state schools above the lowest primary classes, a
32

See Anderson 2006. Leerssen also notes that Most of the national awakenings that
took place in Central and Eastern Europe, from Germany to Bulgaria and from Slovenia to
Finland, can be more or less directly traced back to the philosophy and influences of Herder;
and all of the Romantic (and later) preoccupation with popular culture, from the Grimms
collection of fairytales to the birth of folklore studies, is due to him (Leerssen 2006: 97; cf.
Giollin 2000: 7375 on periodisation).

48

measure later extended to private schools as well (Anderson 2006: 87).

Promotion of the Latvian language in this situation formed a contra narrative to
imperial homogenising efforts, created common communication space for the
members of the emerging nation, as well as served for symbolic claims of both
ancestry and modernisation, adapting the vocabulary and print to current needs.
Parallel to the discoveries and research into languages, all across Europe
Existing customary traditional practices folksong, physical contests, marksmanship were modified, ritualized and institutionalized for the new national
purposes. Traditional folksongs were supplemented by new songs in the same
idiom, often composed by schoolmasters, transferred to choral repertoire whose
content was patriotic-progressive (..), though it also embodied ritually powerful
elements from religious hymnology
(Hobsbawm 2009: 6).

Nationalisms of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries not only adapted and
recontextualised the old signs, customs, ceremonies or languages, but also
created a set of new and powerful symbols, especially reaching the level of
nation-state. The national flag and anthem, patriotic monuments, commemoration days, and national holidays are only the surface of a vast symbolic
universe constituted by claims of shared language, myths, blood, and territory.
The human sciences in this process served for the articulation of national
culture and identity, gradually becoming institutionalised and instrumentalised
according to demands of dominant power dispositions in each national
society. Here nationalism and research of folklore and mythology engages in
long-lasting reflexive relationship of mutual legitimisation.

3.2. An international discipline with a national agenda

Research of mythology and folklore are double-bound to nationalism. First of
all, there was scarcely any folklore collector or researcher who was not at the
same time a nationalist: from the emblematic figure of Herder and the composer
of the Finnish national epic Elias Lnnrot, to Latvian folksong editor Krijnis
Barons and pedagogic researcher Jnis Alberts Janons. Defining national
mythology, extracted from folklore materials, takes the same route: as within
Jacob Grimms politically charged reconstruction of Teutonic mythology in the
first half of the nineteenth century, or Latvian exile researcher Haralds Biezais
history of Latvian religion project more than a hundred years later (p. 147149).
Secondly, the whole enterprise of folklore collection and the rise from everyday
tokens to national treasure was conducted by a comparatively small segment
of society, intellectuals operating in the public sphere. Thus, instead of the
nation awakens, as the common metaphoric phrase goes, pre-modern forms of
society have become modern by way of nationalizing the rural populations and
by drawing peasants and other subjects of the state into nationhood and

13

49

constructing their collective identification on the basis of their membership in

the nation-state (Anttonen 2005: 87). Of course, in the Latvian situation of the
nineteenth century when folklore was first collected in significant amounts,
nation-state is more likely to have been understood as nation-hood, hence
the separatist ideas began to form only in early twentieth century, first under the
slogan free Latvia in free Russia and only later defined in terms of full
sovereignty. As shown by the examples drawn from national romanticist
mythologies (p. 7477), the collection of folklore and the invention of folklore
went hand in hand; similarly, a national epic, composed by an educated writer,
served for the same purposes as songs and tales collected from the peasantry.
By transforming tradition into heritage, and by metonymising tradition in the
course of representation, folklore scholarship has created national texts that
are authored by the folk and speak in the voice of the nation (Anttonen
2005: 88). The territory inhabited by speakers of one language became gridlines
for folklore collection, and the folklore collected became the mean of symbolic
mapping of the territory. Here an institutionalised network of collections,
archives and learned societies, usually located in the national or imperial capital, becomes a setting for the politically charged entextualisation of folklore, the
latter being collected as a rule outside the capital and social class involved in
the activity.
Importantly, folkloristics and research into mythology as national disciplines
at the same time were genuinely international: models, ideas, and theories were
adapted from abroad to construct each national folklore33; thus, the discipline
piratised its uniqueness, as Anderson would say, the same way as nationalism
does. National scholarly disciplines, like nationalisms, bear Wittgensteinian
family resemblances. Leading ideologists and researchers often formed networks that by far exceeded national boundaries, exchanging ideas, negotiating,
and contributing to the same cause from locations rather distant from their
beloved fatherland, for example in imperial centres researching and
promoting the native periphery.

3.3. Mythology as a national history

A few years after the establishment of the worlds first department of history, in
1822, already internationally recognised German philosopher Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel wrote in the introduction to his Lectures on the Philosophy of
World History the following phrase: A culture which does not yet have a
history has made no real cultural progress (Hegel 1993 [1822]: 13). Empty,
homogeneous time was cleared from the stories of creation and end of times,
liberated from the Salvation and Second Coming; it yearned to be filled with
33

E.g. see p. 7982 for the detailed analysis of inspirations and influences behind the
establishment of central folklore research institution in Latvia the Archives of Latvian
Folklore.

50

events of the same importance, and a new academic discipline was born
history , probably, the most political discipline of all, judging the justice of
millennia. The past became new currency in an emerging market of nation
states, competing for a piece of eternity, proofs of existence in a past that would
guarantee hope for the future. Ancient manuscripts were discovered, sources
collected, and medieval epics published all over Western Europe (cf. Leerssen
2006); where evidences were lacking, sometimes even forgery helped (on
Czech medieval manuscripts see Hroch 1999). Certainly, states that already
existed for hundreds of years like Britain, Portugal or France were in privileged
positions: their historical existence would not be doubted. Poland and Lithuania
too, in the nineteenth century divided by empires, had their glorious medieval
past to which refer to, but regarding further north, the chronicles spoke only of
either tribal communities or already conquered lands. Therefore, the Baltic
provinces34 and Great Duchy of Finland among other territories with emerging
national self-consciousness were left without the symbolic resources to claim
their existence in the past and thus their right to exist in the future. History was
considered the mark of civilisation for a modern nation, and in Hegelian
thinking national history, especially the heroic age in its antiquity, served to
indicate the presence of the national spirit, which would guide peoples in their
state formation (Anttonen 2005: 170). While the research of history bloomed
in old states and the discipline of anthropology was formed in colonial
centres, interest in local myths and folklore developed faster in the subjected
and divided territories of Europe. Here history meant the continuation of
immemorial oral traditions and customs. Thus, entextualised oral history and
reconstructions based on it provided a symbolic, nevertheless not inferior,
replacement of documented or otherwise obvious continuity with the past: to
win the game the rules were slightly changed. Even though Hegel himself
excluded such sources from the process of world history35, as well as direct
relations between ethnicity and the state 36 , the very teleology of spirit (the
dialectic progress of self-realisation of Absolute Spirit, manifesting also in the
body of the state), combined with the Herderian idea of national spirit appears
over and over again in political and historical claims. This way, the claiming of
fully fledged rights of Latvia among other nations was an operating agenda
for both writers of mythology-saturated national epic poetry (p. 7477) and the
establisher of the Archives of Latvian Folklore (p. 7982). Laments for the lost
34

Courland, Livland, and Estland the territories now constituting most of Latvia and
Estonia.
35
From this category of original history I would exclude all legends, folksongs, traditions,
and poems; for legends and traditions are but obscure records [of actual events], and are
accordingly the product of nations or parts of them whose consciousness is still obscure
(Hegel 1993 [1822]: 12).
36
The political theory, underlying Hegels philosophy of history, was far removed from
that of modern nationalism with its demand that nations should form states and that the
international order be a system of nation states (McCarney 2000: 155).

51

traditionality and vanishing treasures of folk poetry were a discourse

simultaneously confirming the birth of modernity; collected textual antiquities
were a construction of the past for the future.
Folkloristics as an institutionalised scholarly discipline was established as
late as in the twentieth century; therefore the early research on folklore and
mythology in the nineteenth century is more likely to be seen as practices
inseparable from other forms of knowledge production. The convergence of
scholarly and political agendas in the field constituted by practices of poetry,
historiography, mythography, and folklore research most clearly manifests in
the emblematic form and idea of the national epic. Starting with the discovery
of the Mahabharata and publication of the notorious Macphersons Ossian in
the late eighteenth century, featuring reconstructions of medieval manuscripts
of Beowulf and Die Niebelungen, the creation of the image of a glorious Finnish
past in Elias Lnnrots Kalevala and the defining idea of lost Latvian freedom
in Andrejs Pumpurs Lplsis, the long nineteenth century was indeed an epic
time (cf. Leerssen 2006, Taterka 2010). Discovered from the past or narrating
the past, authored or un-authored epics served as the ultimate proofs of national
histories; as summarises Anttonen, History in this context meant the nations
narrative or historical image about itself (2005: 171). The symbolic and
political value of the epic here outweighs its closer relations to poetic creation
rather than precise historical record. While for each nation owning a particular
epic served for the definition of the national past and national spirit, in the
international arena epic compositions were juxtaposed against each other and
contested; thus, for example, Wilhelm Jordan 37 stated that characteristics of
epos are reached only then, when the completed drama of such heroic saga,
taking place on the background of gods saga, reflects the destiny and
worldview of culture-nation38 (Jordan 1876: 43). Here Jordan positions nonArian Estonian and Finnish epics as only sprouts of real epic; this claim had
reached the ears of the author of the Latvian Lplsis, shaping the plot of the
latter (cf. Taterka 2010: 73). Summarising, on the metalevel research on
mythology and the writing of history have reflexively influenced each other:
mythology becoming a subject of history scholarship and history being
articulated as a modality of mythology.

37

Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Jordan (18191904), German writer and politician. Philosophically radical Hegelian, with political views close to some variations of racism.
38
Erreicht aber sind die Eigenschaften des Epos erst dann, wenn auf dem Hintergruude
folcher Gttersage ein geschlossenes Drama der Heldensage die Schicksale und die
Weltanschauung eines Culturvolkes spiegelt, translated by Ieva Jirgensone.

52

4. Conclusion: Positive program of reflexive

disciplinary history
Following the agenda of reflexive interpretation of disciplinary history and
keeping in mind previously discussed circumstances of emergence of scholarly
interest in the Other, here I will conceptualise the methodology of the thesis and
summarise the insights that have informed it. In general, this methodology is the
analysis of links influencing each other on different levels within the circulation
of power and knowledge from the most general construction of the scholarly
subject to particularities in specific texts, identifying the dynamics of
international and local tendencies and underlying assumptions in various phases
of the knowledge production process. A point of departure for such multi-sited
research is the mapping of the field bibliography-wise, thus choosing the basic
material for further analysis (scholarly productions of Latvian mythology and
subjects close related to it) and simultaneously discovering continuities and
discontinuities in the research of particular themes and motifs according to
both temporal and geographical markers. The second step is periodisation,
dividing the selected bibliography into clusters according to their main
resemblances: the general political context and implications of research,
theoretical trends and influences, availability of sources, and the institutional
settings where the research took place. The next step is the close reading of the
texts selected, foregrounding the cognitive, structural, and embedded reflexive
properties, and, as a result, contextualising them on consecutive discursive and
metadiscursive levels: (1) the general socio-economic and political context in
which the research took place, i.e. the political system, hegemonic political
ideologies and counter-ideologies, nature of dominant social groups, regime of
cultural production, language politics, education, research and publishing
conditions, general intellectual climate; in short, the historical context; (2) the
stage of development and level of institutionalisation of the discipline in a
particular historical period, related to power structures in society and conditions
for scholarly research; (3) the particular institutional histories and agendas
behind them, institutional determinants of knowledge production; (4) life
histories and experiences of the scholars authoring particular works; their
nationality, class, origins, and political views, status in society and academia,
relations to other groups within society and other researchers, professional
position, religious views, etc.; (5) the conceptualisation of the research subject
in particular texts and measuring it against the availability and choice of
sources; (6) local and international theoretical trends: intertextuality as defined
by direct and indirect references to particular theories, authors and works of
other authors; (7) intertextuality within the works of the same author: regarding
the same or other research subjects; tracing the developments, continuities and
discontinuities in the whole corpus of a particular researchers works;
(8) attention to explicit or, more typically, implicit claims of authority and
expertise within each particular text, referring to the politicised space where the

14

53

text is produced; (9) tracing the editorial practices involved in the production of
particular text: entextualisation and recontextualisation of sources, censorship,
etc.
The fact that there are too many variables involved and structural
discrepancies between the lived experience and its representations does not
allow total contextualisation, therefore I will describe some contexts more
explicitly regarding particular periods of time or traditions of research, and
some contexts more explicitly regarding others. Thus, without claims of
absolute truth, illustrating the general dynamics of knowledge production in the
field analysed. As historical context is a construction itself, the contextualisation is conditioned by reconstruction of the above listed levels of contexts. As
such it is based on my general knowledge as well as specially conducted
research into history and the culture dynamics of the time periods observed. An
additional level of reconstruction involves research on institutional histories and
a history of other determinants of the field, for example, the nature and
availability of sources for the research. Biographical contexts are reconstructed
by a reading of the biographies and auto-biographies of researchers, related
official documents, personal letters, documented memories of contemporaries,
popular publications by/about the researchers. Bibliographical context is
reconstructed during the mapping of the field, by reading scholarly
bibliographies and references in other works. Intertextual connections are
located at the level of particular texts either foregrounding explicit references
or discovering implicit similarities with other texts produced in the field.
Editorial context is discovered by comparing different editions, where such are
available, and comparing entextualised materials to sources, also relying on
analysis already done by other authors touching the history of folkloristics.
Answering the Writing Culture authors warnings and accepting Bourdieus
demand for critical reflexivity, I am aware of my own involvement in
knowledge production, the personal and institutional contexts that shape it, and
reliance on common and specific knowledge with strengths in some fields and
less knowledge in others. Among the major influences that have shaped my
current research several exemplary studies of disciplinary history must also be
mentioned; in chronological order they are In Search of Authenticity (1997) by
Regina Bendix the book which, through a prism of a single highly influential
notion, discovers the formative powers of the discipline and the relationship
between political and epistemological claims of truth; the first substantial
deconstructive study of the formation of Latvian national self-image and
interest in folksongs Dziedtjtauta (Singing nation, 2000) by Dace Bula;
Tradition through Modernity (2005) by Pertti J. Anttonen, a treatise on
postmodernism and the nation-state in folklore studies which inspired me to
study the disciplinary history by both providing a multidimensional analysis of
the dialectics of tradition and modernity, and by exemplary analysis of Finnish
disciplinary developments, bearing many close parallels with those of Latvia. In
addition to these monographs, all of them based on the doctoral dissertations of

54

the authors, I rely on the insights and framework of an Estonian collection of

articles Studies in Estonian Folkloristics and Ethnology (2006), edited by
Kristin Kuutma and Tiiu Jaago. A reader and reflexive history, this book
provides exemplary studies, again, touching upon many developments common
with Latvian folkloristics and research of mythology.

55

CHAPTER II:
Genesis and historical dynamics
In this chapter I will draw the epistemological, temporal, and institutional
borders of the research into Latvian mythology, as well as provide the basic
mapping and periodisation of the discourses related to the subject matter. In
addition, the chapter contains an overview of general trends and processes
characteristic to knowledge production within the field of mythology. These
trends and processes are definitive for closer analysis of particular personalities,
schools, and traditions of research analysed in detail in the remaining parts of
the thesis. Consequently, the first section concerns the sources of Latvian
mythology reconstructions from historical records, containing evidence on
cult practices, beliefs, and deities, to folklore materials, briefly outlining the
history of collection and publishing, as well as problems and critique related to
editorial practices and the selection of texts for publishing. A separate subchapter concerns linguistic data and their application in studies of mythology,
featuring two case studies that demonstrate the role of this material in two
different historical and scholarly contexts. Further, I will define the research
fields genealogy, locating it in a broader ideological context, and characterising
the internal (institutional) and external (international) relationships forming the
structure of this academic discourse. At the beginning, research into folklore
and mythology are analysed in context of the form that Latvian nationalism had
historically acquired; thus, the relationships of the field and ideology, defined in
the first chapter, here are explored in a Latvian context. After setting the border
between scholarly and public discourse on Latvian mythology, I will outline a
short history of the interest in mythology: from the literary-cum-scientific
publications of national romanticists to the early efforts of scholarly research,
and, finally, the institutionalisation of the research in the 1920s. While so far
primarily the developments of cultural nationalism are illustrated, a separate
subchapter counterbalances them by analysis of the international dimension in
the formation of the scholarly discourse on the subject matter.
As this section, apart from analysis of the knowledge production relevant for
the history of scholarship, to a large extent also introduces and characterises the
research on mythology in the interwar period, in the following section I will
introduce research traditions dominating after World War II: characterising the
place of Latvian mythology in Soviet Latvian academia, its role and modality in
the research conducted by exile scholars abroad, its contextualisation in the
broader field of research Baltic mythology and its place within the studies
conducted by scholars belonging to the Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics. The
last sub-chapter concerns the changes of research practices and political
implications in the years around the fall of the Soviet Union, also marking the
border of the history of the research analysed in this thesis. The main purpose of
the last section is the characterisation of power-knowledge dynamics in times of
change when contradictory currents coexist and contest each other; however, in

56

the form of a shorter overview, the developments of mythology research are

followed up to today. The conclusion of the chapter provides periodisation of
the scholarly research of Latvian mythology.

1. Sources of reconstructed mythology

1.1. Sources: Historical records
The problematic nature of the disciplinary history of Latvian mythology to a
large extent rises from the uncertain nature of subject matter. Perhaps every
scholar would agree that Latvians do not have myths in the sense of tales of
gods, heroes, or actions that introduce things important for human life or
establish any essential customs (Ptelis 2000: 26)39. Despite this, there was a
historical necessity to write the Latvian mythology. Therefore, such stories and
the world they represent were reconstructed from a contemporary perspective
with the recourses available to the modern researcher. Overall, the reconstructions of Latvian mythology are based on two groups of sources: historical
records (chronicles, travellers notes, lexicons, church visitation protocols, etc.)
in which cult practices, customs, beliefs, or the names of deities are mentioned,
and folklore materials that were collected, with a few exceptions, from the
beginning of the second half of the nineteenth century, i.e. in an already modern
society. Initiated by Baltic German activists, learned man, the process of
folklore collection was soon taken over and popularised by the ethnic Latvian
nationalistic movement, acquiring powerful ideological connotations and, in
some cases, also benefiting in financial and social respects from imperial
Russian academias agenda of ethnographic mapping of territory (e.g.
Brvzemnieks-Treuland 1981). The collection, editing and publication of
folklore materials continues today; however, the largest bodies of folklore texts
had been published prior to 194440, and, in contrast to the archival materials, in
such a form were more or less equally available for all researchers of the postwar period. Until that the availability of historical records differed during the
first half of the twentieth century, determining the possibilities of reconstructions source-wise. The majority of such records were available to the
public in the 1930s, courtesy of a print of Wilhelm Mannhardts LettoPreuische Gtterlehre (1936), publication of sources of Latvian history in
Arnolds Spekkes Latviei un Livonija 16. g. s. (Latvians and Livonia in 16th
century, 1935) and Die Jahresberichte der Gesellschaft Jesu ber ihre
39

Cf. the summarising definition of myth by Alan Dundes: a sacred narrative explaining
how the world and man came to be in their present form (Dundes 1984: 1).
40
The year of the second Soviet occupation, which created parallel, at the ideological level
juxtaposed, communities of folklore research: Latvian exile scholars, generally continuing
the interwar period nationalistic scholarship, and Soviet Latvian scholars, bounded to
principles of Marxism and Leninism.

15

57

Wirksamkeit in Riga und Dorpat 15831614 (1925) by Edith Kurtz, and

Bazncas visitcijas protokoli (Church visitation protocols, 1931) by Krlis
Bregis (cf. Adamovis 1940e).
The institutionalisation of the discipline around the 1920s saw the
establishment of scholarly authority by two kinds of practice: source criticism
and criticism of previous disciplinary developments. While the latter is
characteristic to any significant turn in academic discourse, the former seems to
have gained its more complete form exactly in this period. As a result, several
authors belonging to the interwar period have extensively discussed the
historical sources available for their mythological research, although in the
ensuing analysis not all of them provide correct references to the sources used.
For example, introducing his Latvieu mitoloija (Latvian mythology, 2009
[1918]), Pteris mits lists the historical records of the eighteenth century in
detail as the most comprehensive sources, consolidating many previous
evidences. On the other hand, following the literary tradition early authors were
re-writing each others texts and non-critically adding all available data from
the mythologies of neighbouring regions, thus creating catalogues of gods that
were later used in the composition of Latvian mythic pseudo-pantheons by the
nineteenth century romanticists. As the latter were the primary subject matter of
scholarly critique by mits and his contemporaries, such source criticism serves
both for reconstructive purposes and for contestation of earlier (re)constructions
of Latvian mythology.
In regard to those historical records of the eighteenth century that assimilate
many earlier sources, mits (2009) and other authors (e.g. Straubergs 1934,
Adamovis 1940d et al.) most often mention August Wilhelm Hupels
Topographische Nachrichten von Lief- und Ehstland (17741782), and
Vollstndiges deutschlettisches und lettischdeutsches Lexicon (1777) by Jacob
Lange. The latter includes and elaborates on information from the Gelehrte
Beytrge zu den Rigischen Anzeigen newspaper, where the Latvian pseudopantheon was published in Riga by an unknown author in 1761 and by Johann
Jacob Harder in 1764. While the author(s) of the Gelehrte Beytrge article
consolidates descriptions of pagan religion from Paul Einhorns works (1636 et
al.), Langes lexicon is also the source of the often quoted mythological
appendix of Lettische Grammatik by Gotthard Friedrich Stender (Neue
vollstndigere lettische Grammatik, nebst einem hinlnglichen Lexico, wie auch
einigen Gedichten, verfasset von Gotthard Friedrich Stender. 2nd edn.41, 1783).
Among the most comprehensive reports on historical records mentioning
mythological beings and practices are several articles by Krlis Straubergs (e.g.
Straubergs 1934, 1943, 1949). In addition to listing the documents he used in
his reconstruction of genuine Latvian mythology, Straubergs also provided an
overview of sources of Lithuanian and Prussian mythologies, thus
41

In the first edition (1761) the author listed fewer deities, without a separate appendix (cf.
Ptelis 2000).

58

demonstrating the implicit conception of historical and linguistic unity that

determined the legitimate mythology reconstruction in this time. However,
there are no historical records from the times of one united population, from
which Latvian, Lithuanian, and Prussian tribes emerged. The earliest record
from the ones Latvian scholars have referred to, a short note on the religious
practices in presumably the Baltic costal region, was found in Roman historian
Tacitus De Germannia (98 AD). Early but rather poor references on the subject
matters are also provided by Adam of Bremen in his chronicle Gesta
Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (1075), a bull issued by Pope Innocent
III (1199), texts by Oliverus von Paderbor (1212), Ghillebert de Lannoy (1413)
and the statutes of the city of Riga, Statuta provincialia concilli Rigensis
(1428). More evidences were recorded in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, representing various genres and interests of the authors42. As these
early records were rather fragmentary and heavily influenced by the agendas of
their authors, most of them representing the Christian clergy, they remained
only as a secondary source that was used to support hypotheses based upon the
studies of folklore materials. Historical documents therefore required double
caution: first, to separate the views of their authors from historical reality they
observed, and second, to locate this historical reality in the temporal continuum,
associating it with the period of observation only or claiming it as remains
echoing earlier times.

1.2. Sources: Folklore materials

In the majority of scholarly reconstructions (Straubergs 19341935 might be
regarded as an exception), historical records were secondary to folklore
materials. As the latter, collected mainly in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, include both remains from the most archaic ideas as well as to some
extent reflecting contemporary reality, historical records served mainly for the
temporal mapping of the dynamics of mythology, allowing us to date one or
other notion encountered in folklore. Folklore, on the other hand, also has its
determinants: It is of utmost importance that the collected materials be viewed
as representations created in particular rhetorical contexts, employing particular
42

The works most often referred to include Cosmographia by Sebastian Mnster (1550),
the travel notes of Johann David Wunderer (1589) and Reinhold Lubenau (1585), a report by
Salomon Henning (1589), Chronica der Prouintz Lyfflandt by Balthasar Russow (1584),
annual reports of Jesuit collegiums, Encomion Urbis Rigae by Heinrich Ulenbrock (1615),
Livonicae Historiae Compendiosa Series of Dionysius Fabricius (16111620), protocols of
legal proceedings (especially witch and werewolf trials), works by Paul Einhorn Wiederlegunge der Abgtterey und nichtigen Aberglaubens (1627), Reformatio gentis Lettice
(1636), and Historia Lettica, das ist Beschreibung der Lettischen nation (1649). Various
customs were also described by Christian Kelch in his Lieflndische Historia (1695).
Relevant fragments of almost all texts mentioned here were recently republished in Sources
of Baltic religion and mythology (Vlius 1996, 2001, etc.).

59

strategies in the making of the present, and that their nature as such be
integrated into both their analysis and the estimation of their political
significance (Anttonen 2005: 81). Although some folksongs were collected in
the eighteenth century43 and some minor collections of songs and materials of
other genres published in the first half of the nineteenth century, an amount of
materials large enough to claim the scholarly validity of analysis based on them
started to accumulate only in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Therefore an overview of only so-called fundamental editions of folklore
materials is provided below, referring to publications most often cited by
researchers into Latvian mythology.
From various genres, the most important source in reconstructions of
Latvian mythology has been folksongs. Here as stated in the first chapter
two replacements of ideologically important national history perfectly
coincide: oral poetry itself and the mythology reconstructed from oral poetry. In
this context, the positive reception of Herders ideas about oral poetry as the
most ancient source of a nations history and a form of culture expressing the
uniqueness of the nation must be seen against the backdrop of Latvians having
few written sources on their history, all of them representing the non-ethnic
perspective, and no literary monuments, but a rich living folksong tradition. The
collection process was mediated by Latvian-language published periodicals and
organised mainly by learned societies, negotiated by members of the recently
emerged and rapidly developing ethnically oriented public sphere. In 1878, the
circle of learned Latvians in Moscow44 decided to publish a selection of the
best Latvian folk songs. The editorial and collection work was started jointly
by Fricis Brvzemnieks-Treuland (18461907) and Krijnis Barons (1835
1923). Barons later completed the task alone and the first fundamental edition
of folksongs, Latvju dainas (Latvian folksongs), was published by Barons and
Henry Wissendorff (18611916) in six volumes from 1894 to 1915 (two
repeated editions in 19221923 and 19891994, concise edition in 19281932).
Conducting the tasks of collecting and cataloguing the folksongs, Barons lived
outside Baltic until 1893. At the time of publication of the first volume (1894)
16 000 previously published songs and more than 130 000 songs in manuscript
were already in Barons possession (Ambainis 1989: 67). With so large a
corpus, and the number of songs still increasing, it had been decided to publish
as comprehensive edition as possible (ibid.), partially also for future research
needs (Barons 1894: xi). Critically revising the previous much smaller folksong
editions, the authors approach was influenced by the works of Russian
folklorists, but was based mainly on his own understanding what is a proper
folksong and what could be the best way to arrange the collection (Ambainis
43

E.g. by Herders request to August Wilhelm Hupel in 1777 (cf. Ambainis 1989: 23).
Since there was no classical university in Riga at this time, Latvian intellectual centres
were formed in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Dorpat (the contemporary Tartu in Estonia, then
a university city in the northern part of Livland province).

44

60

1989: 68). As a result, songs were organised according to their content in

chapters on the human lifecycle, daily life, economic activities, crafts and
trades, social positions and classes, international relations, and defence of the
fatherland. This classification not only ignored real-life performance contexts,
but also served for the creation of monolithic national ideology by reflecting
current ideas and needs on the structure of the edition. Barons editorial
practices were subsequently criticised rather often (e.g. Vilks 1944, vbe
1952a, Arjs 1959, Rudztis 1964). The main points of this critique are
summarised by Elga Melne: often separate song texts were re-arranged, eightline songs divided into two four-line songs and placed separately to fit the
thematic structure of the edition, from the six-line songs the last two lines were
dropped, and some words were changed, thus also changing the motif and
meaning (Melne 2000). One of the essential directions of criticism points
toward the relation of Barons criteria of authenticity in the selection of
folksongs. Briefly, it is the national romanticists idealistic notion of pure,
beautiful, unchanging folk poetry. In the introduction to the first volume Barons
wrote:
Getting to the real, healthy core of our folksongs, the best ideal efforts of human
spirit appear, the most beautiful, most virtuous, the deepest feelings of human
heart and soul... Such an unfading core we encounter in allour folksongs. And
this sublime core is expressed in simple, but sincere, deeply felt, and relevantly
significant words that deeply touche everyones heart. This is characteristic of a
real poetry
(Barons, 1894: XVIII).

According to Barons criteria of authenticity, songs of obvious recent origins

and popular songs (zies) are left out of the edition together with apparently
counterfeit, faulty, and incomplete texts. The selected texts were further divided
into types consisting of original songs, repetitions, and variations. Barons
conception of authenticity here demonstrates obvious similarities with Herders
and Grimms ideas, leading to similarities in editorial practices (p. 2628). In
1928, Barons work was followed by the publication of Latvju tautas dainas
(Latvian folksongs) in 12 volumes by Roberts Klausti. In 1936, the Archives
of Latvian Folklore published Tautas dziesmas (Folk songs) a sequel to
Barons edition, consisting of newly collected texts. After World War II, exiled
Latvians in Copenhagen published Latvieu tautas dziesmas (Latvian folk
songs) in 12 volumes (19521956), combining editions of Barons and the
Archives of Latvian Folklore. At the same time (1955), a selection of folksongs
was published in Soviet Latvia by the successors of the Archives of Latvian
Folklore, the Institute of Ethnography and Folklore. All three volumes of this
edition came up with a new classification system, one that foregrounded social
relationships. Such classification was based on the newly constructed disciplinary identity, related to Marxist-Leninist dogma that folklore necessarily
reflects the ideas and endeavours of the working people (p. 155159). The first

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61

volume of the contemporary academic folksong edition Latvieu tautasdziesmas

(Latvian folksongs) was published in 1979. This work continues today and nine
out of the 15 planned volumes have been published.
The first fundamental collection of Latvian folktales and legends was
published in seven parts by Ansis Lerhis-Pukaitis (18591903) in 18911903.
The second half of the seventh part remained unpublished until 2001 due to the
editors death. Lerhis-Pukaitis both organised activities of the narrative folklore collecting and included in his edition previously published texts. The published material is not differentiated according to folklore genres; it includes
fairytales and legends, beliefs, stories, etc. Arrangement was influenced by the
authors disposition towards the so-called anthropological school, foregrounding the principles of animistic theory: the origins of supernatural beliefs
and myths from the cult of the dead souls. Consequently, the main content of
folktales was also presented:
The basic ideas of legends, folktales and fairytales stem from the same root:
meetings between beings of this world and beings of the netherworld. Although
hero-tales and fairytales are dressed in sweet and lovely depictions, the real
matter and body of this splendour peeps through: also their dead souls (vei) go
and dead souls come the same way as in simple tales on witches, dragons,
riding-hags, werewolves, misleaders (vadtji), and [buried] money
(Lerhis-Pukaitis 1903: iv).

From more recent perspectives, the main weakness of Lerhis-Pukaitis

approach was interpreting all folklore material with a single explanation;
moreover, he claimed that all Latvian folklore is created by the Latvian people
and invariably transmitted from generation to generation, and that there are no
influences from other nations or religion, such as Christianity (cf. Ambainis
1989: 72; Pakalns 1985); therefore this edition also demonstrates the similarities
with rhetorics exploited in Grimms prefaces to KHM. Twenty years later,
Arveds vbe started arranging materials published by Lerhis-Pukaitis
according to the classification of Antti Aarne (vbe 19231924). The corpus
was also supplemented with new tales; after the publication of two volumes,
vbes work was continued by Pteris mits, resulting in still the most
voluminous publication of folktales in 15 tomes (19251937). In a similar way
to the folksongs in Copenhagen, the Latvian exile community republished
mits edition of Latvieu tautas teikas un pasakas (Latvian legends and
folktales, 19621970) in the USA, supplemented with an introduction by
Haralds Biezais and motif index by Liene Neulande. Latvieu pasaku tipu
rdtjs (Latvian folktale type index), based on the Aarne-Thompson classification system, was published in 1977 by Alma Medne and Krlis Arjs in
Soviet Latvia.
A collection of folk music melodies was published by Andrejs Jurjns in six
volumes of Latvieu tautas mzikas materili (Materials of Latvian Folk Music,
18941922, the last volume published post mortem in 1926). Charms, beliefs

62

and customs for the researchers of the first half of the twentieth century were
available mainly from publications in periodicals, the collection of Fricis
Brvzemnieks-Treuland (1881), appendices of Barons and Wissendorffs
folksong edition and materials gathered in the Archives of Latvian Folklore.
Latvieu buramie vrdi (Latvian charms) was published in two volumes only in
19391941 by Krlis Straubergs, and Latvieu tautas ticjumi (Latvian folk
beliefs) in four tomes in 19401941 by Pteris mits (post mortem). The
fundamental edition Latvieu tautas paraas (Latvian folk customs) was
published in 1944 by Krlis Straubergs. Overall, the publication history of
fundamental editions reflects the intertwined demands to legitimate national
history, or, as it has been worded often, to demonstrate national treasures on the
one hand, and the availability of the sources for research on the other hand.
Consequently, the editions represent the political agendas of the collectors and
publishers, contemporary trends in the classification and publication of
materials, and theories related to these trends. Moreover, several publications of
folklore materials also reflect editors understanding of mythology; for
example, integrated in the overall framework of the edition as in LerhisPukaitis folktales, or manifesting in separate chapter of the mythological
folklore as in Straubergs charms edition. Thus, the particular conceptions of
mythology influence the selection and arrangement processes of its research
sources.

1.3. Sources: Linguistic data

Research into Latvian mythology has always been shaped by tension between
ethnic, regional, linguistic and political markers. These factors, often far from
fully articulated, legitimise one or another definition of the research object.
Ethnicity that is a given fact for the researchers of twentieth century was not a
historical reality due to the formation of Latvian nation during the second half
of the nineteenth century. In reconstructions of Latvian mythology, ethnicity is
in a way backdated to the tribal society of the Late Iron Age or even earlier (e.g.
Adamovis 1937). The tribes that inhabited the territory of contemporary Latvia
before the arrival of German crusaders were far from united politically, and
their beliefs differentiated depending, for example, on Scandinavian influences
in the south-west or Slavonic influences in the east, or Livonian 45 in the
northern and coastal regions. Moreover, Livonians, who historically inhabited a
rather large part of Latvia, were totally excluded from all major works entitled
Latvian mythology and, with a few exceptions, were marginalised as an alien
influence on Latvian monoethnic beliefs. This exclusion is perhaps one of the
45

Livonians or Livs, Lbiei or Liivi was a tribe, later minority group in Latvia, of FinnoUgric origins, i.e. non-Indo-European. Although rapidly decreasing in number (only a few
native speakers are alive today), they had always been problematic in the Latvian national
discourse.

63

most precise illustrations of conflicting political and scholarly agendas,

demonstrating a strong correlation of territorial and linguistic concepts. In the
nineteenth century, due to linguistic affiliations, the remnant of ethnic
Livonians encountered two competing nationalising processes: the Latvian and
the Estonian (see Bolin Hort 2003: 39); since then research concerning
Livonian language and culture was conducted mainly by Estonian and Finnish
scholars. One of the conceptual models used in research into Latvian mythology
that allows such exclusion is based on comparative linguistics. The Latvian
language belongs to the Indo-European language family, representing the Baltic
branch of languages46. It is very tempting to assume that cultural similarities are
identical to linguistic similarities. Theories on the migration and development
of languages also allow us to date cultural heritage back to the times of the
united Indo-European language, spoken by the Indo-European community,
thereby claiming extraterritorial extended historical continuity (e.g. mits 2009
[1918]). In addition, several mythological research strategies emerge from the
recognised linguistic affinities.
I have chosen two cases to illustrate the basic conceptual framework of
Indo-European related linguistic theories and the research of culture. The first is
an overview of Valodas liecbas par senajiem baltiem (Language evidences on
ancient Balts, 1932) with references to Latvieu mitoloija (Latvian mythology,
2009 [1918]) by Latvian scholar Pteris mits, and the second concerns IndoEuropean and the Indo-Europeans (1995 [1984]), written by two prominent
authors belonging to the Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics: Thomas
Gamkrelidze and Vjaeslav Ivanov. Multiple references suggest that mits
works, especially Latvian mythology, were among the most influential in the
interwar period, setting the standard for the research of mythology in its time.
The study by Gamkrelidze and Ivanov is among the largest research projects of
Indo-European matters in the last decades of the twentieth century. Within the
contemporary debates on IE issues, Gamkrelidzes so-called Glottalic Theory
is one of the major proposals in the market of ideas in the field, and his
Caucasian homeland hypothesis is one of the main current contestants, next to
the late Marija Gimbutas (19211994) Kurgan or Eurasian Steppe hypothesis
and Colin Renfrews (b. 1929) Anatolian theory (Koerner. Online). At the
same time, Glottalic Theory seems to be often criticised (ibid., see also Malroy
and Adams 2006: 52). However, compared across a time of almost 50 years
between their publication, these works each locate the view on the IndoEuropean language and culture in their particular theoretical, historical and
ideological settings. Along with an insight into the authors argumentation
linking linguistic and mythological fields, I will outline the corresponding
versions of reconstructed common Indo-European mythologies, for the latter
might serve for comparison with the versions of Latvian mythology analysed in
46

That includes Latgalian, Lithuanian, Samogitian and several extinct languages such as
Old Prussian, Galindian, Sudovian, Old Curonian, Selonian, etc. (Baltic languages 2010).

64

other chapters of the thesis. On the basis of linguistic analysis, sometimes

supported by archaeological evidence (or its absence), mits claims the unity,
localisation, and superiority of the ancient Indo-European group, the Balts. He
is also rather supportive of the hypothesis that the Indo-Europeans in general
had originated somewhere in territory of ancient Lithuania (mits 1932b: 63)
while, however, stating that we must be cautious regarding such ancient prehistory. Therefore, the main argument is that the Balts have lived in this region
since separation from other Indo-European tribes, at the coast of the Baltic sea,
north-west of the Slavs. It has been the centre of culture of the region; and,
expanding towards north, militarily advanced crop-growing Balts had
assimilated some unidentified stone-age tribes that lived in northern Latvia
(mits 1932b: 71, 75). According to mits, many loan words in Estonian and
Finnish prove that the culture of the Balts had been superior to theirs, with
perhaps even Balts ruling over ancient Finns (mits 1932b: 69). The Latvian
and Lithuanian subgroups separated during the first millennia of the Common
Era, although Latgalian as a dialect of Latvian developed much later (mits
1932b: 71). In Latvian mythology (2009) mits relies on argument from the
field of comparative linguistics, stating that the languages of the Baltic people,
living at a distance from the Mediterranean region, had preserved the purity of
language most closely resembling the hypothetical ancient Indo-European
language. Therefore, Baltic mythology must also be similar to Indo-European
mythology, at least more than the views of people belonging to other IndoEuropean language groups (mits 2009: 9). Summarised, his version of this
common Indo-European mythology consists of the following features: heaven
as the father and earth as the mother, represented by higher celestial god and
Zemes mte (Mother of Earth); the marriage of Saule (Sun) and Mness
(Moon); specific mythological beings Sons of God and Daughters of Sun; other
celestial deities related to thunder, dawn, wind, fire, and water; patrons of
particular spheres and activities (mits 2009: 10). More likely, these deities had
neither been completely anthropomorphised, nor totally undeveloped and
merely refer to the pre-animism stage of evolution. However, mits is rather
concise regarding the characterisation of how Baltic mythology later developed
a particular form of this Indo-European mythology. There he mentions only the
higher level of anthropomorphism (mits 2009: 10) and differentiates between
the names of the same deities for different Baltic sub-groups: Prussians,
Lithuanians and Latvians (mits 2009: 11). After referring to evidence provided
by medieval and early modern authors, mits states that According to these
evidences, we see not only kinship within mythology of Baltic peoples but also
great similarity of the later with ancient Indo-European customs (mits 2009:
10). From the comparative perspective mits concludes that mythological
Mothers are specific Latvian beings, almost never encountered in other Baltic
mythologies, neither Prussian nor Lithuanian, therefore it must be a new
phenomenon, originated outside Indo-European culture (mits 2009: 66).
Definitely, such a line of thought points out the particular pattern of dating:

17

65

relating the subject matter, Latvian mythology, exclusively to Indo-European

heritage, despite the fact that specific but integral feature of it the cult of the
Mothers could be dated as older. mits does not refer to any particular
researcher, stating that these Mothers (Tuule-ema, Mere-ema, Vee-ema, etc.)
are also a rather new phenomenon in Estonian mythology; therefore, the
origins of this cult must be located with the pre-historic inhabitants of the
contemporary Vidzeme region (in northern Latvia, bordering with southern
Estonia) and integrated in Latvian (genuinely Baltic) mythology around the turn
of eras (mits 2009: 66). In this way mits reconstruction of Latvian
mythology reflects the construction of the Latvian nation as rather an ethnic and
linguistic, than territorial, concept.
Conducted half a century later, the study by Gamkrelidze and Ivanov reflects
the general evolution of linguistics in the second half of the twentieth century,
related to overcoming of antinomy of diachrony and synchrony established by
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (18571913). New theoretical developments led to return to the questions that arose in classical Indo-European
comparative-historical linguistics, and their revision in the light of new
methodology. Moreover, since the common recognition of language as a social
phenomenon, linguistics were more closely related than ever to general cultural
anthropology; as the authors claim: the study of languages must be conducted in
close relation to the study of culture and vice versa (cf. Gamkrelidze and Ivanov
1995: vii). Importantly, structurally inclined analysis of culture also indicates a
shift from historical to meta-level positioning of the subject matter. In this case,
the meta-level is located on the temporal dimension, thus creating and shaping a
new study subject: Proto-Indo-European (hereafter referred to as PIE) language
and PIE culture related to it. As Roman Jacobson states in the foreword: The
book naturally transforms the time-honoured, spatially and temporally uniform
view of Proto-Indo-European and creates a model of dynamic synchrony which
fully comprehends the foundations of the protolanguage, its evolutionary shifts,
its internal, regional differentiation, and its recurrent intersections with
neighbouring linguistic areas (ibid.: xx). Natural languages, opposite to
artificial formal systems, are context-sensitive; therefore the reconstruction of
such a protolanguage and proto-culture are connected parts of a single whole:
the reconstructed proto-lexicon is analysed in semantic fields, and the
corresponding prehistoric realia are reconstructed in relation to the lexicon as a
structural system. This cross-disciplinary comparison is carried out primarily in
the fields of mythology and ritual (cf. ibid.: xxi). According to the reconstruction by Gamkrelidze and Ivanov, ritual and mythological areas reflect
the basic dualistic principle characteristic to Indo-European society. Based on
particular marriage arrangements, the binary organisation influenced other areas
of social life as well as spiritual views, manifesting in the myth of two kings as
tribal founders, dual kingship in later (e.g. Ancient Greek) cultures, and the cult
of the divine twins, children of the sun god, in various mythologies of the IndoEuropean people (Gamkrelidze and Ivanov 1995: 679), including also the case

66

of the Latvian Dieva dli (Sons of God); the Latvian Saules meitas (Daughters
of Sun) also correspond to the same myth. The Latvian agricultural deity Jumis,
represented by a double fruit or a double head of grain, is also related to the
same PIE twins motif. Incest between the divine twins in different variants of
myth
can be regarded as a retention in the mythic world of a prototype of legally
sanctioned marriage between cross cousins, i.e. between a man and the daughter
of his fathers sister or mothers brother. It must be assumed that originally each
of the twins symbolically represented his or her half of the tribe, which entered
into marriage and affinal relations with the other half
(Gamkrelidze and Ivanov 1995: 681)47.

With further developments and the increasing complexity of social relations,

this original dualism was completely transferred to the realms of myth and
ritual, remaining also in the lexicon and semantics of reconstructed PIE (in
terms like half and double, as well as lexical antonyms like good and
bad, high, top and low, bottom, wide and narrow, full and empty,
large and small, etc.), further allowing interpretation of two cosmic creative
principles in various historical traditions (ibid.: 683). Specific is the binary
opposition of right and left: the impossibility of reconstructing the proto-form
of left is explained with connotations on the semantic level relating left to
meanings like bad, unfavourable, and unjust; this meaning is tabooed and
replaced differently in various Indo-European dialects and dialect groupings,
but the principle of value-laden binary opposition extended to various areas of
culture. Overall, the original binarism was gradually replaced or supplemented
during the rise and formation of several functionally distinct social groups, i.e.
three or four social classes. According to the authors,
The reconstructed dual social structure of Indo-European, conditioned by the
binary nature of marriage and affinal relations, and the increasing complexity of
the society as discrete social groups formed, presuppose analogous structures in
the religious conceptions of the ancient Indo-Europeans, where earthly social
relations would have been reflected in a mythically transformed shape
(Gamkrelidze and Ivanov 1995: 692).

Thus, the projective nature of religious structure reflecting real social relations
confirms Dumzils theory of tripartite society and the three functions
characteristic to Indo-European mythology. Despite this, linguistic and
historical-comparative data allow certain reconstruction of only two main
deities belonging to the PIE pantheon: the highest deity is the sky god who
occupies the dominant position in the pantheon, reflecting the patriarchal
47

For a different angle on the reconstruction of the establishment of marriage institutions

according to mythology see vbe 1923 or p. 109113.

67

structure of the family, and is related to the social class of priests (ibid.: 693);
the other original deity is also a male figure, the thunder and lightning god, who
is also a god of war and military campaigns, functionally correlated with the
Indo-European social class of warriors. Both highest deities are opposed to each
other as personifications of the major natural forces causing sunny and rainy
weather circumstances related to the fertility of the earth, i.e. agricultural
activities, correlated with class of farmers. The names of the separate god
protecting economic activities in the ancient Indo-European traditions are not
etymologically related and thus cannot be traced back to a single Indo-European
proto-form (ibid.: 694). The absence of such evidence also suggests that the
earliest pantheon contained two gods sharing various functions and reflecting
the above mentioned binary principle. Exploring transformations of the original
pantheon in various historical traditions, the authors referred also to Baltic
mythology:
For Baltic mythology we can reconstruct an opposition of two major gods, who
continue the ancient Indo-European gods: Balt. *Deiwas (O. Pruss. deiws, Lith.
divas, Latv. dievs god), who is described in Lithuanian and Latvian folklore
texts as living in the sky; and Balt. *Perknas thunder god (Lith. Perknas,
Latv. Prkns), who is regarded as having formerly lived on the earth but was
taken up into the sky by *Deiwas
(Gamkrelidze and Ivanov 1995: 699).

While these two case studies of mits, and of Gamkrelidze and Ivanovs
works shed light on different roles and conclusions of comparative linguistics
in relation to the reconstruction of Latvian mythology in two distant periods of
time and their academic contexts, closer analysis of mits vision of the ancient
Latvian pantheon is outlined in the next chapter (p. 107109), while an
extended overview and analysis of Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics version
of Latvian mythology and its relationship to the reconstruction of IndoEuropean proto-myth is provided in the fourth chapter (p. 171176) In general,
the historical, folklore, and linguistic sources can be regarded as the basis for
the research on Latvian mythology. So, in the fallowing section of the thesis the
political, cultural, and institutional superstructure of scholarly activities is
analysed.

2. The creation of Latvian mythology

2.1. The creation of Latvian mythology:
The context of nationalism
In the beginning, interest in Latvian mythology was related to the agenda of the
Christian church, trying to explore, Christianise, and dominate the pagan lands;
later it was embedded in Enlightened curiosity, discovering the nature of exotic

68

natives, soon developing in German subject of fiction (Merkel), appreciation

(Herder), or scholarship (Mannhardt). In the second half of the nineteenth
century these trends were adopted and elaborated by literati and scholars of
ethnic Latvian as well as Baltic German origin, starting the formation of an
extensive corpus of knowledge that was developing into a distinctively national
and often nationalistic discipline. Even after only brief comparison with other
disciplinary histories, there is no reason to assume that Latvian folkloristics was
somewhat different from the other national disciplines in Europe. Since the
formation, the ideological regime of Latvian mythology scholarship was the
national agenda. The close link between folklore studies and nation making
has not only been taken for granted but it has been seen as constituting one of
the cornerstones for the discipline and its identity (Anttonen 2005: 90).
Therefore, it is easy to see similar relations between the political disposition and
content of knowledge production in various European countries. Those relations
have been scrupulously analysed by many scholars from one or other point of
view. There are analyses of ethnographic research institutions serving national
goals even up to the modelling of social planning in Sweden by Barbro Klein
(2006), the nationalisation of folklore scholarship in Estonia by lo Valk
(2007), folkloristics role in creating nationalistic representations in Finland
(Anttonen 2005) and Estonia (Kuutma 2006), or the search for authenticity
within the German discipline of Volkskunde in Germany and Switzerland
(Bendix 1999).
Following this direction of analysis, the research of mythology, carried out
as a part of the research into folklore in general, was a tool for nation-building.
Since myths deal with the basic questions of culture and human existence,
research into them has been felt to be important both when formulating the
general cultural history of Europeanness and when constructing a cultural
identity for small peoples (Siikala 2008: 5; cf. Branch and Hawkesworth
1994). This is not to say that myths provide the direct means for national
ideology, they are the very basis of this ideology, the national knowledge.
Invoking Foucaultean analysis of knowledge and power, influence of cultural
production on state politics involves not only a straightforward adaptation of
poetic ideals by political leaders, but also a transmission through the field of
learning and scholarship (Leerssen 2006). Illustrative here are the role, genesis
and functions of the national epic, closely related and often blended with ethnic
mythology. Therefore one could say that the research into mythology was a
construction of particularly Latvian culture heritage, further displayed and
contested in the public space. In other words, it was construction of the present
by writing about the past. Consequently, the majority of researchers have
tended to emphasise unique Latvian structures, deities, customs and other
features that characterise Latvian mythology and distinguish it from the other
religious practices in the region or within the language group (e.g. mits 2009
[1918]). Comparison with the sources and practices of other nations is also
applied; but, regarding reconstruction of the mythological world view, sources

18

69

that do not seem to support the dominant narrative of an ancient, monoethnic

Latvian nation, for example, everything bearing Christian influences, are often
excluded from the accounts on myths. The collecting of folklore materials has
been an issue of honour and contestation in the national arena; over and over the
statements that it will grant decent place among the other nations
(Brvzemnieks-Treulands 1881) and full and undisputable rights to exist
besides the large nations of culture have been repeated (Brzkalne 1925).
Folklore is the collection of the culture that is used in the creation and supplementation of a nations symbolical capital the most. Evidence of a nations
history and destiny, examples of pure and pleasing native language, national
heroes, as well as traits of the nations character and mentality have been sought
and found in it. But already since the times of Herder, folklore itself and folk
traditions, whether nationalism has political, cultural-political, or a touristic
nature, become a symbol that discloses nations particularity (the essence)
(Bula 2000: 44).

While serving for the creation and mapping of the imagined Latvian community
in the nineteenth century, folkloristics remained a civic activity. By proving the
existence of Latvian history, mythology gave hope for the coming Latvian
future (cf. p. 5052). When this future was fulfilled by the establishment of a
nation state, official discourse, financial and moral support, the rhetoric of
patriotism and the establishment of various research institutions proved that
folklore research was of national importance, defining a notable part of national
culture the ideological assets of the state (cf. Bula 2000), positioned by the
dominant agents of the discipline. As a matter of fact, the national orientation of
folkloristics can also be sustained after the decline of a particular national state.
For instance, the tradition of research established in interwar Latvia was
continued abroad by scholars who went in exile. Moreover, during a regime
hostile to national ideology, folkloristics also continues to maintain this
narrative: or nation-symbolic meaning remains unquestionable in all ages,
independently from interpretation (Meistere 2000: 44).

2.2. The creation of Latvian mythology:

Mythology in public discourse
Since its beginnings, the research into mythology has gone hand in hand with
the public, non academic circulation of the same themes. Apart from more
direct political instrumentalisation of folkloristics characterised in the previous
chapter, folklore and mythology are encountered in multiple discursive realms
from the doctrines of the neo-pagan movements to creative activities,
marketing, and literature. Mythology is a highly contested realm of knowledge
production: lay and expert versions dynamically change into one another,
multiple parallel instances of expertise coexist in selective and diachronic

70

processes of activation of particular mythology-related signs and narratives in

public domain. Like any other humanity, folkloristics operates both in societal
and scholarly environments; common knowledge of the subject matter is
already spread within the system of primary education. On the one hand, the
general public legitimises the knowledge constructed academically. On the
other hand, this knowledge is selectively interpreted and blended with other
narratives in public domain, thus creating a new level of discourse on Latvian
mythology.
The particular nature of Latvian mythology as a research subject also
contributes to the pluralism of views on its features and meaning: narratives on
mythology have special epistemic status due to their composite sources,
blurring of disciplinary boundaries, and previously mentioned involvement in
political and, recently, lifestyle agendas. It is by no means a top-down process
of dissemination and appropriation of scholarly knowledge. Although, due to
specific historic circumstances, Latvian mythology is available only through
(mostly scholarly) reconstructions, sources of these reconstructions were
created by non-experts, something that applies to both kinds of previously
described sets of texts: historical records and collections of folklore materials.
Especially in the early stages of disciplinary developments, the collection of
folklore materials was a process contributing to the articulation of the national
idea, involving both the learned elite and lower classes, mobilised by the printed
press. Only later these materials were appropriated within the discursive realm
of institutionalised knowledge production. The first fundamental editions of
folklore materials and subsequent interpretations show expertise by initiative
where the collector and publisher becomes an expert due to his role. Later this
enterprise became more and more narrowly academic, and in the collection of
materials a more important role was played by the ethnographic expeditions
instead of public initiatives and correspondences; the moral agenda was
replaced by the theoretical and technical necessities of the research.
Common knowledge of Latvian mythology circulates in everyday
discursive realms with or without direct references to academia; in this form of
knowledge claims of authenticity are implicit, a hierarchy of sources absent,
and references are not present. The realm of mythology outside academic
circles blooms both at the conscious and un-conscious level. It stretches from
the images in arts and texts of songs to discussions in internet portals,
anachronistically blending all available inspirations and information. To
illustrate this process, I am herby presenting insights into several discursive
fields. Both in the times of Soviet rule and independent Latvia, mythological
motifs have been reflected in brand names and place names. For example, there
were several collective farms with names like mythological beings: Lplsis,

71

Auseklis, Laima, Dzvais vrds, Saule, Ozols, Spdola, Ris48. Rock bands are
titled with the names of the thunder god, for example Skyforger and Prkons49,
while brands of popular consumer gods are called Laima, Lplsis and Lgo50.
Some of these motifs are inspired by mythological folklore, some of them by
national epic that in a way translates fragmented mythology into monolith
ideologically powerful narrative, reaching almost all members of the nation:
here the knowledge constructed by experts and lays are on the same epistemic
level. Knowledge production, by fragmentation and decontextualisation in the
public realm, is an on-going process. In contrast to narrowly academic
practices, it recently includes, for example, a public lecture on Latvian
mythology and the erotic by a popular psychoanalyst (see Tamuevia 2010.
Online), and an educational post in the online discussion board of a maternity
portal (Dee 2009. Online). Internationally acknowledged folk-metal band
Skyforger educates local and foreign public alike on its multi-language
webpage, also providing their own critical perspective51 on disciplinary history:
During the two decades of Latvian independence from 1918 to 1940, Latvian
mythology was interpreted with very romantic and patriotic feeling, basing very
little on historic fact of belief as it was in the past. Several gods and
mythological beings were created on the spot and placed in the pantheon of
ancient Latvian gods. In addition, the interpretation of mythology was greatly
distorted by the white Latvian movement
(Kvetkovskis 1999. Online).

An interpretation of Latvian mythology becomes a means of strategic

positioning of oneself or ones product in the public domain, whose members
recognise and appreciate such identity constructs. At the same time, discussions
in online forums illustrate the composite sources of popular knowledge about
mythological issues. There are bits and pieces from the ideas acquired via
formal education, by reading books, from personal conversations, etc. For
example, analysis of the narrative thread in one online discussion board shows
theories of fetishism and matricentric-religion, notions of contemporary and
pre-Christian folklore, discussion on adopted and authentic gods, the cult of the
dead and then, suddenly, protestant ethics of honour and work (Kedriks 2004.
Online). While such online discussion hardly can be called a structured
narrative, the self-contained realm of mythological discourse can be found in
esoteric new-age circles. Usually these are theories that go well beyond
48

The first is fairytale character from the national epic, next two are ancient Latvian
deities, followed by Living word, Sun also a deity, Oak, another mythical character
from national epic, and, finally, Dwarf.
49
Thunder god.
50
Namely: deity, mythological character, and linguistic entity related to summer solstice
festival.
51
Seems that here some developments typical for the nineteenth century are located in the
interwar period.

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interpretation of mythology only, providing a whole new view on folklore in

general, and contesting rather than utilising expert knowledge. Here folklore
and mythology are described as written in the language of symbols and
available only for initiates; according to the theories of parallel science of the
New Age movement, claims of uniqueness and authenticity are made,
contributing both to securing the authority of these experts and the building of
the image of Latvians as a chosen nation. The most extreme examples also
feature the ideas that folksongs are about 65 thousand years old and Therefore,
this is the minimum age of our nation and culture. (...) Latvian folksongs and
legends prove that our ancestors remembered developments before the ice age
very well (Pokaii pasaules centrs. Online). On the one hand, this discursive
realm resembles the earlier periods of the research into mythology, such as the
instrumentalisation of the subject matter for the sake of defining and positioning
the nation. On the other hand, replicated in multiple versions within the
international arena, it shows globally the distributed structures and inspirations
of such claims.
Notwithstanding this, the most coherent and long-lasting corpus of nonacademic knowledge regarding mythology belongs to the neo-pagan Dievturi52
movement. They emphasise three deities: Dievs (God), Mra, and Laima,
referring to other mythological beings as personifications of natural forces or
something else (cf. Brasti 1966). The first attempt to establish non-Christian,
folksong-based religious organisation was made during World War I, and two
Dievturi organisations were officially registered in 1926 and 1927. Doctrinal
and ritual formalisation of the movement followed in a few years. This
folksong-based religious movement was saturated with nationalistic ideology.
As its leader Brasti wrote in the newspaper Brv Zeme (Free Country) in
1934: Dievturba is a religious answer to questions which touch on the place of
ethnic Latvians in the Latvian state, Latvian identity; also religious identity and
the responsibility of the ethnic majority regarding processes in this country
(Quoted from Misne 2005). After World War II, the Dievturi movement
continued to practice within Latvian exile communities and renewed their
organisation in the independent Latvia at the end of the twentieth century. As
elsewhere, Latvian esoteric and neo-pagan religious movements reside in the
area between folkloristics and occultism. It seems that earlier there was a
tendency to prefer the former, while later, with increased marginalisation and
fragmentation of the discourse, the latter was preferred. Regarding this
dynamic, the following hypothesis might be drawn: in the first half of the
twentieth century such religious movements manifested the anti-Christian
sentiment related to Christianity as a religion brought by conquerors to a now
free nation; in the 1990s, after the decline of the Soviet Union, alternative
spirituality was more likely shaped by the suddenly freely available information
and theories, accompanied also by freedom of civic organisations and free
52

19

Literally: God-holders.

73

speech. Therefore the more enclosed and folklore-oriented traditional neopagan movements, and the more fragmented, new religious and esoteric
movements, doctrinally referring to multiple sources, could be separated, at
least from the perspective of knowledge production. Of course, similar
developments in other countries and the challenges of the rapidly changed
socio-economic and cultural situation after the fall of USSR significantly
contributed to the process.

2.3. The creation of Latvian mythology: The first pantheons

As demonstrated in the previous sections, reconstructions of mythology
involving scholarly authority and corresponding institutions are rather recent
phenomena. Historical records are more or less of an incidental character due to
the circumstances of their creation and discovery, and folklore collections were
originally formed within the agenda of the mass movement. Similar tendencies
can also be found in reconstructions of Latvian mythology, based on these
sources. Simultaneously to the accumulation of the sources the first efforts of
interpretation also appeared. For example, large-scale comparative projects
created outside the territory of Latvia and contributing to the main developments of the discipline in Western Europe, like Leopold von Schroeders
Arische Religion (1914). The most well known instances of this trajectory are
Wilhelm Mannhardts Die Lettischen Sonnenmythen (1875) and LettoPreussische Gotterlehre (1870), promoting the theory of solar mythology.
Despite the decline of the solar trend of interpretation, the latter collection of
texts remains one of the most comprehensive resources relating to the historical
records on the ancient Baltic tribes. On the other hand, pseudo-mythological
pantheons were published in the local media, invented by national romanticists
who, following the textual wide-spread and historical textual practice, tended to
construct Latvian mythology according to Prussian or even Ancient Greek
examples. This tendency corresponded to discovery of national mythologies,
established by the publication of Deutsche Mythologie by Jacob Grimm (1835)
and the role of such enterprise in building of the national idea (cf. Leerssen
2006). However, the first fabulae hierarchic catalogues with short explanations of presumably Latvian gods were published already by Einhorn
(1636), Lange (1777) and Stender (1783). The latter, comparatively easily
available, informed many national romanticists in the search for, and creation
of, the Latvian past (cf. Ptelis 2000). Similarly, if not more inspiring, was the
idyllic scene of ancient Latvian and Estonian life, conjured by Garlieb Merkel
(17691850) in Die Vorzeit Liefland (1798) and Wannem Ymanta: Eine
lettische Sage (1802). Merkel was a somewhat pathos-ridden romantic
firebrand of Livonia-Latvia, who had imbibed Voltaire, Rousseau and Herder in
equal measure, and whose publicistic activism bore on social justice and
literature alike (Puhvel 2003. Online). Still, Merkel did not invent any deities,

74

he just composed his pantheon from previously published Old Prussian,

Lithuanian and Latvian catalogues (cf. Rozenbergs 1997).
As Merkel created historical vision of Livland that included both Latvian
and Estonian parts according to his agenda, shared Latvian and Lithuanian
history was depicted in rather similar manner by Lithuanian historian Teodor
Narbutt (17841864), also serving as a source of inspiration for Latvian
romantic nationalists. The first effort to create a Latvian national pantheon by
an ethnic Latvian, based on Teodor Narbutts Mitologia litewska (Lithuanian
mythology), the first part of Dzieje staroytne narodu litewskiego (History of
Lithuanian nation), was carried out by Juris Alunns (18321864) in 1856 (cf.
Prusinowska 2008). Alunns was one of the central personalities in the early
years of the Neo-Latvian movement 53 : a translator, one of the founders of
national poetry, and developer of the modern Latvian language. As many NeoLatvians, he studied at the University of Dorpat (Tartu). His article Latvieu
valoda (Latvian language; Mjas viesis, 1858, no. 19) could be considered
as a manifesto of early Latvian nationalistic ideology (Priedte and Soevs
1995: 373). In other article, Dievi un gari, kdus vecie latviei citkrt
cienjui (Gods and spirits, once venerated by ancient Latvians; Mjas viesis
1856, no. 23), he lists more than twenty names of mythological beings, some
genuinely Latvian, like Saule, Laima, or Prkons, some purely invented like
Anlavs un Pramns, and some from Old Prussian like Potrimps and Pakuls.
The same list some years later was extended and arranged in a hierarchical table
by another poet and Neo-Latvian Auseklis (Mielis Krogzemis, 18501879),
and also published as genuine (see Auseklis 1923: 545550). Auseklis had
composed several poetic legends on the Golden Age in Latvian history,
featuring mythological persons and motifs. Auseklis metaphor Castle of Light
is repeated by multiple authors for more than a century and is still an oftenencountered trope in nationalistic discourse today. However, the best known
poetic pantheon comes from the council of gods scene in the Latvian
national epic Lplsis (Bearslayer) composed by Andrejs Pumpurs (1841
1902) in 1888, bearing great resemblance to the ancient Greek pantheon.
The steeds of Perkons saddled in the court,
With trappings glowing waited in the morn;
The suns first rays a dazzling glitter brought,
As polished harness glinted in the dawn.
And Patrimps, God of Plenty, held in yokes
His beeswax-yellow steeds with flowing manes;

53

Lat.: Jaunlatviei, a name adopted by local historians for members of first national
awakening, a movement similar to those in other Eastern and Central European countries.
The term Young Latvia (junges Lettland) appeared in public for the first time in the review
of Alunns collection of poetry and translations Dziesmias by pastor Wilhelm Brasche
(Brasche 1856).

75

Of golden stalks his winged chariots spokesIts course ensures the timely suns and rains.
Dread Pakols, God of Death, had horses black,
Yoked closely to his sledge of human bones;
Of ribs the runners, drivers seat and back,
Shinbones as shafts, arrayed in sombre tones.
While Antrimps, of the Sea, had steeds all scaled,
And chariot swift of reeds of ocean green.
Of shells whose beauty yet was still unpaled
Its supple seat was formed, as could be seen.
And Liga fair, the Goddess of sweet Song,
In flower-decked chariot seated high in state,
By swiftest horses queen-like drawn along,
With Puskaitis passed through the Rainbow Gate.
The Gods proud Sons, all mounted brave and bold,
On fiery steeds into the courtyard rode.
Their saddles shone, their bridles gleamed with gold,
With diamond bits their snorting horses glowed.
Soon Austra, Morning Goddess, came in haste,
And Laima too, the greatest Goddess there,
While Tikla, Virtues Goddess stern and chaste,
Thence travelled fast, bedecked with roses fair.
Last, drawn by prancing stallions swift and strong,
Up came the beauteous Daughters of the Sun.
Firm holding golden reins they dashed along;
A flower-strewn course their chariots thence had run
(Pumpurs 2006 [1888]).

The English translation presented here is written in verse, while the Latvian
original consists of 4 700 lines in free verse. Highly eclectic, this poem echoes
the romantic world of Auseklis writings, refers to Latvian and Estonian
folklore, and certainly reflects the pan-European tendency of discovering or
composing national epics in the nineteenth century (cf. Taterka 2010; Leerssen
2006). The conceptual axis of the epic here is Neo-Latvians ideas inspired by
Garlieb Merkel (cf. Rozenbergs 1997). Plot, characteristic to fairytale, is
projected upon the historical situation of the thirteenth century. It is an idyllic
world, easy to identify with contrasting oppositions: ancient gods, Lplsis and
his people on the one side, and chthonic creatures, German conquerors and
Latvian traitors on the other side. At the same time, Lplsis was by no means
a unique composition, regarding both its aims and mythology-related content:
between 1860 and 1890 about ten longer or shorter compositions intended to
represent Latvian epic poetry were made, some of them equally celebrated by
the general public and discussed by literary critics (Bula 2002). Pumpurs
composition turned out to be the most successful in the long-term, now for more
than century shaping the national imagery and providing a particular version of
Latvian mythology.

76

From the point of view of historical reception, the researcher of new

religious movements Agita Misne doubts that the authors of these invented
gods seriously believed in their existence and suggests that
it rather must be considered as a cultural-national play or clumsy endeavour of
research, inspired by intellectual atmosphere of this time. (...) Poets praised gods,
whose cult was never directly suggested, which symbolised the bright and clear
spiritual constitution of the lost Latvian Golden Age. With this the value of
ancient Latvian religiosity was acknowledged, the one characterised as pagan
brutality by Baltic German authors, apart from it being opposed to Christianity
on the conceptual level
(Misne 2005).

However, as many examples from the previous chapter suggest, the invented
mythological beings exist in the public realm with the same epistemic status as
deities discovered by academic researchers. Mythological images, surviving
from the times of tribal society or invented just recently, circulate between
different domains of knowledge with or without scholarly claimed authenticity.

2.4. The creation of Latvian mythology:

The birth of scholarship
First two decades of the twentieth century both politically and scholarly mark
the transitional period from earlier efforts in folkloristics by romantic
nationalists and enthusiasts operating within the academia of the Russian
Empire to institutionalised knowledge production in the independent Republic
of Latvia in the interwar period. Certainly, the line of division between two
periods is not strict; however, interruption of scholarly activities by World War
I and subsequent political changes allow us to mark qualitative differences.
Already since the last years of the nineteenth century, the leftist Jaun Strva
(New Current) movement54, acquired more influence and representation in the
public realm, shifting emphasis from cultural nationalism to political struggle
and workers rights; therefore, folklore too, being a rather central theme in the
previous era, was somewhat marginalised during the decades around the
Revolution of 1905. Several leading researchers of the interwar period had just
started their careers during the war (e.g. vbe and Straubergs); only a few
scholars were equally active before and after 1920.
54

New Current emerged in mid 1880 as an alternative to the more conservative circles of
Latvian activists, which were following in the footsteps of Neo Latvians and were oriented
primarily towards cultural and education activities. Centred on the newspaper Dienas Lapa
(The Page of the Day), New Current mobilised broad masses of workers in the industrially
developed regions of Latvia on the basis of both nationalist and socialist agendas (Cf.
Cerzis 2001).

20

77

The most prominent scholar of Latvian mythology around the turn of the
century was Jkabs Lautenbahs-Jsmi (18481928), writer and poet, and
professor at the University of Dorpat (Tartu) and later the University of Latvia.
Lautenbahs-Jsmi linked his interest in mythology with the field of literature,
declaring that Belles-lettres cannot fully bloom before the mythology, which is
the foundation of every national literature, is clearly researched, known
(Lautenbahs-Jsmi 1881). Following the popular theory of decline which
states that folklore materials reflect the remains of ancient myths55 , the idea
championed by Jacob Grimm Lautenbahs-Jsmi used it as a key to
interpreting folklore materials and explaining his approach in multiple
published articles (cf. Ambainis 1989: 55), including a series of articles
Latvieu mitoloija (Latvian mythology) based on the lectures he gave at
the University of Dorpat (Lautenbahs-Jsmi 1882). Rather freely using
historical records from the entire Baltic region as well as sometimes obviously
forged folklore texts, he discovered and interpreted multiple ancient Latvian
deities. Regarding theory, he invented law of progressive humanisation,
which explains how the mythic-creative folk spirit gradually declines from the
age of mythical god tales towards the age of pre-historic hero tales, and further
towards the age of contemporary folktale and legend (cf. Ambainis 1989: 55).
Lautenbahs-Jsmi is also one of the most active exploiters of mythical motifs
in creating his own fiction. The introduction of his collection of poems entitled
Lga (1880) features a list of deities that are mostly common with those of
Alunns and Auseklis fabulae. The mythological past was also explored in the
epic poems Zalka lgava (Bride of the grass-snake, 1880) and Dievs un velns
(God and Devil, 1885), but most extensively in the monumental epic Niedru
Vidvuds (Vidvuds from Niedri, 1891). The latter, in 24 chants each about 500
lines long, recycles diverse Latvian folklore materials, mainly legends, around a
plot derived from Merkels works and to some extent based on speculations of
Simon Grunau and Joannes Maeletius 56 . In contrast to from the writings of
Auseklis and other Young Latvians, Lautenbahs works were also appreciated
by the Baltic German learned elite, i.e. Lettische-Literrarische Gesellshaft,
whose members, like pastors August Bielenstein and Robert Auning, also
contributed to the research on mythology with articles on various related
subjects. The theory of decline was already opposed by followers of the
anthropological school (claiming that mythology evolves from the cult of the
55

Myths, like language, have had their high, perfect forms, with the advancement of
culture they decline (Grimm 1883: vi).
56
Joannes Maeletius Libellus De Sacrificiis Et Idolatria Veterum Borussorm, Liuonum,
aliarumque uicinarum gentium (1563) and Simon Grunaus Cronika und beschreibung
allerlstlichenn, ntzlichsten und waaren historien des namkundigenn landes zu
Prewssen (ca. 1525) were highly controversial documents that have frequently served in
favour of the argument for a united Prussian-Lithuanian-The ancient Latvian nation, state
and religion. Grunaus chronicle is also supposed to be the main source of Narbutts
Lithuanian mythology.

78

dead) in the 1890s, for example by Ansis Lerhis-Pukaitis, Krlis Kasparsons

(18651962), and among others Mrti Bruenieks who was also active in the
interwar period (p. 113115).
An exemplary figure of this transitional period was Pteris mits (1869
1938; p. 107109). Maintaining his independence from local cultural politics,
mits closely followed the local developments in linguistics and folkloristics
while working in St. Petersburg and in the Far East. On the one hand, he
challenged contemporary practices, for example, reviewing fundamental
editions of folklore materials, while on the other hand he secured his positions
in scholarly discourse by participating in the activities of the Rgas Latvieu
biedrbas Zinbu komisija (the Riga Latvian Society Science Committee), the
central body of Latvian intellectual activities of this time. A result of his
concerns with Latvian culture, early articles were collected in Etnogrfisko
rakstu krjums (Collection of ethnographic writings) in tree tomes (1912
1923). The young scholar criticised the title of the first Latvian folksong edition
Latvju dainas (mits 1894a) and the national epic of Lautenbahs-Jsmi
(mits 1894b), researched the language of folksongs and the customs
represented in them, and analysed various mythology-related motifs. The latter
direction of research resulted in the first monograph on Latvian mythology
(1918), crucial for the research of this theme in the interwar years. mits
represents a critical perspective regarding the authenticity of folksongs, often
criticising forgeries or changed texts (cf. Ambainis 1989: 63). He has also
authored the theory of the Golden Age of folksongs in the 13th16th centuries,
followed by a decline due to increasing subjugation of peasants by ruling
powers (see p. 107109). With a reputation established before World War I,
mits became one of the most eminent researchers of folklore and mythology
after the declaration of independence in 1918, while works published by his
earlier contemporaries became academic heritage: sometimes still criticised,
sometimes referred to, but mostly forgotten.

2.5. The creation of Latvian mythology:

The institutionalisation of research
The Latvieu folkloras krtuve (the Archives of Latvian Folklore, established in
1924; hereafter referred to as the LFK) is still the main folklore collection and
research institution apart from the University of Latvia (established in 1919).
Considering the role of folkloristics in the early history of nationalism in Latvia,
the establishment of the LFK was an institutionalisation of existing practices,
especially the collection of folklore materials. Even in the nominal sense
krtuve literary means depository, storage, sharing the same root as the verb
krt, to collect. Similarly to the situation in Finland, folklore was considered a
replacement for national history, necessary for any fully fledged nation (cf.
Anttonen 2005); it is also declared so in a programmatic LFK booklet,

79

published in 1925: And especially to us, Latvians, it is important to collect as

much as possible evidences on our ancient life and poetry, because only by
saving and cultivating their previously formed particularity do small nations
acquire full and undisputable rights to exist beside the large nations of culture
(Brzkalne 1925: 11). The establishment and organisation of the LFK was to a
great extent influenced by the example of the oldest institution of this kind, the
Finnish Literature Society Archives in nearby Helsinki, with Finnish experts
(e.g. Kaarle Krohn) coming to Latvia to lecture about the work principles of the
archives. The legal act of establishment was signed by philologist and folklorist
Krlis Straubergs, the government Minister of Education at this time. However,
the initiative came from Anna Brzkalne (18911956), a teacher, folklorist, and
one of the first academically educated Latvian philologists. Brzkalne
accomplished the study of philology at the Kazan Womens Higher
Courses (19131917), defending her thesis
(On phonetic changes in Indo-European languages)
and obtaining a cand. phil. degree. There she studied comparative linguistics
and folkloristics with Professor Walter Anderson, eminent Baltic German
philologist and follower of the historic-geographical school of folkloristics.
Brzkalne, together with the establisher and head of the Estonian Folklore
Archives Oskar Loorits, continued her studies under the supervision of
Anderson later (19221942) at the University of Tartu, Estonia. In 1942 she
defended her thesis Dziesma par lum nomiruo puisi (The Song of the Youth
who Died in Sorrow. Its Primary Form and Latvian Versions, 1942) and a
acquired doctoral degree in Estonian and comparative folkloristics. It was the
first and is still the only research into Latvian folksongs based exclusively on
the methods of the Finnish school. Brzkalnes initiative of establishing the
LFK was directly related to her preference for this particular school of
folkloristics: such an institution would serve for the collecting and mapping of
folklore materials, thus creating the data base for historical-geographical
investigation of particular songs, tales or other units of folklore. The LFK
started operating in 1925, headed by Brzkalne. From 1924 to 1927 she made
several journeys abroad, getting acquainted with the experience of archival
institutions in Finland, Denmark and Germany. Brzkalne was asked to resign
in 1929 by officials of the Piemineku prvlde (the Authority of Monuments)
for reasons somewhat obscure. Presumably, the decision was an indirect result
of conflict involving unlawful activities in the Authority of Monuments (cf.
Vksna 2008), backgrounded by Brzkalnes personal conflict with Pauls
Gailtis, head of the Authority of Monuments. At this time the LFK also came
forward with legal initiatives that would subordinate the institution directly to
Ministry of Education, thus granting independence from the Authority of
Monuments (LFK protocols [1929]: 27), but the Authority of Monuments
proposed an opposite initiative. As a result, Brzkalne left the position and it
was taken by the same previous Minister of Education, Straubergs, who led the
institution until 1944. Brzkalne returned to the LFK (then the Institute of

80

Folklore) only in 1945. Keeping in mind the almost totally masculine nature of
the highest academic and political circles, gender issues might have been in
play as well, or, at least, might be considered important background to these
events.
The original LFK statement of purpose heavily exploits the rhetoric of
folklore as something belonging to times gone by, juxtaposed to the modern
situation; folklore is called the treasures of our forefathers, stored in the
peoples (i.e. nations) memory. Moreover, a moral imperative is evoked in
the agenda of salvaging activity:
And if we, Latvians, now at the very last moment, when our old generation,
weakened by the war and the paths of refugees, rapidly perish, will not try with
the greatest energy and selflessness to save at least to some extent the
disappearing heritage of our ancestors, then later it will be an indelible shame for
us: that because of negligence, carelessness, and spiritual laziness we had let
treasures of our forefathers to perish
(Brzkalne 1925: 4).

Technically, one of the main tasks of the newly established institution was
related to Barons folksong edition. It had turned out, despite the large quantity
of folksongs collected, that 218 of 526 Latvian parishes were not represented at
all, and more than 200 other parishes were represented poorly. The explanation
for these so-called mute parishes was related to early folklore collecting
practices, which were based solely on the enthusiasm of particular individuals.
If there were none in a particular parish and it was not visited during the few
ethnographic expeditions that took place until World War I, folksongs just did
not reach the editor of Latvju Dainas. In order to collect more folksongs, and
other folklore materials as well, the LFK introduced questionnaires, sometimes
simply urging the teachers to instruct their pupils how to record narratives and
song texts from their elderly relatives. Questionnaires were both distributed
separately and also printed in newspapers. One fieldwork expedition was
organised (apart from the individual expeditions of scholars) and even an
ethnographic movie Dzimtene sauc (the Fatherland Calls)57 was made in 1935.
The scholarly work at the LFK resulted in 28 books published, including the
folklore collections, scholarly articles, thematic materials, and folk music
melodies, until the LFKs reorganisation by Soviet power. In addition to written
texts, audio materials were recorded from 1926 when three phonographs were
bought. Altogether in this period more that 2.5 million folklore units were
stored in the LFK.
Under the first Soviet (1940) and subsequent German occupation the LFK
managed to continue its work, also conducting fieldwork expeditions to several
57

Technically, the movie was commissioned by the Department of Propaganda and the
LFK was just a consulting institution. Bearing strong nationalistic connotations, the movie
intended to represent an ethnographically authentic wedding at a wealthy peasants home.

21

81

locations in Latvia in 1943. After the war, in 1945 the LFK was reorganised into
the Institute of Folklore at the University of Latvia, and in the next year
included in the newly founded Academy of Sciences. In 1950 the Institute of
Folklore was reorganised into the Institute of Folklore and Ethnography; then,
in 1956 it was again divided with the ethnologists forming a department at the
Institute of History, while the folklorists were included in the Institute of
Language and Literature. The institutions work was mainly focused on
fieldwork, from 1947 conducting an expedition almost every year and as soon
as possible exploring the opportunities of the up-to-date technologies of
photographic, audio and video recording of traditional materials as well as of
so-called Soviet folklore. All in all, about 300 000 units of folklore were
collected during the post-war period. According to Ojrs Ambainis, during the
first post-war fieldwork trips the folklore collectors attention was focused on
the research of folkloristic processes in the context of revolutionary struggles as
well as deep social contradictions of the post-war period (1989: 93). Later,
special expeditions were organised to regions bordering other republics of the
Soviet Union with the purpose of collecting materials reflecting international
relations. The Institute published multiple editions of selected materials
belonging to various folklore genres, scholarly articles, and also several books
for wider audiences, especially youth, often with an obviously educational or
ideological character. The work of cataloguing folklore materials was also
continued.
In 1992 the original name of the LFK was restored. Since that time the
institution has been part of the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art, until
1999 subordinated to the Academy of Sciences and now to the University of
Latvia with the status of independent agency. In the current period the main
activities of the LFK consist of research, publication (including the academic
edition of folksongs), digitising and cataloguing collected materials, and the
collection of new materials.

2.6. The creation of Latvian mythology:

International relationships
There is probably not, and has never been, such thing as a local discipline,
even if the subject matter of research is exclusively located in a particular
geographic, linguistic, or ethnic area. The discipline of folkloristics proves this
statement. Although in each particular case it is involved with the local or
national culture, language, oral poetry, customs, etc., its methodological and
ideological dimensions were developed within the international network of
intellectuals all across Europe since the eighteenth century (cf. Leersen 2006).
Moreover, regarding the Baltic region, it is rather problematic to speak about
national research before the establishment of national states which emerged in
margins of the declining Russian Empire only as an outcome of World War I. In

82

addition, the comparative dimension of folkloristics and mythology, defining

particular units of comparison according to formal (concerning the disciplines
involvement with comparative linguistics) or historical (defining cultural groups
rather independently from the gridline of geo-political maps) criteria, is hard to
localise on the map of nation-states. However, folkloristics relationship to
national agenda suggests the projection of local or national subject matter of
research on the disciplinary status of the scholarship. Academic research into
Latvian mythology was formed in the age of empire states, with related
intellectual centres scattered across the continent from Vladivostok to St.
Petersburg and from Helsinki to Berlin. The situation is no less easy to
conceptualise after World War II, when national signifies a displaced research
subject within the exile community on the one hand, and is a sovietised science
of the USSR on the other hand. While the disposition of research on Latvian
mythology in these pre-national and post-national periods has been outlined in
the corresponding sections of this thesis, the study below is intended to
characterise the international connections and influences in the interwar period,
i.e. during the first Republic of Latvia (19181940). Starting to develop
between the newly established research and education institutions already in
1920s, partially maintaining the old connections in new situations, partially
building new networks of international cooperation on the strong basis of
national specialisation, the 1930s was indeed a decade characterised by a strong
will to cooperate in terms of scholarly exchange, organisations and publications
(cf. Rogan 2008).
Researchers of Latvian mythology during this time worked for the most part
at two local institutions, the Archives of Latvian Folklore, and the University of
Latvia, at either the Faculty of Theology or the Faculty of Philology and
Philosophy. Scholars like Krlis Straubergs (18901962), Pteris mits (1869
1938), Jnis Alberts Jansons (18921971), Alma Medne (19071950) and
others, during their studies and later professional careers, established both
formal and informal relations with colleagues and institutions of other European
countries (Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Germany, etc.). Correspondence, research trips, and presentations at international conferences were the
most common forms of communication apart from the visits of foreign scholars
to Latvia and publications in foreign languages targeting an international
audience (cf. Treija 2010). The more intense relationships between Latvian and
Northern Estonian and Finnish folklorists was maintained by Anna
Brzkalne, student of Walter Anderson and founder of the Archives of Latvian
Folklore. Methodology and praxis developed by Finnish folklorists were
exemplary both for her research activities and the initial years of the LFK. Like
many other Latvian scholars, Brzkalne studied at the University of Tartu in
Estonia. Her supervisor, Anderson, introduced her to eminent Finnish folklorist
Kaarle Krohn (18631933), authority of the blooming Finnish (culturalgeographic) school of folkloristics (Vksna 1996). Well-established Finnish
folkloristics became a kind of an etalon for the discipline in Latvia. Head of the

83

Estonian Folklore Archives Oskar Loorits (19001961) later writes that

employee of the Archives of Latvian Folklore Alma Medne will someday
become the Latvian Aarne 58 , while Anna Brzkalne will become the Krohn
(ABF 7, 58; quoted according to Treija 2010). Indeed, the LFK was established
according to the agenda of the Finnish school and used the latters methods of
collection, systematisation and storage of folklore materials (Brzkalne 1925,
Treija 2010). Brzkalne also visited corresponding institutions abroad in
Helsinki, Berlin, and Freiburg. She promoted the achievements of Finnish and
Estonian folklorists in the popular press, praising the work of Jakob Hurt and
Matthias Johann Eisen (Brzkalne 1926). Illustrating one mode of cooperation,
Brzkalne had extended correspondences with at least 43 foreign folklorists,
many of them from Finland, such as Kaarle Krohn 59 , Martti Haavio (1899
1973), Elsa Enjrvi-Haavio (19011951), Viljo Johannes Mansikka (1884
1947), and Uuno Taavi Sirelius (18721929) (cf. Treija 2010). A more than
two-decade cooperation and friendship relates her to contradictory Estonian
scholar Oskar Loorits (Treija 2009). Otherwise, the main influence of Finnish
folkloristics, although no longer on a personal level, comes from the
fundamental editions of folktales and legends: the international standard
established by Antti Aarne was exemplary for publications by vbe (1923
1924) and mits (19251937), as well as Medne (1940). Naturally, the tale-type
index of Latvian folktales was also arranged according to the same approach
(Arjs and Medne 1977).
The next Head of Archives of Latvian Folklore Krlis Straubergs similarly
maintained intense international relationships, but on a slightly different level
in close cooperation with the state elite and according to dominant political
ideology. Straubergs extensive involvement in politics and foreign affairs is
analysed in the next chapter (p. 126130); as a scholar he made several short
journeys abroad, for example, he participated at the ethnographic congress in
Rome in 1929, together with students attended the Nordic Museum in
Stockholm, and greeted Kaarle Krohn at his seventieth birthday in Helsinki in
1933, etc. Probably, his activities in this field allowed him to more easily adapt
to changes of working conditions after World War II, when Straubergs
continued his scholarly career in Stockholm at the same Nordic Museum (cf.
Straubergs 1995).
Similarly to Brzkalne, folklorist and teacher Jnis Alberts Jansons (1892
1971) also obtained his doctoral degree abroad. Although he has not shaped the
process of institutionalisation of the discipline, and mythology was never a
central subject of his research, the life history of Jansons well illustrates another
58

Antti Aarne, researcher of folktales.

Funds of Academic Library of the University of Latvia store 27 of Kaarle Krohns letters
to Anna Brzkalne, showing his support and willingness to help with advice regarding
various questions. Krohn twice visited Riga and sent the most up to date literature to the
Archives of Latvian Folklore. In turn, Brzkalne wrote an introduction to a publication of
Krohns research on Finnish charms in Latvia (Krohna 1930).
59

84

trajectory of international relationships. His contribution to the research on

Latvian mythology is part of the unique study relating to Latvian masks and
mummery, Die lettischen Maskenumzge (1933; in Latvian: Jansons 2010). In
this study, based on his doctoral thesis, Jansons applied the methodology of
cultural-historical ethnology, or the so-called theory of culture circles, the
German Kulturkreislehre school. Initially, Jansons studied Germanistics in St.
Petersburg (19131917), then acquired a master degree in Baltic philology at
the University of Latvia (1926). During his studies in Latvia, Jansons developed
an interest in Latvian ethnography and mythology, to a large extent thanks to
the guidance of Pteris mits (Karulis 1992: 53). Jansons also attended a course
on the general history of religion at the Faculty of Theology by Prof. Immanuel
Benzinger (18651935), who also raised an interest in Latvian religion in
Ludvigs Adamovis and Eduards Zicns the most productive researchers of
Latvian mythology from the perspective of studies of religion (Jansons 2010:
37). Among mits acquaintances was German philologist and folklorist Adam
Wrede (18751960), with whose help Jansons met his future supervisor Julius
Lips (18951950), the director of the ethnological museum of Cologne and
associate professor of ethnology at University of Cologne (Plaudis 1977: 32).
Lips had been a student of Fritz Grbner (18771934), one of the establishers of
the Kulturkreislehre school. So, from 1927 to 1929 Jansons studied at the
universities of Bonn and Cologne, and defended his thesis in 1934 with the
above mentioned monograph on Latvian masks (Jansons 2010). In short, the
theory of culture circles proposed the mapping of locations from whence ideas
and technology subsequently diffused over large areas of the world60. It was
supposed that a limited number of Kulturkreise developed at different times and
in different places, and that all cultures, ancient and modern, resulted from the
diffusion of traits from these centres of innovation (cf. Kulturkreis 2011).
During his studies in Germany, Jansons also visited Lithuania for several
months in 1927, acquiring knowledge of the Lithuanian language and culture
that later served for the comparative purposes in his research (Plaudis 1977).
It is as impossible as unnecessary to categorise institutional developments
strictly along the division of national and international fields; however, the
above outlined life histories illustrate the dynamics of international
relationships in the formation of the national discipline: the personal rather than
formal connections of Anna Brzkalne behind the establishment of the central
research institution of the field, the political cum academic activities of the next
head of this institution Krlis Straubergs, and route from personal acquaintances
to unique scholarly career by Jnis Alberts Jansons. Since describing
international connection of every Latvian folklorist is neither the place nor the
purpose of this thesis, it can be certainly stated that research into Latvian
60

The twentieth century German school of anthropology was closely related to the
Diffusionist approach of British and American anthropology, and basically developed from
the nineteenth century theories of unilineal cultural evolution.

22

85

mythology was positioned in the international arena not only on the theoretical
level, with references to various schools and authorities, but also at the level of
personal mobility and connectivity. In its turn, this justifies the attention given
to individual agents in the writing of the disciplinary history. However, as the
activities of agents are to a large extent determined by the existing power
structures, before analysis of other personal histories a contextual map must be
drawn to locate and relate these personal histories.

3. The Dynamics of research

With the above described recognition and accumulation of sources for the
research, crystallisation of the methodologically rigid scholarly discourse from
poetical cum politically instrumental practices, and finally, institutionalisation
of scholarship and establishment of relations between the local and international
academic arenas, developments of the research into Latvian mythology until
World War II formed a heterogeneous but still relatively uniform discourse.
Drawing very rough lines, this process can be characterised as centred on the
territory which in 1920 became the Republic of Latvia61. The territory was the
field of research for intellectuals often dwelling outside it, for example, in
imperial centres. It was mapped by the historical-geographical method of
folkloristics, and, of course, was one of the basic components in national
imagery, the latter forming a reflexive link with the discipline. Most of the
publication ventures were here; similarly, the main research institutions were
located in Riga, the capital city; careers of scholars interested in mythologyrelated questions were mainly related to these institutions. World War II and the
total change in ideological regime in the territory of Latvia, then becoming the
Latvian Soviet Socialistic Republic (the LSSR) was the cause of the
establishment of several distinctive new academic discourses. First of all, it was
the territorial, institutional, and ideological division between the newly created
Soviet Latvian folkloristics and scholars belonging to the Latvian exile
community. Secondly, Latvian mythology became a subject within the broader
research projects related to the blooming scholarship of Proto-Indo-European
language and culture and was therefore integrated into research projects relating
to the Baltic sub-branch of the Indo-Europeans as well as later in
reconstructions of Indo-European proto-myths. The following cluster of
subchapters will provide a general insight into these four research trajectories,
analysed in detail in chapter four.

61

Borders were established during the process of negotiation after World War I, involving
the newly established republics of Estonia and Lithuania, and Soviet Russia. Conceptualisation of the territory was a mixture of ethnic considerations and the need to preserve
transport infrastructure; controversial claims were arbitrated by British officials (see Bolin
Hort 2003).

86

3.1. The dynamics of research: Soviet Latvian academia

Political and ideological changes that occurred in Latvia after the World War II
had far reaching consequences for the humanities and social sciences. Structural
changes were determined by several factors: first of all, the general
restructuration and centralisation of academic practices, directly related to the
demands of censorship and ideological control; secondly, the implementation of
a single correct interpretation, i.e. a defined theoretical framework and dogma
imposed from above (Moscow), envisaging the sufficiency of a single discourse
and, again, in a different way reflecting the processes of centralisation. The new
connection between scholarly and political domains was produced within the
complex maze of a governmental academic policy climate, changing the
specifics of the discipline and institutions, and the personal behaviour of
individual actors over decades.
At first glance, the disciplinary developments that took place in the LSSR
might be regarded simply as an implementation of Marxist-Leninist dogmas,
accompanied by the bureaucratic process of restructuration and centralisation of
academic environment according to the All-Union standards. Despite this, the
adaptation of the Soviet Russian academic model with its own complex history
and inner contradictions created a problematic relationship with the disciplinary
heritage: on the one hand, new knowledge-power connections, intimate as never
before, required total, revolutionary changes and the abandoning of so-called
bourgeois nationalist scholarship, especially in the politically sensitive
humanities 62 . On the other hand, folklore materials were collected, selected,
categorised, and published during the previous epochs, bearing the influence of
national agenda and pre-Soviet theories; in addition the whole generation of
post-war researchers was educated and most of them had started their careers
during the interwar-period. Although the relationship between political power
structures and academia generally followed the same model and agenda
throughout the existence of the LSSR, the first post-war years were characterised by a specific modification of the Soviet regime, namely, Stalinism63.
Drawing allusions to Hegel, Lyotard had generalised the latter as follows: In
Stalinism, the sciences only figure as citations from the metanarrative of the
march towards socialism, which is the equivalent of the life of the spirit
(Lyotard 1984: 37). According to Maxim Waldstein, the Soviet academic
system, as it existed by the mid-1950s, was a magnificent experiment in
coalescing knowledge and power in the massive apparatus of the empire of
knowledge (Waldstein 2008). Highly centralised and hierarchical, fully
founded by the state, this apparatus was an outcome of the compromises
between conflicting objectives within the politics of socialist modernisation and
62

Of course, such examples as dogmatised economics and Michurinist biology also clearly
demonstrate the Communist Party dictate in the social and natural sciences.
63
For the history and detailed analysis of the terms Stalinism and Stalinisation as well
as the implications they bear see LaPorte, Morgan and Worley 2008.

87

the interests of the groups that were supposed to implement these politics. Here
political legitimacy based on knowledge claims was contested by claims for
egalitarian representation. Academics, especially of the highest level, were
granted high official prestige and multiple privileges. At the same time, the
Communist Party often promoted lower class cadres to academic positions, thus
further politicising academia (see p. 159161 for case of Jnis Niedre in
Latvia). On the one hand, there were social distinction, prestige, relative
security, and extensive funding independent from the market or public
demands; on the other hand,
intellectuals felt highly vulnerable in the atmosphere of unpredictability
nourished by the Stalinist policies of the permanent revolution. Their institutional position, professional competence and personal security were in constant
danger. This was particularly true to the situation of educators and specialists in
human sciences, where knowledge seemed to be more transparent to the
authorities and thus more vulnerable to their interventions
(Waldstein 2008: 17).

However, while basic traits and ideological regime generally remained the same
throughout the Soviet era, at least two more periods in the disciplinary history
of the Soviet Latvian folkloristics can be defined: the first eight years, i.e. until
the death of Stalin in 1953, was followed by thirty years characterised by
relative stability; but the decline of Soviet state brought significant changes in
research and publishing practices in the second half of the 1980s64. However,
changes in the knowledge production process did not perfectly coincide with
the sub-periods of political history, marked by economic and ideological
changes brought by one Soviet leader replacing another. It is more likely that, in
the Soviet Republic of Latvia the bibliographically empty period relating to
research on mythology (between the late 1950s and mid 1980s) separates two
distinct research trajectories within the period. The first one constructed within
the Stalinist dispositif, and the second introducing and coinciding with the socalled Perestroika (restructuring) movement within the Soviet political system.
During the Soviet period, in new Soviet republics as well as later in other
Socialist block states, Marxism-Leninism was adopted as the leading philosophy and historical materialism was supposed to dictate methodology (cf.
Brinkel 2009; Kilinov 2005). Drawing parallels with the changes in fine arts,
differences from country to country could be characterised with the imperative
Soviet content in national form, where content means knowledge produced,
and form, national differences; in the case of folkloristics the form would be
language, historical situation, and sources explored. If there are parallels
between traditions and the research into traditions, the Soviet Latvian
64

Concerning intellectuals agenda and changes in academic approaches the latter might be
rather called a transitional period between two research traditions. As such it is analysed
below, p. 99101.

88

folkloristics might be associated with the term invented tradition in the

Hobsbawmian sense: claiming historical continuity in totally changed
knowledge production settings. If, previously, the research on mythology had
been conducted within several disciplines, in the LSSR the texts written on
myths were related only to the discipline of folkloristics. Soviet Latvian
folkloristics generally conducted historical research into folklore genres, paying
much of attention to the representation of class-struggle; a new sub-discipline
was even created: the research of Soviet folklore, namely the revolutionary
songs and kolkhoz folksongs that were created as evidence of folk traditions
continuity. However, this straightforward invention of cultural heritage was still
practiced only within particular genres, mainly folksongs and proverbs.
Questions related to mythology or any form of cult practice were mainly left
outside the official discourse as belonging to the reactionary past (cf. Ambainis
1989). Within the context of on-going campaigns of scientific atheism65 as the
Soviet world-view (Kriinen 1993), one of the obvious reasons for the
absence of mythology-related materials was their dangerous closeness to
religion, compromising the official definition of folklore as a narrative of the
working class and class struggle (p. 153159). Notwithstanding this, references
to folklore materials containing mythological motifs were unavoidable in largescale research projects. In a few texts touching the subject matter, mythology
was explained in passing as a creation of fantasy, the remains of totems, the
product of opposition to the ruling class, or as an instrument of oppression. To
legitimate such a research object Soviet folklorists exploited a specific rhetorical strategy, based on the paraphrasing and citing of unquestionable authorities
such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Maxim Gorky, etc. Returning to Anttonens distinction of pro- and anti-modern attitudes in the history of the research
of tradition-related subject matters (Anttonen 2005), it can be said that while the
Western European approach to mythology from the times of Herder is well
known for its nostalgia and grief for lost innocence, Soviet ideology offers a
radically pro-modern attitude by juxtaposing the traditional and the Soviet
worldviews. The former were characterised as backward and dangerous, the
latter as progressive, valuable, and to be achieved at all costs. Related to
specific academic climate during the rule of Josef Stalin, until the mid 1950s
and the development of Soviet semiotics about a decade later, mythology was
mentioned in scholarly writing, but not researched. The essence of the attitude
towards this subject matter was clearly dictated by Stalin himself:

65

Here: state-governed anti-religious propaganda, developing from Lenins Militant

Materialism programme.

23

89

Old customs and habits, traditions and prejudices that are inherited from the old
society, are the most dangerous enemy of socialism () Therefore, the struggle
against these traditions and customs, their mandatory overcoming in all fields of
our work, and ultimately the education of new generations according to the spirit
of socialism these are the current tasks of our party; without realising them the
victory of socialism is impossible
(Stains 1952: 229, 230).

In summary, the research into mythology in the LSSR or, more precisely, its
relative absence, cannot be explained outside the context of the highly
integrated, centralised and hierarchical structure of knowledge production in the
Soviet Union. Despite this, it had national particularities related to institutional and personal histories. Therefore this general overview is followed by
closer analysis of Soviet Latvian folkloristics in chapter four, which explores
the discursive practices of the construction of new disciplinary identity and the
positioning of mythology within it (p. 155159).

3.2. The dynamics of research: Exile scholars

World War II and the occupation of Latvia by Soviet, German, and finally again
Soviet forces marked the transitional period in disciplinary history, resulting in
two parallel research communities for almost half a century: one in Soviet
Latvia and one in exile Latvian diasporas across the world. Both communities
were initially developed by researchers already more or less active during the
previous period and now adapting to a complex post-war situation, either
exploiting Soviet ideology and methodology in the LSSR, or continuing
nationally oriented research related to a state no longer in existence.
Subsequently, in the first decades after World War II exile Latvians generally
continued their previous research, although, of course, the institutional basis,
availability of materials and other conditions were different. Combining two
roles, the one of displaced person and the other of scholar, exile scholarship
represents yet another specific modification of knowledge production and its
ideological connotations in the field of mythology research. Contributing to
both causes of national identity and research resources, both the most
voluminous editions of folksongs and folktales were re-published in Denmark
and the USA (cf. p. 5963). With the decades following the first post-war years
came the next generation of the exile community, more integrated in Western
research institutions and benefiting from the combination of local citizenship
and original knowledge of a comparatively niche culture and language, adapting
more recent methods and directions of research rather than directly continuing
the agenda of the interwar-period.
Of the Latvian intellectuals, who, considering the threats to personal security
and termination of academic practice, succeeded in going into exile, the most
significant for the research of Latvian mythology were Krlis Straubergs,

90

Arveds vbe, and Haralds Biezais. The cases of both the former illustrate the
changes of scholarly practices against the backdrop of radically changed social
status, while Biezais, belonging to the younger generation, started his scholarly
career anew. vbe and Straubergs both left Latvia in 1944, after publishing
their last works in their native country. Both were influential personalities in the
Republic of Latvia (see. p. 126130 and 130133) with well-established international relations, and both of them also took leading positions within the
political structures of the exile community. Escaping the approaching battle
front and the second Soviet occupation, Straubergs went directly to Sweden
together with his wife and four children in autumn 1944. He soon took a
position in the Institutet fr folklivsforskning (the Folk-life Research Institute) at
the Nordiska Museet (the Nordic Museum) in Stockholm. He became head of
the influential Latvian organisation Latvieu Nacionlais fonds (the Latvian
National Foundation), and after 1952 was also involved in the activities of the
Latvijas Nacionl Padome (the National Council of Latvia), later taking part in
the foundation of the Latvieu Zemnieku savienba trimd (the Latvian
Peasants Union in Exile) as well as participating in the Latvieu Akadmisk
organizcija (the Latvian Academic Organisation) and other public societies.
Straubergs died in Stockholm in 1962 and was re-buried in Latvia in 1990. In
exile Straubergs continued working immediately: in 1946 he published an
article on sacred woods and two articles on Swedish marriage in Swedish, as
well as the book Lettisk folktro om de dda (Latvian folk beliefs on the dead,
1949), as well as research on werewolves in the Baltic region. An article on
mythological space and the netherworld Zur Jenseitstopographie (On
Topography of the Netherworld, 1957) was published in German in the Journal
of Scandinavian Folklore. His voluminous treatise on Latvian folklore in
English unfortunately remains unpublished. Straubergs was also one of the
main editors of an edition of Latvian folksong in twelve tomes (19521956),
also authoring sixteen articles on different folklore related themes included in
this edition66. One of strategies of exile scholarship is perfectly illustrated by
Straubergs answer to the question about exile and the mission of exile
Latvians in an interview: I can speak only about myself, my job. It is like
scholarly travel. Like the University of Latvia or Ministry of Education have
commissioned me to do some scholarly task researching materials that are in the
archives, museums, and libraries of this place (Krkli 2003: 319).
Arveds vbe left Latvia in the same year, 1944, but arrived in Sweden by a
different route. In august of 1940, the newly established Soviet institutions
transformed the positions of vice-directors of the Institute of History of Latvia
occupied by vbe and Fricis Balodis, as well as the managers position
occupied by Krlis Straubergs, into formal duties without salary. In 1943,
German officials prohibited vbe from providing lectures and examining
students at the University of Latvia, and later closed the Department of the
66

For reprints of the latter as well as selected bibliography see Straubergs 1995.

91

History of Latvia and fired the professor. The following year vbe became a
refugee in Germany, but there he was arrested and imprisoned in Dachau
concentration camp. After release vbe spent a few years in Germany,
similarly to Straubergs, actively taking part in political life. First, he
participated in the foundation of the Minhenes latvieu pagaidu komiteja (the
Interim Committee of Latvians of Munich) and became its head. Further, vbe
was involved in the activities of other exile organisation like the Bavrijas
Nacionl komiteja (the National Committee of Bavaria), and in August of
1945 became one of the founders of the main political organisation of Latvian
exile community worldwide, the Latvieu Centrl komiteja (The Latvian
Central Committee). In Germany vbe was committed predominantly to
literary activities, publishing poems and a novel, editing two newspapers and
participating in poetry readings and other public events (cf. vbe 1947). In
1949 vbe moved to Sweden, joining Straubergs at the Folk-life Research
Institute by taking the position of an archivist. In Sweden the previous editor of
the fundamental Latvieu konverscijas vrdnca (Latvian lexicon) became the
editor of first three tomes of Latvju enciklopdija (Latvian Encyclopaedia,
19501956), and together with Straubergs supervised the edition of Latvian
folksongs in 12 tomes. His scholarly activities were mainly related to the
history of Latvia, apart from several articles published in the folksong edition.
Most of these articles repeat vbes publications on Latvian folksongs form
the 1930s (p. 109113) as well as continuing some themes already initiated in
1917 (e.g. war folksongs) and the conclusions of the last article published in
Latvia in 1944 (Vilks 1944).
Among other exile scholars, theologian, priest, and historian of religion
Haralds Biezais (19091995) was definitely the most influential researcher of
Latvian mythology in this time. While still living in Latvia, during the interwar
period his interests were mainly related to theology and clergy practice. After
the Soviet occupation in 1944, Biezais left the country and went in exile to
Sweden. In addition to clerical obligations, Biezais became an assistant at the
chair of Systematic theology in the University of Uppsala, at the same time
studying philosophy and history. Subsequently, the first of his main works in
the field of Latvian mythology was his doctoral thesis Die Hauptgttinnen der
alten Letten (1955); this was later followed by the fundamental monographs Die
Gottesgestalt der lettischen Volksreligion (1961), Die himmlische Gtterfamilie
der alten Letten (1972) and Lichtgott der alten Letten (1976), numerous articles,
entries in encyclopaedias, and presentations at conferences. In 1971 Biezais
started a professorship of religion history at the Faculty of Theology at the
University of bo/Turku in Finland (p. 147149). The last largest research into
Latvian mythology in exile was published by Biezais colleague and spouse,
folklorist working at University of Uppsala Liene Neulande (19212010). Her
monograph based on dissertation Jumis, die Fruchtbarkeitsgottheit der alten
Letten (1977) was also translated into Latvian and published with minor
revisions in 2001 (Neulande 2001; cf. Srmane 2002).

92

Although many of the works of Latvian exile scholars continued the interwar
tradition of research or discussion, with the national academia gone after World
War II this is the first time in history when so many scholarly books and articles
on Latvian mythology were published in foreign languages, thus introducing the
subject matter to wider circles of international scholarship. Consequently, these
texts serve as a stepping stone for further comparative research into Baltic
mythology.

3.3. The dynamics of research:

Latvian mythology within Baltic studies
While Soviet Latvian folklorists and Latvian exile researchers continued to
conceptualise the subject matter as Latvian mythology, outside these circles the
post-war period is also characterised by increasing interest in Baltic mythology.
Latvia is one of the Baltic countries and Latvian is one of the main languages
constituting a sub-branch of Baltic languages67. Similarly, Latvian mythology is
an integral part of Baltic mythology. The term Baltic mythology might have
three slightly different meanings: first, mythology of particular Indo-European
tribes after the separation from other Indo-European groups and before the final
differentiation into Prussian, Latvian, and Lithuanian groups; second, the
mythology of tribes that were living in the region before arrival of IndoEuropean people; third, a combination of both systems. The choice of particular
meaning is determined by each researchers emphasis on linguistic, territorial,
or historical definitions of the subject matter. Before World War II, Baltic
identity was somewhat blurred because the nationally oriented researchers
mainly preferred separate national mythologies. The emergence of Baltic
mythology as a research object demonstrates the partial integration of
previously national academic heritages in new theoretical and political contexts.
In general, the studies of Baltic mythology or Baltic religion gained a
foothold some time after the popularisation of Indo-European related research
after World War II in western countries. Due to the rise of interest in the IndoEuropean past, the sources of this past became a problem; European culture
being largely Christianised, other sources had to be found. This Other image of
Europe was found in Eastern Europe, and especially in the Baltic countries.
Located somewhere between the Orthodox East, Protestant North and Catholic
South, Latvian and Lithuanian folklore still bore the visible traits of their pagan
pasts, mutually influencing neighbouring Finno-Ugric Estonia. Moreover,
extended archaeological and linguistic research had shown one more dimension
the Proto-Indo-European mythological material. As Jaan Puhvel said about
early Lithuanian culture: Lithuania was the last place in Europe to be
67

However, although Estonia is also a Baltic country, Estonian belongs to different

Finno-Ugric language family.

24

93

Christianized (from Poland), merely officially from the top, during the early
fifteenth century (...) Entrenchment is in fact a key characteristic of Baltic
culture, and linguistically this branch is the most conservative and archaic of all
surviving Indo European subgroups (Puhvel 1989: 223). Although the territory
of Latvia was formally Christianised earlier, the languages are very closely
related, and, moreover, a substantial amount of regional folklore is collected in
Latvian.
However, there are many reasons for the formation of the monolithic
research object called Baltic religion or Baltic mythology, in opposition to
the former distinction into Latvian, Prussian, and Lithuanian mythologies as
self-contained realms. First, after World War II there were no longer
independent geopolitical entities in this region and construction of distinct
national identity was no longer supported by politics. In addition, the local
academic establishment no longer had any relation to the former nation-states,
thus the research agendas reflected different aims. Second, often the very
interest, or at least methods of research, came from Indo-European linguistics,
which operated with the umbrella term Baltic languages as opposed to
references to individual languages that were so important within the national
scholarships. And finally, the further into the past the researchers interest went
(e.g. the early archaeological cultures or Proto-Indo-European ideology), the
harder it was to connect it with the comparatively new reality of nation-states,
which could define the research subject. So, the area of research became
composed of Prussian, Latvian, and Lithuanian folklore materials as well as
linguistic and archaeological evidence, often with the addition of Slavic or
Finno-Ugric information. This re-definition of the research object also widened
the circle of researchers consequently interested in Latvian mythology. At the
same time, the research on Latvian mythology was, and still is, determined by
scholars language skills. If one does not have a command of Latvian, there are
limited resources of historical records originally written in German or Latin:
only few contemporary works were written or translated into some well-known
languages, with the same applying to folklore materials. Therefore publications
by exile Latvians in foreign languages mentioned above were significant to the
formation of this new research object, providing sources and conclusions for
comparative research from the perspective of Latvian history.
Not only the political, but also the theoretical context of Latvian mythology
research had entirely changed since the end of World War II. In general, the
post-war period, after the revolutionary works by George Dumzil, was
dominated by Indo-European scholarship (for an overview of these
developments see p. 166171). This field was also rapidly developing because
of the necessity to find a new unity that could transcend the differences, doubts
and dead-ends created by the war. Moreover, according to Martin Litchfield
West: Comparative Indo-European mythology remains and is bound to remain
a poor relation of comparative Indo-European philology. It is easy to see why.
People change their gods and their mythologies more readily and quickly than

94

they change their declensions and conjugations, and more capriciously (West
2007: 24). This relation of both disciplines was also reflected in the succession
of the research on Latvian mythology: the previous research tradition with its
historical or religious-phenomenological methods played a rather minor role in
contemporary linguistically-oriented exploration of the Baltic past. The postwar period also brought an accumulation and interpretation of archaeological
findings.
During the century that has just passed, thanks to new discoveries, a more
independent and free archaeological approach, more precise and sophisticated
methods of dating and the new support of sciences such as the genetics of
populations, paleobotany, archaeozoology, anthropology and linguistics, has
revolutionised the profile of pre-history
(Percovich 2006).

In result, Latvian as a constitutive part of Baltic mythology acquired one more

meaning: the mythology of pre-historic times. More ancient mythological
notions were reconstructed and separated from the Indo-European part of
Latvian mythology. A well-known author using such a distinction was
archaeologist Maria Gimbutas (19211994). Specialisation in the Neolith Age
allowed her to put forward the hypothesis of a matriarchal society before the
conquest of Indo-European tribes. While her most popular books, such as The
Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe (1974); The Language of the
Goddess (1989) and The Civilization of the Goddess (1991) deal with European
pre-history on a broader scale, she has also paid special attention to the Baltic
region; this consequently resulted in a particular, archaeology-based version of
Baltic mythology (p. 166171).
In some respects, Baltic mythology was also a more advantageous research
object from the political perspective: due to above mentioned developments of
the geopolitical and theoretical circumstances, the consolidation of Latvian,
Lithuanian, and Estonian oriented research would result in more awareness and
recognition. Although it is doubtful that any particular scholarly practices were
directly and consciously motivated by this argument of public relations,
national awareness was definitely on the cards. Besides scholarly works whose
publication language was more likely to be determined within an institutional
and financial context, exile national organisations also prepared various popular
materials targeting foreign-language audiences. An illustrative example is the
encyclopaedic edition Latvia: Country and People, published in Stockholm in
1967. The book, among treatises on different subjects, included a bibliographic
article by Krlis Straubergs on Latvian folklore. The agenda of this edition was
explained in one of the reviews:

95

In countries where the dominant language is English, a relative inertness

concerning the areas of research on the eastern Baltic still prevails. Therefore
Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, and, currently to a smaller extent, Finns now
and then must themselves invest great efforts and considerable funds informing
people about their countries. () Hopefully, this book Latvia: Country and
People will not only serve as a handbook but will also extensively stimulate
research on Latvia and the Baltic region generally
(Ekmanis 1970).

Related or not, the activities of Baltic exile communities were also paralleled by
the institutionalisation of Baltic studies through the establishment of separate
centres for Baltic studies, institutes, or other academic units at Western
universities. A new level of cooperation and institutionalisation was reached in
1968 with the establishment of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic
Studies (AABS), which, since 1970, has also been the publisher of the Journal
of Baltic Studies. Similarly, the main exile organisations, each representing one
of three Baltic countries, established an umbrella organisation, the Pasaules
baltieu apvienba (the World Association of Baltic People) in 1972.
Summarising, the emergence and increasing popularity of the new context of
Latvian mythology Baltic studies illustrates the reflexive link between
knowledge production and political power. The disappearance of the independent nation-states changed both the agendas of research and their material
foundation, simultaneously creating new environments of scholarship. The new
research object required new academic politics and vice versa. On the other
hand, the new context was also related to new discoveries and theoretical
developments in the field.

3.4. The dynamics of research:

The Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics
The death of Josef Stalin in 1953 was followed by the so-called Khrushchev68
Thaw when political repressions, control and censorship were reversed or, at
least, significantly decreased all over the USSR. States of the Union also
facedcomprehensive cultural, economic and social reforms. Gradually the
changes reached the social and human sciences, allowing new approaches and
openings for the exploration of new or previously unwelcomed fields of
research. In folkloristics this meant, for example, the return of Vladimir Propps
structural analysis, previously condemned as reactionary formalism. So, starting
from the late 1950s, the attitude towards researching mythology also changed;
Latvian mythology, being still somewhat avoided in local research institutions,
became an object of interest in the larger research projects dedicated to Indo68

Nikita Khrushchev (18941971), First Secretary of the Communist party of the Soviet
Union from 1953 to 1964, Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964.

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European issues and the semiotics of culture. These were also among the central
interests of the Moscow-Tartu school, a unique Soviet academic and intellectual
movement established in the 1960s by long-lasting cooperation between two
centres of research Tartu in Estonia and Moscow in Russia. Usually called the
Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics, it covers to a broad range of research fields
from machine translation to the semiotics of cinema, the reconstruction of
proto-myths, and criticism of the arts. Its background was comprised of Yuri
Lotmans (19221993) semiotic theory, Roman Jakobsons (18961982)
linguistics, and the syntagmatic structuralism of Vladimir Propp (18951970).
Contrary to other directions of research outlined above, in respect of the
trends and historical-social circumstances of scholarship, the Moscow-Tartu
school appears to be a more consolidated, self-referring scholarly system, a
school with its own authorities, methods and sources. Even its terminology may
seem close to esoteric in its complexity. The emergence of this movement was
possible only after the death of Stalin, when formalism and structural theories
became the subjects of scholarly research and were no longer treated as a
radical danger to the official doctrine of Marxism-Leninism. Begun as
interdisciplinary disputes between the linguists and mathematicians, this
direction soon acquired its shape under the umbrella term of semiotics. Interest
in formal sign systems on the one hand and natural languages on the other hand
left it outside the political risk-zone. However, multidisciplinary research soon
led to problems beyond pure linguistics, specifically, to the studies of culture. It
also led beyond the borders of the USSR; seminars and summer schools in
Tartu were attended by famous linguist Roman Jakobson who had previously
left the Soviet Union, and even by the main figure of Western structuralism
Claude Lvi-Strauss. One of the successful accomplishments of the MoscowTartu school was the establishment of semiotics as a discipline in its own right.
However, academia was controlled by political bureaucracy and therefore the
term semiotics, with its Western connotations, was better avoided. Thus,
semiotics developed as modelling systems: natural languages were defined as
primary modelling systems and myth, literature, theatre and other texts were
called secondary modelling systems. Since the 1970s, culture had become the
central interest of researchers belonging to the Moscow-Tartu school. Culture
was understood as a functional correlation of various sign systems with their
mutual relations and hierarchical organisation in different settings or texts, in
the broadest sense of the last term, and structural arrangement of signs in
semantic oppositions became one of the basic principles of analysis (for more
background and history see Liukkonen 2008, Moscow-Tartu school 1998.
Online; or Waldstein 2008).
Formulaic, repetitive, variable, stable: myth and folklore are especially
appropriate objects for such analysis, being favoured by the founders of both
Western and Soviet structuralism. Consequently, linguistic anthropology of
myth and folklore also forms a significant volume of the research conducted
within this school of thought. Diachronic investigation into mythological motifs

25

97

allowed comprehensive conclusions, including the discovery of the most

archaic levels of narratives within the contemporary textual productions, for
example, poetry. Therefore, the search for archetypes as the most basic, most
persistent structures of culture took place at the meta-level, integrating various
historical forms of the same narrative into a unhistorical framework of analysis.
Based on these archaist concepts, Tartu-associated Moscow linguists and
anthropologists followed two major directions in their studies of myth and
folklore. One was the reconstruction of archaic and archetypical forms of myth
and the other consisted in tracing the role they played in shaping literature and
culture of more historical epochs (so-called historical poetics). The first
direction was pursued in the voluminous studies, often co-authored by
Viacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov, on Indo-European and Slavic
mythology
(Waldstein 2008: 113).

Regarding the Indo-European issues, the highest point of research was reached
in 1984 when two huge volumes of Indo-European language and IndoEuropeans were published by Thomas V. Gamkrelidze and Vjaeslav Ivanov.
In this project, the grammar and lexica of the hypothetical original IndoEuropean language were discussed, and assumptions were made on the social
structure, religion, and material culture of the hypothetical tribe that spoke the
language. The mythology forms a substantial part of this study, including
multiple examples from the Latvian area (cf. above p. 6368). This direction of
research implied not only the discovery and reconstruction of archetypical
stories but also the reconstitution of the whole mythopoetic, or myth
generating, universe of the ancient proto-Indo-Europeans and proto-Slavs in its
major structural coordinates (Waldstein 2008: 113). Ultimately, this reconstitution would allow the understanding of human culture in general,
discovering the universal grid of primordial differences and resemblances that
constitute the invariant paradigm of subsequent transformations, or the universal scheme of basic semantic oppositions (cf. Waldstein 2008). As suggested
by the colossal scale of this project, materials on Latvian mythology played a
rather minor role within the whole corpus of works by scholars representing the
Moscow-Tartu school. In general, resources relating to Latvian language and
folklore were used for meta-level reconstruction projects; context-wise, Latvian
mythology was first examined at the Baltic level, secondly at the Balto-Slavic
level, and finally at the most remote, Indo-European, level (p. 171176). From
the point of view of ideological analysis, it is important to repeat that the pattern
of research in this school of thought was not historic but linguistic and
structural. Despite this, diverse questions regarding Latvian mythology and the
linguistic material it carries were also analysed separately. Several articles were
published in multiple volumes of Balto-Slavic research, the complex
interdisciplinary series, started in 1981, as well as in Post-Soviet Latvia. Some
of these and their context will be analysed in detail in chapter four.

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3.5. The dynamics of research:

The transition from Soviet to national scholarship
The approaches and conclusions of the Moscow-Tartu school acquired real
significance to local research into Latvian mythology in the last two decades,
after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its academic system in 1990. The
breakdown of the USSR, expressed as the so-called National Awakening in the
Baltic states, showed once again the political instrumentalisation of folklore.
The popular trope the singing revolution applied to events of these years has
been used to describe their non-violent and culturally oriented nature. Folklore
and the folklorist movement played an import role in defining the new national
identity articulated in song and folklore festivals by comprehensive use of
ethnographic symbols and rhetorics referring to cultural heritage and ethnic
uniqueness (cf. Bula 2000, Kuutma 1998, Lindquist 2003). With folklore
everywhere on stage, expert and lay knowledge of folklore became interwoven
in a broad range of discursive practices. Public folklore blooming, academia
also experienced, figuratively speaking, a sort of explosion: large numbers of
previously forbidden, unavailable, or unwelcomed theories and works produced
during the previous fifty years in the Western world became subject to
discussion, uninterrupted by censorship and political control. The situation
regarding works of the pre-Soviet period or exile authors was also similar.
Various patterns of continuities and discontinuities show the contradictory
nature of this reclaimed academic heritage: on the one hand, filling the gaps left
by the preoccupation with certain themes and genres by Soviet Latvian
scholarship, and on the other hand, often being outdated from the theoretical
perspective.
Since the mid-1980s mythology again became the subject matter of research
by Latvian folklorists, introducing de Saussures distinction of language and
speech (Bula 1986), localising the Latvian netherworld in folksongs (Pakalns
1986), relating personifications of God and the Devil to a particular mode of
mythological thinking (Drzule 1986), or seeking a Latvian version of the
Frazerian resurrection deity (Kurste 1988). The first reaction to political
change was rather radical; accordingly, the changing relationship between the
circle of references and the ideological regime of knowledge production is
clearly evident in two collections of articles, edited by Jadviga Darbiniece
(1988 and 1992). The publications are separated by the restoration of Latvias
independence in 1990. Consequently, in the first collection, produced in the
LSSR, the vocabulary of the Moscow-Tartu School was applied and authorities
referred to; in the second collection the circle of references notably differs,
including many names from the interwar period and exile scholars; new
theoretical approaches were also introduced. Among other publications from the
transitional period, translations of classical works were rather rare: the
dominant formats for this accumulation of new knowledge were shorter articles

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and re-prints of works already written in Latvian 69 . A freshly discovered

theoretical approaches to research into mythology was a synthesis of archetype
(Jungian) psychoanalysis and the phenomenology of religion, championed by
exile Latvian scholar and poet Roberts Mks, who also introduced Latvian
readers to the works of Mircea Eliade (19071986) and provided an overview
of other popular theories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Mks
1991)70. Andris Rubenis published an original compilation based on MoscowTartu school works, called Cilvks mtiskaj pasaules ain (the Man in the
mythical worldview, 1994); originally written in other languages, the main
works of Haralds Biezais were translated and commented upon. Biezais himself
published several purpose-written articles, introducing recent trends in research
on religion and observing particular folklore-related questions 71 . Researcher,
and later the president of Latvia (19992007), Vaira Ve-Freiberga published
several works on ancient religion and mythical Sun both in Canada and Latvia
(cf. Lse 1997).
Starting with the Janna Kurstes article Pasaules radanas (kosmoloisk)
mta atspulgs latvieu tautasdziesms (Reflection of the world creation
(cosmological) myth in Latvian folksongs, 1991) Moscow-Tartu school
informed mythopoetic studies were nationalised and localised in Latvia.
Further, this approach was anchored with several other notable publications by
Kurste a few years later. Her authority as one of the leading and most active
current researchers notably contributed to the continuity of structural-semiotic
studies within the local research institutions (see Kurste 1996, 1999). Member
of Parliament, Dean of the previous Faculty of Philology of the University of
Latvia, Vice Rector of the Academy of Culture (19951997), Full Member of
Latvian Academy of Sciences since 1997 are just several current and previous
positions that make her one of, if not the most influential folklorist in Latvia
today. Trained at the Faculty of Philology at the University of Tartu in the early
1970s, she continued her scholarly career at the Institute of Literature, Folklore
and Art in Riga, acquiring a Doctors degree in Philology in 1982 and a
Habilitated Doctors degree in Philology in 1993 (see Latvian Scientists.
Online). Kurstes scholarly interests are manifested in publications, the
organisation of fieldwork, and courses given at the University of Latvia,
ranging from Baltic mythology and Latvian folklore to the poetics of poetry and
national identity. Following the methodology of the Moscow-Tartu school,
Kurste discovers particularly Latvian archetypes, connects the ancient mythical
images with contemporary cultural products, contextualises these archetypes
69

In addition, from the interwar period, like Straubergs Latvian charms and Latvian folk
customs.
70
The ones by M. Mller, H. Spencer, J. Frazer, G. van der Leeuw, S. Freud, etc.
71
Like the notion of folksong, variation in folksongs, deity Laima, the genesis of witches,
Dievturi movement, and critique of structural analysis of Latvian mythology. In context of
the return of Dievturi the discussion of Vitauts Kalve (19131989) and Konstantns Karulis
(19151997), regarding the authenticity of deity Mra, must also be mentioned.

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with the supposed Indo-European world-view, and maps the Latvian

mythological world according to the set of semantic oppositions. Thus, despite
the origin of this theory in the USSR, contemporary research on Latvian
mythology may be again characterised as nationally oriented, in a similar way
to the spirit of the interwar period. Kurstes approach is followed by many of
her students (e.g. Smilgaine 2004 on mythological space in lullabies).
Mythology and mythological space were also subject matters for works written
by several researchers now working at the Archives of Latvian Folklore and
regional universities. Guntis Pakalns analysed the notion of the soul in
folksongs (Pakalns 1991b) and the location of the Latvian mythological land of
the dead, questioning exclusively folksong-based approaches regarding the
latter (Pakalns 1991a); his stance concerning the so-far reconstructed
mythologem of the doors of Gods House was similarly critical (in Darbiniece
1992). Elza Kokare was the only researcher of this time concerned with the
systematic analysis of ancient Latvian mythology as a system. In two
comprehensive articles (Kokare 1991; Darbiniece 1992) she briefly outlined the
research history of Latvian mythology, its sources and their validity, as well as
reconstructing a dynamic system of Latvian deities, emphasising the relativity
of their appearances within different genres of folklore and according to
geographical distribution, originally categorising mythological beings into
seven semantic/functional groups. Although several years later, the head of the
Archives of Latvian Folklore Dace Bula wrote the only reflexive history
monograph on Latvian folkloristics, deconstructing the notion of the singing
nation: a stereotype based on fusion of national romanticism, promotion of
folklore collecting, and early mass mobilisation by the song festivals movement
(Bula 2000). Here she also defined the role of folksongs, a dominant genre of
Latvian folklore, in the 1990s: Reference to folksongs serves as a rhetorical
precaution against the loss of national identity, cosmopolitisation of culture, and
invasion of mass culture, which are foreseen due to Latvia overcoming the
Soviet eras detachment from the cultural context of Europe and the world
(2000: 4). While such concerns in the majority of cases manifest within the area
of public folklore, recent publications characterise academic discourse on
Latvian mythology as a contested realm of knowledge production where
different traditions of research are continued and re-vitalised in the works of
particular authors or, on the contrary, ignored or referred to as historical facts in
the works of others. During the last few years the new national research
tradition relating to mythology has crystallised into two trajectories heritage
scholarship, represented by translations and publications of works previously
unavailable in Latvian (e.g. Biezais 2006 and 2008), and original research, both
concerning the sources of the research (e.g. in multiple articles by Aldis Ptelis)
and mythological phenomena72.
72

Although as yet there are no published monographs, to my knowledge at least two

doctoral dissertations have been written and successfully defended: by Gatis Ozoli (2006)

16

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4. Conclusion: Periodisation of the research

The scholarship of Latvian mythology has developed alongside the main
political events of the twentieth century, followed by the accumulation of the
ideological resources necessary for the formation of new scholarly paradigms.
The most significant of these events were both World Wars with the
establishment and decline of the independent republic, and the regaining of
sovereignty during The Third National Awakening in 1990. As the current
chapter of the thesis demonstrates, several research trajectories can be
distinguished among the general history. However, scholarly history does not
exactly follow political history due to the dynamic character of knowledge
production. Overlapping and heterogeneous, these trajectories or traditions of
research are constituted by differences in at least four facets: the availability of
sources, theoretical trends, political regimes, and personal agendas. Keeping in
mind the reconstructed nature of Latvian mythology, the availability of sources
is the first and foremost condition determining the possibility and shape of
myth-related scholarly practices. The selection of particular sources, methods
and purposes of interpretation corresponds to the theoretical trends that have
developed over time. This, in its turn, is a synchronic process: differing from
researcher to researcher, at the same time preferring the most up to date or older
theories. While sources are local (as are folklore materials) or related to a
nearby region (as are historical records), theoretical trends and their
international transmission locate each research tradition in the context of
general disciplinary developments. Each political regime, in its turn, determines
the ideological articulation of knowledge production in a range from opposition,
to subjection to state power and its agenda. While these three facets characterise
the mandatory, to some extent objective circumstances shaping research into
mythology, the personal agendas of the researchers involved are active variables
that shape research from the set of potentialities.
Thus, the mid and second halves of the nineteenth century faced the initial
stage of the conceptualisation of Latvian mythology, involving, on the one
hand, the emerging ethnic intelligentsia with the national romantic agenda, and,
on the other hand, comparative mythologists of German origin. Fusion of
scholarly and popular narratives was a distinct feature of this time, often
occurring due to the sharing of multiple roles by one and the same person: being
a scholar, poet, and Neo-Latvian. Sources for the research were collected at the
same time: folklore materials, resulting in the first voluminous editions, and
historical records, gathered and studied. A critical perspective on sources
evolved with the increase of quantity and necessity to develop editorial
practices for the publications. The arsenal of theories available for researchers
came either from German comparative linguistics and comparative mythology,
on totemism in folksongs, defended in Daugavpils, and Sandis Laime (2012) on raganas
(witches, fairies) defended in Riga.

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articulated in directions of solar (or other forces of nature) mythology, and

recognition of kinship between mythologies of people speaking in Baltic
languages, or from the British school of anthropology, providing the theories of
emanism and animism, as well as an evolutionist perspective on studies of
religion. Disposition towards political ideology also varies greatly depending a
particular researchers standing and agenda. On the one hand, there were
explicit contra Baltic German and to some extent contra Russian Empire
narratives, articulating ethnic identity against a background of Enlightenment
political ideals and often targeting the larger imagined community rather than
the narrow circles of academia. On the other hand, allegiances were formed
with the institutional bodies of the Russian Empire and its intentions of
ethnographical mapping of its subjects; here the ambivalence of a situation in
which national narratives were articulated within the virtual network of
intellectuals centred around the universities in Moscow, Dorpat and St.
Petersburg played out. Moreover, scholars belonging to local a Germanspeaking elite increase the complexity of this time with their own agenda,
bearing somewhat colonial traits that result in a strong tendency to backdate and
articulate as (static, deceasing, lower) heritage the Latvian culture and
mythology within it (cf. Blenteins 1995). The turn of the century brought the
decline of national romanticism, giving the stage to more instrumental and mass
oriented ideas of political leftist ideology, as well as increasing the
professionalisation of the discipline and fortification of theoretical positions.
Simultaneously with the appearance of new approaches (e.g. psychoanalysis or
the sociology of religion) World War I broke out, to a large extent terminating
the debates and developments in research formed in the previous two decades.
Within the margins of war new approaches were developed and rose to full
recognition in the qualitatively different interwar period.
World War I was followed by the first monograph in the field, still among
the most popular, the book titled Latvieu mitoloija (Latvian Mythology) by
Pteris mits, and by the declaration of the independent Republic of Latvia in
the same year, 1918. Simultaneously with the establishment of research and
teaching institutions, research on Latvian mythology as a self-contained realm
of knowledge also acquired its shape. The whole area of folkloristics went
through processes of institutionalisation and nationalisation, bounded by the
newly established state and devoting the disciplines efforts to discovering and
articulating the national particularity. Despite the unification of the ideological
regime of knowledge production, the theoretical dimension differed even more
than before, referring to multiple academic trends developing at this period of
time worldwide. As analysed further, researchers personal agendas played an
obvious role, depending on disciplinary background (varying from history and
philology to studies of religion), involvement in other fields of research,
political standing (especially in the early years), institutional affiliation, etc.
More consolidated sources were available for the reconstructions of mythology,
still some of the largest editions, for example, of customs or charms, were

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published only at the very end of the period, as well as Mannhardts LettoPreussische Gotterlehre (1936) which provided one of the most important
collections of historical records. The research work conducted during the
interwar period was suspended by World War II. Some scholars continued
working, some went into exile, while some became victims of the Soviet
regime. As a result, the post-war situation developed two different traditions of
research on Latvian mythology.
After 1944, mythology was kind of a forbidden subject in the Soviet
Socialistic Republic of Latvia due to its closeness to studies of religion and low
compatibility with the new definition of folkloristics. Mythological subject
matters were interpreted strictly along the lines of Soviet Marxism and
Leninism. Soviet Latvian folklorists mainly conducted historical research of
folklore genres, paying much attention to representations of the class struggle.
Briefly, the theoretical approach was already determined by the political
regime; therefore researchers personal agendas had not such an influence as
before, or abroad. In this setting, a sophisticated culture of references justifying
the chosen subject matter was developed in order to quote unimpeachable
Communist Party authorities. The availability of sources was better than ever,
but discussion using the ideas and authors of the previous period was seen as
unmasking their incorrect ideology and lack of understanding of the
materialistic world-view. Summarising, For almost 50 years the progression of
Latvian folkloristics is defined by the advantages of Soviet research schools as
well as their imposed self-isolation and disassociation from the baneful
influence of alien thinking (Bula 2004: 19).
At the same time, several scholars went in the exile and continued their work
abroad, the most prominent of them in Sweden. The heritage of the exile
generation was used to transform the research into Latvian mythology
according to new principles shifting the emphasis from folkloristics towards
the history of religion, and re-interpreting mythology according to the most up
to date theories. In Western scholarship these new principles also manifested in
the redefinition of the research object Latvian mythology was more often
analysed as a constitutive part of Baltic mythology or Baltic religion recontextualising the data gathered within the national tradition of research.
Although several studies (e.g. that by Biezais) show no lack of sources for
reconstructions, both major publications of folksongs and fairytales were republished abroad in this period. As migr scholars mainly continued working
on the same themes, their ideological alignment remained the same: towards the
idea of sovereign Latvia, positioned in the totally different post-war situation.
Very little research has been performed on the specifics of exile mentality and
the possible influences of such a disposition on knowledge production;
however, it is probably that researchers personal agendas and new institutional
affiliations played an important role in shaping the research done.
Later the practices of Soviet Latvian and exile scholars were paralleled by a
completely different discourse that developed in a different environment by

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the so-called Moscow-Tartu school, the leading semiotic and linguistic research
project in the Soviet Union, based, according to its title, outside the territory and
institutions of the LSSR. The projects scope, interdisciplinary nature and
volume of research works produced make it hard to label; especially in relation
to continuity after the change of political regime in 1990. At the same time, the
success of this school in its particular political situation came from the
methodologically constructed un-historicity of structural and comparativelinguistic approach to cultural studies, reaching far beyond the sphere of
expertise of Marxism-Leninism. Thus, this discourse provided the subject
matter for one more strategy of coping with power relations with knowledge
production, again modified by the diversity of scholars personal agendas and
the contexts of every particular research project.
More recent developments of folkloristics in Latvia show a complex scene
of theoretical plurality in the context of a re-established nation state and its
agenda, at the same time challenged by the postmodern demands of ideological
criticism. The advanced methodology developed within the Moscow-Tartu
School was questioned, nationalised and continued. Simultaneously, recognition
and popularisation of previously ideologically improper research took place,
as well as the exploration of brand new approaches to the same subject matter in
circumstances of more widely available sources than ever. At this stage a
geographical consolidation of previously parallel scholarly trajectories
occurred. From these periods, the most fruitful in the field of research into
Latvian mythology was the interwar period. As a time of establishment of
institutionalised research of subject matter, it is analysed in the next chapter of
the thesis, paying special attention to key personalities, their main works, and
the contexts shaping these works.

27

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CHAPTER III:
The interwar period
This chapter concerns the academic research into Latvian mythology within the
disciplines of folkloristics, history, and the studies of religion in the interwar
period. I have divided it into three sections, each focused on a specific
dimension: the first section maps the period from the perspective of the main
theoretical trends and introduces the personalities central to the field, with a
separate sub-section covering folklore genres as the most influential factor in
the conceptualisations of mythological space; the second section features two
case studies of life histories and the intertwined relationship of academic and
political endeavours; and the third section demonstrates how the above
described contexts influence particular studies of mythological space. The
chapter is concluded with a summary of the main traits of this period. Each
cluster of subchapters might be read independently from the other two. The
themes and personalities described in this chapter may seem to overlap, but the
repetition of certain names is chosen purposefully to separate and emphasise
this or that other facet of knowledge production: the general context, the power
relationships, and theoretical dynamics.
Pteris mits represents the link between scholarship before and after World
War I; he was also an important person for the establishment of independent
Latvian academia and folkloristics as an independent discipline. Arveds vbe
contributed to unique interdisciplinary studies of mythology and folklore,
exploring the potential of these sources in the fields of history, law, and
sociology. The works of Mrti Bruenieks and his discussions with other
authors represents the role of animistic theories in texts written on Latvian
deities and customs. The phenomenology of religion as one of the methods in
research on Latvian mythology, especially popular in the Faculty of Theology at
the University of Latvia, is analysed in a separate subchapter, introducing the
main works and ideas of Voldemrs Maldonis and Ludvigs Adamovis. The life
history and main works of Krlis Straubergs, head of Archives of Latvian
Folklore, is generally contextualised at the beginning, while his political career
and its relationship with academic endeavours is analysed in a separate
subchapter. Moreover, two articles by Straubergs on mythological space are
analysed within the third section: written at the beginning and end of the
interwar period, they illustrate the changes of theoretical setting and relationship to life history of this scholar in this period. To demonstrate a different
trajectory of equally influential political and academic careers, a separate
subchapter concerns power and knowledge relationships in the works and life of
vbe. Due to its comprehensive nature, the conception of Latvian mythological
space in the works of Adamovis is overviewed separately from the initial
subchapter on this scholar.

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1. Personalities and theories

1.1. Personalities and theories: Pteris mits
Pteris mits (18691938) was a recognised and influential scholar in three
disciplines: philology, folkloristics, and sinology. Over almost thirty years
working far from Latvia (in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and China) he was still
actively reviewing publications on Latvian folklore and ethnography as well as
publishing his own research in these fields. As a well-known scholar mits
returned to Latvia in 1920 and started lecturing at the newly established University of Latvia. In addition to other research activities, he was the editor of the
largest collection of Latvian folktales and legends (19251937) and also the
author of the largest edition of Latvian beliefs, in four tomes (post mortem,
19401941). His bibliography consists of more than five hundred entries (Ozols
1939, Hartmut 1982). From 1920 to 1938 the professor worked in the Faculty of
Philology and Philosophy at the University of Latvia. For two years he was also
a dean of the same faculty, among his positions were head of the Society of
Philologists, member of the collegium of Archives of Latvian Folklore, and
head of the Science Committee of the Riga Latvian Society (Endzelns 1940: 7).
At the University of Latvia he lectured on general and Baltic philology,
folklore, Latvian mythology73, Latvian traditions, Chinese language and culture,
etc. (Rozenbergs 1998: 115). A large number of mits works consist of short
or mid-length articles on particular notions or historical facts in folksongs.
Gradually generalising his research as well as reflecting the ideas of German
politician and scholar Otto Bckel (18521923), mits developed the theory of
the age of folksongs. Accordingly, folksongs mainly depict three periods of
time: the relative freedom of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the loss of
peasant freedoms in the following two centuries, and the age of decline in the
last three centuries. Regarding the latter, he refers to the well known theory
that subjugated people are still good singers, but no longer the creators of songs
(mits 1932a: 13; 1937 etc., cf. Bckel 1906).
Latvieu mitoloija (Latvian mythology, 1918, 1926, 2009) by mits is the
first systematic scholarly work on the subject matter. Although often criticised
(critiques by fellow researchers is included in the corresponding overviews on
other authors) regarding methods and lack of the depth of research due to too
broad a range of features observed, it established a base for many further
publications in the field. mits bibliography includes several works giving
general overviews of Latvian mythology; the most comprehensive is the second
edition of Latvian mythology, published in 1926. The principle of this book is
defined in its conclusion: The purpose of this writing was awakening readers
love of the peoples old belief (mits 2009: 110). In general, mits calls the
mythology the remains of the ancient pagan belief (mits 1932b: 176); in
addition, he writes about the myths of ancient times which one can reconstruct
73

Academic years 1921/22, 1926/27, 1931/32, 1934/35, 1937/38.

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with the methods of comparative mythology using the myths of Lithuanian and
other Indo-European nations. Further, the evidence from ancient Latvian,
Lithuanian and Prussian languages should be verified with materials from the
fields of archaeology and ethnography (mits 1937, 2009). In Latvian
mythology various mythological theories, possibilities for the application of
folklore material in research, the Indo-European proto-language and people who
spoke it, particular deities and patrons, household cults and the worship of
mythological Mothers, eschatology, ancient celebrations and rites, and flora and
fauna in mythological material are observed. At the same time, the work also
includes multidirectional critique, thus characterising the status quo of the
discipline at this time. First of all, mits opposes theories and pseudo-pantheons
created by early mythographers like Lithuanian Teodor Narbutt (17841864)
and Latvian Juris Alunns (18321864). Second, he points out un-authentic or
forged sources of Latvian mythology and mentions several people whose
contributions of folklore materials should not be trusted. Third, is the critique of
fellow researchers, especially, Mrti Bruenieks74. mits also established a
certain standard regarding the use of folklore material in the reconstruction of
mythology. Here he advocated folksongs as the most reliable genre, because in
fairytales and legends there are too many international motifs, while customs
and beliefs are too heavily influenced by Christianity (mits 2009: 109).
Informed by the works of Edward Burnett Tylor, Tito Vignoli, Georg
Friedrich Creuzer and Carl Gustav Carus, the author briefly outlines the
development of the discipline in the nineteenth century: from fetishism or
naturism to animism, which had divided into two branches: manism (based on
the cult of ancestors) and animatism (suggesting different origins of gods
related to the cult of ancestors); a further theory is emanism, developed from the
concept of mana. mits characterises the animism and its branches as an
outdated theory, on this ground criticising its followers in Latvia. mits also
states that totemism is not characteristic to Indo-Europeans: if it had existed in
pre-historical times, then in known Indo-European myths there is no evidence
on totems (mits 1926: 96). Further he also describes the well-known features
of totemism to clarify his point (mits 2009: 97).
In Latvian mythology mits refers to the languages, customs and myths of
more than twenty nations. The linguistic comparison is especially important
because it is the ground upon which mits bases reference to the ancient IndoEuropean proto-language, which allows him to speak about the protomythology common to people who spoke this language (p. 6368). Unique
among the comparative material are references to ancient Chinese myths and
beliefs, although this is not surprising, bearing in mind that mits was also a
74

Contrary to Bruenieks, mits belonged to the circle of researchers who claimed that
deity Mra is Christian borrowing: it is Virgin Mary who, within the vernacular religion, has
appropriated several features of other deity, Laima. The authenticity of Mra is questioned
still today in public debates; one of the reasons of this long discussion might be her status in
neo-pagan pantheon (cf. Brasti 1966).

108

sinologist. In general, mits approach of comparative mythology is based on

comparative linguistics. If there is a lack of sources on particular questions of
Latvian mythology, mits invokes the existence of the same phenomenon in the
ancient Indo-European community, most often referring to Leopold von
Schroeders Arische Religion (1914). However, these are more like references
to materials from different nations collected by Schroeder rather than
Schroeders theoretical framework, which was based on the hypothesis that the
basis of religion is respect for nature, the cult of the dead, and moral
consciousness.

1.2. Personalities and theories: Arveds vbe

Arveds vbe (18881959) was one of the brightest and most contradictory
Latvian intellectuals of the first half of the twentieth century. vbe survived
two revolutions and two World Wars and was exiled in Vladivostok, Germany,
and Sweden; becoming from a peasant boy a member of parliament, a university professor and Vice-Director of the Institute of History, he has left an
impressive heritage in the fields of Latvian history, folkloristics and law studies
(see p. 7074 for a detailed life history and political career). vbe gained his
fame mainly from works on history and the history of law; in a way, his
contribution to research on folkloristics and mythology needs to be rediscovered today. Firstly, he did not work in the Archives of Folklore and did
not read courses on folkloristics in the interwar period; secondly, in the postwar period his works were officially forbidden in Soviet Latvia75 and taken out
of public circulation. Evaluation of his texts was straightforward: As it is well
known, providing rich folk materials A. vbe in his writings on Latvian culture
and history expresses ideas of bourgeois nationalism, later reaching undisguised
forgery of Latvian history and the glorification of fascism (Ambainis 1958:
44). Not so well known are the facts that before the institutionalisation of
Latvian folkloristics vbe published several unique interdisciplinary studies
and was the first to start classification of Latvian folktales and legends
according to the contemporary system developed by Antti Aarne. Summarising,
his approach to folkloristics was original and on some questions opposite to the
dominant tendencies of research.
Among his other interests, vbe worked intensively on research into
folklore four times during and after World War I, in the 1930s, during World
War II, and in exile in Sweden. However, only writings from the first period are
related to mythology. His interest in folkloristics started during the studies of
aesthetics and art theory in Moscow. The first influences on research into
folksongs from a sociological point of view can be traced back to Arbeit und
Rhytmus (1909) by Karl Bcher and the anthropological essay Burtnieka pil
75

All his works except those published before 1917 were to be removed from public
circulation (Cf. Arveds vbe: zintnisk darbba. Online).

28

109

(In the castle of burtnieks) by Krlis Zalts. Consequently, the first article in
the discipline published by vbe is Latvju dainas k materils socioloiskai
esttikai (Latvian folksongs as a material for sociological aesthetics, 1914)
in the leftist newspaper Domas (Thoughts). Next year this was followed by
Latvieu Dievs un latvieu velns (Latvian God and Latvian devil) and
(Echoes of
the national struggle in Latvian mythography); in both articles God and the
devil were analysed in the context of their historical emergence and to some
extent related to class struggle.
As vbe had always considered mythology a mirror image of a particular
society, historical records were essential to his interpretation of folklore texts
and vice versa folklore was treated as a source for historical research.
Importantly, vbe recognised mythology as a dynamic system that changes
and develops over time. Therefore, in his first works the young researcher
already paid attention to folklores contexts of genesis and performance. Instead
of folk lore he analysed the lore of masters and servants, recruits and peasants.
In Echoes of national struggle vbe referred to Wilhelm Wundts Vlkerpsychologie regarding the mutual relationships of various folklore genres. There
vbe also stated that folktales, although internationally distributed, are an older
genre than folksongs, and despite the international motifs, folktale is also a
national genre, because mythography is always rooted in particular economical
and social circumstances. At the same time, the article shows a tendency to
solve theoretical problems of the broadest scale through the narrowly
folkloristic investigation of folksongs, customs, and tales. This tendency also
characterises vbes work in the field later, going jointly with a genuinely
interdisciplinary approach.
Since his high school days vbe had been involved in leftist activities:
participating in illegal meetings on the eve of 1905s Revolution, becoming one
of the most popular lecturers at the workers clubs all over the Latvia and
working in Social Democrat newspapers. It is the obvious context for the turn of
interpretation that he chooses in one of the early articles Latvju dainu
esttisks tradcijas (Aesthetic traditions of Latvian folksongs, 1923; based
on Latvian folksongs as a material for sociological aesthetics). In this essay
folklore materials are used for the study of ethnological aesthetics, referring to
the works of Charles Darwin. According to vbes position, the poetics of
folklore are totally historically determined; therefore, such analysis provides an
opportunity to objectively research a particular nations world-view. As in his
other early essays, folksongs are analysed in their historical context, but their
content is perceived as a dynamic system, without preference for examples from
one or other age. At the end of the day, this led to a characteristic classrelationship related conclusion: Such was the tendency of economic life: to
deprive ornamentals from the lower class of people and to give it away to
servitude to the higher classes. But this tendency was not fulfilled: it was

110

broken by the German yoke, in the end making all Latvians servants of alien
masters (vbe 1923: 17 ).
The most original of vbes early works is probably the article Ozols un
liepa latvieu reliij (Oak and lime in Latvian religion, 1920, 1923). Here
the author tries to prove two very ambitious statements: first, the cult of oak and
lime trees is enclosed and exclusively part of the Latvian religion, and second, it
is very close to an early form of religious consciousness from the evolutionist
perspective totemism. For this purpose vbe explored more than a thousand
folksongs, some customs, and historical records. The theoretical background of
the article mainly consists of publications by mile Durkheim and James
Frazer. vbe also refers to mits Latvian mythology, the most detailed study
of the subject matter at this time, although he disagreed with mits
conclusions. Referring to Durkheim, vbe separates the fields of religion and
magic, and consequently states that the cult of oak and lime trees is a religious
system with multiple laws, obligations, and cult practices, etc. This line of
thought also has its ideological undertones: the Latvian nation-state had just
recently been established, and its own, exclusively Latvian ancient religion
could serve as convincing grounds for a decent national identity. The other
question, about the totemistic nature of this cult, is problematic. If convincingly
solved, this question would definitely grant the author international recognition.
vbes ambitions are well characterised by this particular quote of his from
Frazers Totemism and exogamy edition of 1867: If proved for one Aryan
people, it might be regarded as proved for all; since totemism could scarcely
have been developed by any one Aryan branch after the dispersion, and there is
no evidence or probability that it ever was borrowed (Frazer 1910: 86; vbe
1923: 69). Therefore, if vbe could prove that ancient Latvians had a
totemistic religion, he could prove that all Aryan people had it; hence, every
religion passes through the same consequent stages of development until it
reaches the monotheism. After the analysis of totemism, and the exogamy76 in
the cult of oak and lime trees that usually followed it, vbe concludes that
quasi totemism, namely a particular type of social and religious relationship
similar to gender-totemism described by Frazer earlier77, could be characteristic
to Latvians. Interestingly, the author also relates this quasi totemism to class
relationships stating that the belief in oak and lime trees was only a
masters/landlords belief (vabe 1923: 71). In general, this article precisely
characterises the scope of vbes research and his orientation towards the
international scientific community. Research related to exogamy later served as
a basis for the authors first monograph Dzimts satversme (Constitution of the
kinship group, 1921), a work notably influenced by the sociological conceptions
76

vbe sees the remains of exogamy in the often encountered formula taking of wife
from over-district; from this he concludes that there was a ban on marriage inside one clan
or tribe in times when there were no districts as territorial units.
77
vbe admits that Frazer had declined this term himself, but does not see it as an
obstacle for application to studies of the Latvian mythology.

111

of William Westermann, Friedrich Engels, Lewis Henry Morgan, Maksim

Kovalevsky, and Pavel Vinogradov.
In the concise article Latvju saule (Latvian Sun, 1920a, 1923), folklore
is analysed as contextual and class-related narrative in a similar way to
Aesthetic traditions of Latvian folksongs; after referring to multiple folksongs
the conclusion is that the mythological Sun belongs to the ruling class; and,
reflecting this class, the Sun is accompanied by the institution of servants. In
1917191978 vbe conducted research into war folksongs, the theme to which
he returned to in exile after more than three decades. vbe traces the developments of the genre, relating the content of folksongs with particular forms of
military service, from raids on neighbouring tribes to regular service in the
Tsars army. As vbe in his early studies seldom referred to comparative
materials from other folklores, this article is unique due to its multiple
references to corresponding Lithuanian folksongs. vbe adopts the point of
view of Charlotte Burn (Burn 1914) who regarded the ballad as the oldest form
of narrative poetry. The analysis of ballads besides archaeological evidence and
historical records led vbe to summarise that Latvians (mainly Latgalians)
were peaceful crop growers and the opposite to neighbouring belligerent tribes,
especially the Livs. Concerning research into mythology, the statement in this
article that the Moon was a Latvian deity of the war is interesting; unfortunately, this line of thought was not developed further.
vbes interest in researching folktales was summed up in the article
Pasaku psicholoija un motivi (The motifs and psychology of folktales,
1923 [1921]). Here vbes point of departure was the above-mentioned thesis
by Wundts that fairytales represent an older form of narrative than folksongs;
therefore, they are a suitable source for the research of mythology. Further,
understanding the psychological motifs, origins, passing, and performance of
fairytales is claimed as necessary for their adequate interpretation. vbe also
refers to Wundt on the classification of myths, and to Durkheim on the relation
between myths and religion; several theories of mythology are also described
and evaluated. The author clarifies his own point of view when introducing
Latvian readers to the theory of collective representations and the pre-logical
mode of thinking conceptualised by the famous French ethnologist Lucien
Lvy-Bruhl. The article is also important for the historical research on Latvian
folktales as a genre, because vbe also introduced here tale type classification
by Anti Arne. vbe was also the first to prepare the edition of Latvian folktales
(19231924) according to Aarnes Verzeichnis der Mrchentypen (1910),
including references to corresponding Finnish, Estonian, German, and Russian
tales. Altogether two volumes or nine books (700 pages) were published and the
work was then continued by Pteris mits. Further specializing in history and
studies of law, vbes interests in folkloristics changes from social aesthetics,
78

The article was published in several numbers of the monthly Taurtjs (The Herald) in
Moscow.

112

folktales and mythology to the reconstruction of historical facts and the ancient
legal system reflected in folklore materials (e.g. vbe 1932). Articles written
after 1930 are most often based on folksong analysis and published as introductions to particular chapters of folksong editions (vbe 1930a, b; 1931a, b;
1952, 1953a, b, etc.); no theoretical problems of the previous scale were solved.
Exceptional from the period of World War II is a historical review and analysis
of all previous Latvian folksong research, Dai dainoloijas jautjumi (Some
questions of the folksong research, 1944), published with the pseudonym
Arveds Vilks. Here vbe also provides outlines for future scholarship oral
tradition and a tradition bearer centred approach to folksongs79. During the war
vbe prepared a more than one-hundred-page manuscript Folklora (The
Folklore, LVVA 7118) in which he outlines the history of folkloristics and
suggests basic scientific principles that would establish it as a scientific
discipline in its own right. Multiple references and the structure of the text
suggest that, supplemented with the overview on historical sources of Baltic
folklore, it is a rather close adaptation of Arnold van Gennaps work of the
same title La folklore (1924), updated with the most recant debates within the
field (Bula 2012). Unfortunately, the manuscript remains unpublished.

1.3. Personalities and theories: Mrti Bruenieks

Articles by Mrti Bruenieks (18661950) represent the opposition to most
popular theories of the interwar period, as the latter were manifested in works of
established scholars from the official research institutions. From 1888 to 1892
he studied Slavonic philology in Moscow, then worked as a teacher in Riga
until 1892 when he moved to Kiev, also teaching and lecturing at the local
university. A supporter of the New Currents ideas, he published in Dienas
Lapa and other periodicals in the late nineteenth century. In 1922 Bruenieks
returned to Latvia and became a teacher in the small town of Jkabpils. This
marginal position in the field of education might well be correlated to his
oppositionist stance within the interwar discourse on mythology. From 1944 he
held an associate professorship of German language at the University of Latvia,
despite being decorated by the Cross of Recognition in 1939 (cf. Snala 2006).
Bruenieks constantly defended two principles that had found no other
follower amongst the leading scholars of the interwar period the theory of
animism, i.e. the emergence of religious life from the cult of the dead, and the
notion of Mra as a genuine Latvian deity instead of a localised Virgin Mary. In
the field of mythology research, all of the authors efforts were devoted to
elaboration and defence of these two themes. Following the leading nineteenth
79

Although there are no direct references, the concepts and vocabulary explored
demonstrate certain parallels with the ideas introduced to international scholarship by Carl
Wilhelm von Sydow (e.g. biology of tradition, emphasis of the role of tradition bearers) and
Milman Parry (e.g. the notion of formula).

29

113

century animistic theory of Herbert Spencer and Sir Edward Tylor, Bruenieks
in general extended their approach with notions of the oldest stage of religion
pre-animism or emanism, as formulated by Konrad Theodor Preuss and
Alfred Vierkandt (Bruenieks 1928: 20) a belief that everything, tree, animal,
human, etc., emanates a particular force. Bruenieks also saw pantheism in the
ancient Latvian world-view (Bruenieks 1930), an idea popularised in his time
by poetry and articles by romantic Latvian poets like Fricis Brda (cf. Zeiferts
1934: 496; Brda 1990). Interestingly, Bruenieks disagreed with the majority
of scholars on the role of particular folklore genres in the reconstruction of
Latvian mythology. Thus, he doubted the role of folksongs, stating that they
were more likely to represent poesy and fantasy, and images in folk songs are
not related to real cult practices. Instead, one should prefer customs and
folktales (Bruenieks 1926: 1; 1930: 3). Although there is no evidence of such a
custom in ancient Latvia, Bruenieks referred to various other cultures to claim
that the cult of ancestors arises from the practice of burying dead under the
hearth. Informed by Durkheims Elementary forms of religious life (1911), the
author stated that notions of soul and, further, deity arose from particular
burial customs (cf. Coulanges 1905 [1864]). His argument is that the similarity
of Latvian beliefs with those of cultures that had such burial practices80 prove
the validity of this concept also when researching the Latvian material.
Following the same direction, Bruenieks stated that both winter and summer
solstices are festivities of the spirits of the dead (Bruenieks 1928; 1930). While
the majority of researchers agreed that Mra represents a localised version of
the Virgin Mary that has acquired some functions of pagan deities like Laima,
Bruenieks disagreed and insisted that Mras origins lay in ancient India and
that the name comes from a Sanskrit stem m meaning to destroy, kill. He
developed this hypothesis in classical comparative-mythology style relating
Mra to the Roman god of war Mars, the Slavic evil spirit Kikimora, and Holda
from German mythology. Moreover, he claimed that Laima and Mra is the
same bipolar deity, identical also with Veu mte, Mother of the Dead 81 .
According to the animistic approach, this deity is the same dead mother of the
kin, while God is the dead father of the kin. This leads to exclusion of other
Mothers from the ancient Latvian pantheon, claiming that they are poetical
personifications (Bruenieks 1926:13) with the exception of the Mother of
Milk and the Mother of Satiety. Interestingly, as functions of Mra are often
related to cows (in his version also functions of the Mother of the Dead),
Bruenieks noted that these are remains of totemistic beliefs (Bruenieks
1926:22).
80

In addition to common references to Lithuanian, Prussian, German and Slavonic folklore

materials, Bruenieks comparative scope includes references to Judaic, Indian, Roman,
Sicilian, Ancient Greek and Fijian materials as well as the Old Testament and the writings of
Paracelsus.
81
Regarding various identities of one deity, Bruenieks refers to Sigismund Freuds Totem
and taboo.

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Often criticised by fellow scholars, Bruenieks maintained his positions by

replying with the same. The most criticised was mits because the latter derived
deities from abstract notions, underestimated the summer solstice, pointed out
Christian characteristics and the late emergence of folksongs, denied the
morality of medieval Latvians, etc. Adamovis Ancient Latvian religion is a
compilation based on mits works and has a little to do with scholarship
(Bruenieks 1938: 72). Edgars Rumba was criticised for interpretation of Mra
and Laima, but Ernests Brasti for plain fantasy. Bruenieks invests
comparatively more efforts than other scholars to criticise Brasti and his neopagan Dievturi movement, being ironic both about their cult practices and
interpretations of folklore, perhaps because he is closer to public discourse
himself. Briefly, the Method of explaining folksongs and names by Dievturi
requires lots of fantasy that has nothing to do with research. We need to start
with some courage and immodesty and we will overcome all difficulties. We
will do everything with a few phrases; there is no place for scholarship.
(Bruenieks 1930: 17). To sum up, Bruenieks consequently followed his
theoretical preferences from the nineteenth century; not being involved in
Latvian research institutions, he remained a loner on the folkloristics scene,
despite which, noticeably participating in the creation of the discourse. Perhaps
due to his publishing activities, mainstream scholars criticised Bruenieks
works more than any other amateurs works.
1.4. Personalities and theories: Krlis Straubergs
A scholar I have mentioned already multiple times, Krlis Straubergs (1890
1962) illustrates extremely well the combination of political, cultural and
academic activities, all of them benefiting from each other. Briefly, Straubergs
acquired a degree in classical philology in the University of Moscow and
studied archaeology at Moscows Institute of Archaeology, after returning to
Latvia obtaining a Doctor of Philology degree at the University of Latvia.
Straubergs later provided courses on Greek and Latin antiquities, magic and
Latvian mythology. His education definitely influenced both the themes he was
interested in and the methods of analysis he used. Thus, for example, the
fundamental edition of Latvian charms (Straubergs 19391941) was preceded
by extensive research into magic in Greek antiquity. In general, Straubergs
writings on witchcraft and charms resemble archaeology of discourse: while
searching for the roots of particular Latvian charms, he introduces the reader to
traditions of medieval European, Ancient Greek, and even Cabalistic magic.
While chairing the Archives of Latvian Folklore, he published several articles
on the history of Latvian folkloristics and its most ancient sources, also
authoring the entry on Latvian mythology in the prestigious Latvieu konverscijas vrdnca (LKV) the largest lexicon published in interwar Latvia.
Regarding the mythical cosmogony, Straubergs introduced the theory of vertical
and horizontal divisions of the world, an outcome of the cross-genre analysis of

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folklore texts. In comparison to other researchers, he had paid a lot of attention

to the questions of cult accompanying mythical narratives. Religion consists of
three facets: cult, dogma, and myth, as Straubergs states in the entry on Latvian
mythology in the LKV (Straubergs: 19341935). Although there is no evidence
of ancient Latvian religious dogma, and because evidence of cult (from the
historical records and archaeological findings) and the remains of myths are not
so easy to connect, Straubergs further defines his object of study as Latvian
religious thought.
Straubergs could be considered a follower of mits, especially regarding this
entry in LKV. Many references to mits Latvian mythology are also within the
articles Via saule (The other world, 1922) and Pasaules jra (World
Sea, 1937), analysed in detail below (p. 134137). In general, Straubergs most
often compared the mythological and religious elements from historical records
with the materials of Latvian folklore, avoiding parallels of too broad a scale.
He was cautious regarding the folksongs, but explored historical records
comparatively more than fellow scholars. Consequently, of all researchers of
Latvian mythology, the broadest circle of references to medieval and early
modern historical records belongs to Straubergs, often borrowing them from
Mannhardts works. Interestingly, in the LKV entry on Latvian mythology he
not once referred to folksongs; from other genres only some customs and beliefs
are mentioned everything else is taken from mits Latvian mythology. In the
longer term, his comparative scope evolved: in The Other World Latvian
mythology was compared only with Ancient Greek and Latin sources, for
example the works of Homer, Vergil, Lucian and others; fifteen years later, in
World Sea Egyptian, Russian and, according to his own words, traditions of
many other people are also mentioned. Multiple references to different European people, especially the Celts and Scandinavians, are encountered in works
published after World War II (e.g. Straubergs 1948 and 1957). Straubergs most
extensively manifests his interest in the mythical netherworld within the latter
work, articulated for the first time in the works published in the 1920s (p. 143
146).
Referential practices in Straubergs writings on folklore may testify to his
insecurity in a relatively unfamiliar field, combined with the pressure of the
high administrative position he occupied in it. Like other authors of this time
(e.g. mits 2009 [1918]; Adamovis 1937), Straubergs established a stance
claiming distance from the outdated nineteenth century theories; however, in
between he related solar mythology represented by Max Mller and similar
authors to the Sun henotheism of Macrobius82 (Straubergs 1922: 615); this,
again, says more about the authors background than the sources of the grand
comparative projects he refers to. A more extended overview of older
mythological theories was included in the article Grieu mtu iztulkoana un
82

Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius, fl. 41030 CE, a senior civil servant of the Western
Empire and Latin encyclopedist.

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mitoloisks teorijas (Interpretation of Greek myths and mythological

theories, 1926), covering the history of the research of myths from the ancient
Greeks to the beginning of the twentieth century. Here the most up-to-date
theories were summarised under the term anthropological direction. Straubergs conducted his own research in contrast to the heritage of great nineteenth
century and fin de sicle projects, defined as belonging to outdated theories:
here Sir Edward Burnett Tylor and Herbert Spencer were categorised as
animists, while Sir James George Frazer was categorised as a pre-animist, as
were Wilhelm Wundt and Emil Rhode.
In brief, Straubergs interpreted mythology simultaneously as a philologist
and historian or archaeologist. The latter feature, accompanied by extensive
historiographical grounding of almost every question observed, allows us to
draw close parallels between the works of Straubergs and vbe. Straubergs
statement that it is necessary to research common Latvian-Estonian folklore
material to separate alien Russian and German influences (Straubergs
1933: 19) is interesting in relation to the dominant theories about the common
origin of Latvians and Lithuanians that also involve common mythology.
Nevertheless, this statement was made by an official figure the head of the
Archives of Latvian Folklore and chairman of the Latvieu-Igauu biedrba
(Latvian-Estonian Society), in the context of not-so-happy relations with
Estonian colleagues (cf. Treija 2010) and published in the bilingual Societys
newspaper.
Characterising the internal dynamics of the field, in Latvieu folklora
(Latvian folklore, 1940: 587) Straubergs pointed out traits of criticised theories
in the works of his contemporaries: Professor Adamovis sees mana-like
beliefs in the ancient Latvian Jumis and Laima. In Pis he finds characteristics
of fetishism; professor A. vbe sees totemism in the cult of oak and lime-tree.
Straubergs also criticised Eduards Zicns 83 for overly direct references to
Mannhardt (Straubergs 1937: 172). I will further outline the relationship
between Straubergs political involvement and knowledge production (p. 126
130), as well as more detailed analysis of his writings on mythological space
(p. 134137 and 143146). Summarising so far, the scholarly activities of
Straubergs were more inclined to analysis (and later also editing) of sources
rather than building systematic research regarding mythological subject matters.
Mythology was intimately connected to other research areas, determined by his
background, interests and the positions held.

83

Professor at University of Latvia (19421944), Dr. Theol. Eduards Zicns (18841946)

authored few articles on particular motifs of Latvian mythology, majority in German.

30

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1.5. Personalities and theories: The phenomenologists

Voldemrs Maldonis and Ludvigs Adamovis
Most of the researchers who were interested in Latvian mythology had a
philological or theological background. Both these disciplines are related by
specialisation in the historical dimension of the subject matter. The theological
direction, or that of the history of religion, relating to research on Latvian
mythology in the interwar period was represented by several professors from
the Faculty of Theology at University of Latvia and also by practising
clergymen. Protestant pastor, graduate of the Faculty of Theology of the
Universities of Dorpat (Tartu, Estonia) and Marburg (Germany), Professor of
theology and philosophy, Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of
Latvia, first Latvian General Superintendent Voldemrs Maldonis (18701941)
characterises this relation between the disciplines of folkloristics and history of
religion very well by conceptualising and applying methodology of the latter
to the matters of the former. In the opening of his article Jumis (1925)
Maldonis emphasised that he will deliver religiously ethical description, rather
than culturally historical or mythological. Maldonis used the concept of
sympathetic magic as a connector between the already given domains of
religion and ethics. His article also contains an original opinion regarding God
in the ancient Latvian world order: The God himself for Latvians is only one
god, others are personifications and anthropomorphisations, executors of Gods
will in this organism, nature, the life of a man. (Maldonis 1925: 66). This
rather marginal theory of original monotheism is expanded and explained in
other articles on Latvian mythology (e.g. Maldonis 1935a). Regarding the
disciplinary history another article published in the same year Reliijas
fenomenoloija (Phenomenology of Religion, 1935b) is more interesting. It
is unique as one of the very few studies dedicated to the characterisation of the
theoretical and historical developments of a single method. Aimed at the
general public, with Christian orientation, the essay was based on a summary of
a book with the same title by Dutch scholar Gerardus van der Leeuw. Unfortunately, there are no data that could prove the connection between
popularisation of this method by Maldonis and later published works on Latvian
mythology by Ludvigs Adamovis, another follower of this approach. At the
same time, both authors have a common field of references for they quote the
same work by van der Leeuw, the writings of classical philologists Hermann
Usener (18341905), Rudolph Otto (18691937), and Lvy-Bruhl84.
Comparatively more systematic and contemporary analysis of Latvian
mythology is provided by a Protestant clergyman, theologian and church
historian, professor of theology, and Minister of Education of the Republic of
Latvia in the first year (May 1934 July 1935) of nationalistic authoritarianism
84

Curiously, the latter is labelled as a phenomenologist by Maldonis. This fact may indicate a particular understanding of the phenomenology of religion in the works of Maldonis.

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Ludvigs Adamovis (18841943). Also a graduate of the Faculty of Theology

at the University of Dorpat (19041909), after a short time in church service he
became a Docent of Church History in the Faculty of Theology at the
University of Latvia in 1920. He held this office from 1920 to 1929, and acted
as a professor from 1920 to 1940, twice also serving as Dean of the Faculty of
Theology and Vice-Chancellor of the University. Similarly to his colleagues
folklorists, Adamovis actively maintained international relations, for example,
participating in the founding of, and later chairing, the Latvieu un somu
biedrba (the Latvian and Finnish Society), visiting Finland in this capacity and
publishing articles on the Finnish people and history (Freimane and Talonen
2005).
When the faculty of Theology was abolished by the Soviets in 1941, the
professor lost his position and later, during the Night of Terror, on June 14,
1941, he and his family were arrested and deported to Siberia. In the summer of
next year he was sentenced to death in Solikamsk concentration camp as an
enemy of the people (Freimane and Talonen 2005; iploks 1993). Working the
whole interwar period as a lecturer of church history and religion, he embodied
the agendas of both Christian scholar and official representative of the national
state. Adamovis scholarly interests mainly consisted of research into the
history of the Protestant church in Latvia. In the second half of the 1930s he
started to publish articles on issues of Latvian mythology, paying special
attention to the deity Jumis (Adamovis 1932, 1940a), the household demon
pis, dragon (Adamovis 1940c), ancient cosmology (Adamovis 1938,
1940d) in folk songs, and the phenomenological reconstruction of ancient
Latvian religion (Adamovis 1937, 1940e). Despite the fact that mythological
subject matters cover only a tiny part of his more than 1000-entry-long bibliography (including Acts and Statutes he signed as the Minister of Education:
Freimane and Talonen 2005), published in the last years of interwar period, his
works represent the most sophisticated system of Latvian mythology created
during this period. His theological background enabled him to apply an
approach different from fellow scholars, historians and philologists.
A key to his approach is a reference to van der Leeuws Phenomenologie der
Religion in which Adamovis finds his definition of mythology: Mythology is
a secondary phenomenon of religion, a projection of the religious experience
into the domain of mind and fantasy. The power that man undergoes in religious
experience and what he, likening to himself, rewards with will, acquires in
mans consciousness name and shape (Adamovis 1936: 210). His method, on
the other hand, is closer to Levy-Bruhls: Penetration of the primitive mans
structure of mentality creates access to the structural-psychological research of
mythology (ibid.). On the other hand, according to Adamovis (again,
referring to van der Leeuw) the basis of this structural-psychological research is
the theory of polytheism developed by Usener. Adamovis also compliments
Straubergs definition of religion (p. 116), adding to cult, myth and dogma the
fourth, in his opinion the most important component, religious experience.

119

From this point he introduces the notion of sacred or numinous, referring both
to Rudolph Otto and Alberts Freijs 85 . The author exits the common Latvian
mythology research circle of ethnographic references by introducing of works
by Paul Tillich (e.g. Mythus, begriflich und religionspsychologisch, 1930) and
Wilhelm Wundt, previously mentioned mainly by vbe. Similarly to mits,
Latvian mythology is verified against the Arian religion described by Leopold
von Schroeder. Regarding other comparative materials, Adamovis was
accustomed to refer to Mannhardts works or materials quoted by mits and
Straubergs. However, the comparative part of his research is not as extensive as
other leading scholars, being mainly composed by references to ancient Hindu,
Greek, Roman, Arian, and, most of all, Lithuanian and Prussian mythologies.
Adamovis has paid attention to almost all facets of Latvian mythology
cosmology, eschatology, particular deities like Jumis and Saule, the structure of
the ancient Latvian pantheon, and cult practices in general, etc. Subjects of his
special interest were three mythologemes Debesu kpnes (Stairway to
Heaven), Debesu sta (Heavenly Yard) and pis (dragon)86. Concerning the
ancient Latvian pantheon, it should be mentioned that Adamovis was also
among those authors who doubted the authenticity of Mra as a genuine
Latvian deity. His unique contribution to the research into Latvian mythology is
very much expressible through the two terms differentiation and integration.
Both notions are frequently used in the scholars works in separate articles
within the LKV, a monograph on ancient Latvian religion (1937) and texts on
various issues (1938, 1940a, 1940b, etc.). Despite this, his standpoint sometimes was contradictious. For example, regarding mythological Mothers: in the
more theoretical article Diferencicija un integrcija latvieu mitoloij
(Differentiation and Integration in Latvian Mythology, 1936) Adamovis
mentions that Mothers could be deities differentiated within particular realms,
but he will not look closer at this question (Adamovis: 1936). In the article
Mtes kults (The Cult of Mother, 19351936b) he wrote that all Mothers
are the result of the Earth Mothers differentiation, further summarising that the
process of differentiation and integration in Latvian mythology testifies to the
fact that Latvians have always dwelled in religious understanding of particular
natural processes and that the Latvian religion had a living character (Adamovis 19351936b). One more notion, distinctive to Adamovis work, is a
natural basis. In a way, it leads away from the psychological explanation of
religious phenomena to a more materialistic understanding of mythogenesis.
This is especially clear in his explanation of the solar myth: here Adamovis
tried to explain every Sun-related deity with one or other optical phenomena,

85

Alberts Freijs (19031968) was an archbishop of the Latvian Evangelic Lutheran church
and author of more than 800 publications on diverse themes.
86
The first two are scholarly abstractions composed of multiple folklore motifs; they are
encountered only in texts about mythology, not within the sources. The last one is a generic
household deity, Est.: puuk.

120

thus at the end arriving at rather complicated abstract structures (Adamovis

1937).
Describing the ancient Latvian belief systems, Adamovis used both the
notions religion and mythology equally. However, his major work on
mythology is titled Senlatvieu reliija vlaj dzelzs laikmet (Ancient
Latvian Religion in the Late Iron Age, 1937). Interestingly, in this book he
defined, in comparison with other authors approaches, a narrower field of
description. It is not ancient Latvian religion as such; it is religious life at the
beginning of the thirteenth century, at a time when the first crusaders settled in
their respective territories. Although both books cover the same field, he
differentiates his research from mits Latvian mythology as an insight into the
history of religion, rather than folkloristics. Stressing the disciplinary differences, Adamovis points out that mits material is not ordered according to
historical genesis, it contains both older and more contemporary phenomena,
including echoes from Catholicism and, in general, mits has had no purpose
to write a history of ancient Latvian religion (Adamovis 1937: 47). Adamovis version of the subject matter he both publishes as a monograph and
teaches within the degree course at the University of Latvia87. Adamovis is
also more careful regarding the systematisation of Latvian mythology:
Mythical motifs are already developed in particular myths that, unfortunately,
have not survived in the form of broader and more complete narratives. But only
in fragments; moreover, rather changed by poetic freedom and partially deformed under alien influences. Thus in a way one can see such variety and even
contradictions. Therefore, reconstruction of myths is not an easy task as well.
Starting from attested fragments and elements the mythical character of which is
unquestionable, one must try to see their mutual connection, one must find a
system in which they fit according to their psychology of structure
(Adamovis 1940a: 321).

In the programmatic article on the research into the history of ancient Latvian
religion (Adamovis 1940e) the author assigned himself the task of discovering
several important structural-psychological features of the ancient Latvian
religion, and to describe them in German in order to introduce a broader
audience to the issues of Latvian mythology. Here almost ten pages consist of a
description of the sources of Latvian mythology, from a list of the most ancient
historical records to an evaluation of folklore material. Adamovis preferred
customs and beliefs instead of folktales; the latter are regarded as just secondary
sources. Content-wise, Adamovis arranged Latvian mythology according to
five main powers: life, death, growth and fertility, well-being, and personal
happiness. These forces mutually overlap and create particular mythologemes.
One of the most significant of Adamovis works on Latvian mythology is a
cosmological study Senlatvieu pasaules ainava (Ancient Latvian world
87

31

With the title Introduction to the History of Latvian Church (1923).

121

outlook, 1938). Following the analysis of folklore materials, Adamovis

included in this worldview Debesu kalns (the Heavenly Mountain), Pasaules
koks (The World Tree)88, and the mythical river Daugava; these mythologemes
were placed in a tripartite world of Heaven, earth, and underworld. The entrance
to Heaven and to the underworld is located either beyond Pasaules jra (The
World Sea), or at the horizon. I will explain the niceties and construction of this
system later (p. 137140) while here pointing out the related interdisciplinary
dialogue: regarding these topographical dispositions Adamovis refers to
Straubergs, but criticises him in relation to other questions: his understanding of
mythology in general, the location of the underworld, localisation of recently
developed deities in Heaven, etc. Similarly, although Adamovis sometimes
provides astral-natural explanations for myths relating to the heavenly bodies,
he criticises the work of Professor Vaslijs Sinaiskis, for whose field it was too
broad a fantasy. A chapter called Pis prticbas fetis (Dragon the
fetish of prosperity, Adamovis: 1940c: 339) in the treatise on dragon in
Latvian mythology also appears somewhat contradictory: despite following the
most up to date theories elsewhere, here Adamovis operates with a much older
vocabulary (cf. Vignoli 1885).
In general, Adamovis paid rather lot of attention to the works of fellow
researchers: he criticised Bruenieks for a biased adherence to animism,
Maldonis for finding monotheism in Latvian beliefs, and Zicns for too eager
finding of broad epic connections, and trust in the stability of the folksong
form (Adamovis 1937: 49). In fact he refers truly positively only to his
colleague Edgars Rumbas 89 research regarding the deity Laima. Writing on
mythology in the late 1930s, when a significant amount of scholarly research
was already accumulated, as well as being in rather an independent position
from the power relationships of the discipline of folkloristics, allowed
Adamovis to critically overview the disciplinary developments and firmly
position himself against other scholars involved in research of the subject
matter90. In summary, works by Adamovis as well and his colleagues Rumba
and Zicns started a new trend in research on Latvian mythology from the point
of view, and applying the methodology of, the history of religion; thus, both
complimenting and paralleling trajectories of research created by folklorists and
historians. Unfortunately, the tragic events of World War II stopped this
development until the second half of the 1950s when Haralds Biezais started his
research into Latvian religion from a related perspective in Sweden.

88

In addition, these both are scholarly mythologemes.

Priest and professor at the University of Latvia, Dr. Theol. Edgars Rumba (19041943)
had authored a few articles on particular Latvian deities in the 1930s.
90
Thus, in the relevant entry of the LKV the author categorises all research of the subject
matter up to the year 1936: the works of Bruenieks, the folklorists Ludis Brzi and
Pteris mits, the historian vbe, and fellow theologians Zicns and Maldonis (Adamovis
19361937: 27459).
89

122

1.6. Personalities and theories:

Preference for particular folklore genres
Summarising this overview of the interwar period: across the key scholars in
mythology related fields and different disciplines, the main factor determining
particular conclusions on the subject matter appears to be preference for one or
other folklore genre as a primary source from which to reconstruct Latvian
mythology. Two main groups of folklore materials in this context are folk
poetry and narrative folklore, mainly consisting of folktales. The bibliography
of this period shows only one study dedicated to narrative folklore, that is,
fairytales; at the same time several titles indicate an interest in mythological
motifs in folk poetry. However, the majority of texts have generic titles that
indicate no preferences for this or another genre, therefore a closer look must be
taken. vbe was the only one who, referring to Wundt 91 , declared that
narrating and lyric poetry is of the same age, and that of all forms of expressive
poetry not the epic, but rather the legend and the folktale are the primeval
modes of narrative (vbe 1923). If, according to this idea, folktales could serve
well for research into Latvian mythology, the question of their national origin is
more problematic are folktales truly local or just transmitted and translated
from neighbouring people. vbe prefers the former option, stating that that the
motifs are similar, but plots could be specific to any nation, thus legitimising
the use of narrative folklore in the reconstruction of local belief systems.
Otherwise, vbes contribution to the discussion on folklore genres was
original by proposing the splitting of form-defined larger categories into more
specific sub-categories defined by origin and transmission: according to gender,
social class, profession, etc. (vbe 1923: 103), which also highlight the
importance of individual tradition bearers (Vilks 1944).
The contrary hypothesis of international transmission and adaptation was
supported by mits. Already in 1908 he had warned potential readers that we
must be especially aware to seek and find the production of our ancestors from
ancient pagan times in any folktale (mits 1908, cf. vbe 1923: 96). Although
mits agreed that stylistic elements and local realities accompany international
motifs (mits 1912, cf. vbe 1923: 98), according to him, national mythology
cannot be found there. First, because Latvian folktales originated more recently
than folksongs (mits 19251937) and are thus more likely to reflect historical
rather than pre-historical reality. Comparative mythology also serves to prove
this statement because only a few genuine mythological beings are present in
91

References to Wundt, made by vbe and Adamovis, might suggest a tendency towards
the holistic model in national scholarship: Wundts Vlkerpsychologie extended Grimmstyle linguistics, already inclined towards solving questions of culture and identity, into the
realm of national characterology (Leerssen 2006: 210). Although none of these authors had
written a work of the same scope as Wundts, claims of strong links between language,
people, myths, traditions might be backgrounded against respective texts on Latvian
mythology.

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folktales. Although mits mentioned the hypothesis of Latvian folktales as a

common Indo-European heritage, his conclusion on this subject matter is quite
sceptical. It seems that few words are preserved from the ancient protolanguage and so the continuity of more complex, larger phenomena should be
doubted. The multitude of similarities between Latvian and Estonian folktales,
which both represent very different language groups, for mits supported the
hypothesis of horizontal (synchronic) rather that vertical dissemination of this
genre. At the end of the day, he discussed the origins of folktales and concluded
with the thesis that they are a kind of corrupted historical account with multiple
similarities to dreams. Although familiar with Freuds work, mits did not
continue this parallel of dreams, folktales and myths. In his Latvian mythology
the most important sources of reconstruction are chronicles and other historical
documents that are verified by means of comparison with other Indo-European
mythologies and against the background of folklore. Dominating among
folklore materials are folksongs, second place is occupied by beliefs and
customs, sometimes charms are mentioned, and only then follow a few
references to folktales. Mythological space or world order is mentioned just
implicitly here. In mits works it is derived from the functions of gods:
heavenly gods live in heaven, those who are related to the dead live under the
ground, those who are praised in woods live in the woods, and so forth.
Regarding preferences for folklore materials, almost all Latvian scholars
agree with mits, although not explicitly repeating his arguments. The most
common is the argument about form and content; for example, Straubergs
wrote, Ancient Latvian thoughts about the world one must search for in
folksongs, where they are preserved not due to their picturesque nature but
because folk poetry, contained by rhythm, passes more easily from generation
to generation in unchanged form (Straubergs 1937: 169). Nevertheless, in
other texts Straubergs analysed Latvian mythology almost exclusively on the
basis of historical sources (e.g. Straubergs 1934), with the exception of his first
publication on mythological space (Straubergs 1922), where the research was
overwhelmingly based on folktales; several folksongs and comparative
materials from other mythologies served only to support this material. Here the
choice of folktales allowed him to describe the journey of a mythical hero
downwards to the underworld, returning horizontally over the sea, arriving in a
different time. This space-time anomaly is a unique feature of fairytales, not
present in any other folklore material. Straubergs more recent treatise of
similar subject matter (Straubergs 1937) was based almost exclusively on
folksongs; folktales were mentioned just as an additional source. The first part
of his collection of Latvian charms, also containing a chapter on charms with
mythological motifs, was published only in 1939. Here Straubergs claimed that
charms are in any case not usable as primary sources for the research of
mythological issues because they contain too much international material
(Straubergs 1939: 383).

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Both narrative and poetic folklore were analysed equally in the article on the
Latvian god Prkons by Eduards Zicns (1935), but the study of eternity in
Latvian folk belief (1940) by the same author was exclusively dedicated to
analysis of folktales, moreover to one type of folktale. Zicns explains the
differences of space models in different folklore materials by historical
developments: the local tripartite space is older and pagan, while the location of
the other world far away is a result of Christian influence. A historian of
religion, Adamovis repeated the same hierarchy of sources from historical
documents to folktales (Adamovis 1940a) as mits almost twenty years after
the publication of mits Latvian mythology. Here Adamovis referred to
Wundt, stating that mythological folktales are only childish transformations of
higher myths (cf. Adamovis 1940b: 439); perhaps because of the Wundts
influence he still used quite a lot of narrative folklore materials in his research
into particular issues like the ancient world order and the dragon in Latvian
mythology (Adamovis 1940c). In his study of ancient Latvian cosmology
(Adamovis 1938), he merged folksong and folktale materials cross-referring
from one to another. At the same time he also wrote about the incomplete space
model as belonging to a historical transitional period in which the other world is
located just beyond the horizon. Unlike Zicns, Adamovis stated that the
tripartite model was already present before the Christian conquests. Mrti
Bruenieks, in his turn, was rather reserved towards the folksongs and used
customs and beliefs to prove the theory of animism (e.g. Bruenieks 1930,
1926, 1938).
Theories of folklore genres, their ages, historical dynamics, and origins are
also related to the problem of the historical location of Latvian mythology:
scholars have discussed it as the Bronze or Iron Age, have related it to arrival of
the Germans, postponed it to thirteenth to sixteenth century, or to this and later
periods together, sometimes just avoiding this issue by talking about generic,
national mythology. No substantial historical record reaches before the
thirteenth century; therefore, any earlier mythology relies on evaluations of
the age of sources that were often carried out on the basis of intuition (cf.
Biezais 2006). Presumably, the preference of poetic over narrative folklore in
reconstructions of mythology had its roots in the formation of the discourse in
the times of Herder. As Regina Bendix suggests, The focus on the poetic and
its authenticated locus in folksong contributed to the privileged position that
such song took among the genres of expressive culture which would eventually
shape the canon of folklore studies (Bendix 1997: 44).
Concluding, narrative folklore in this period got less attention than folksong
for several reasons. One could be the general intellectual background, which
manifested concerns about national authenticity and originality. Another is the
availability of sources: unlike materials relating to other genres, there were
already enough systematically published folksongs in the early 1920s to verify
almost any hypothesis. The most interesting is the fact that the situation
surrounding descriptions of mythological space was slightly different. Here

32

125

fairytales seem almost to dominate, perhaps due to clearly defined borders and
meanings of different parts of the world and their structural relations.

2. Power and knowledge

In this section I will provide a more detailed insight into the life histories of two
outstanding scholars whose works, forming different perspectives on folklore
and mythology, were analysed above Straubergs and vbe (p. 115117 and
113115). If previously the analysis was conducted in more narrowly academic
context, as related to their other scholarly interests and the works of other
scholars, this insight demonstrates the specific social and political context of
knowledge production during a particular period, with its roots in World War I,
developments during the interwar period and the aftermath during and after
World War II. Both cases provide enough similarities to illustrate the Zeitgeist
of the era and enough differences to illustrate the diversity within one period of
research.

2.1. Power and knowledge: Krlis Straubergs

Krlis Straubergs (18901962) was definitely one of the most influential
personalities within the field of folkloristics and beyond in interwar Latvia.
Straubergs intellectual heritage takes in folkloristics, classical philology,
history, as well as his own poetry and multiple translations. Professor, lecturer
at the University of Latvia, and head of the Archives of Latvian Folklore for
fifteen years, Straubergs merged his scholarly career with political ambitions.
Government Minister of Education for a short period (1924), Straubergs later
occupied high positions in multiple civic societies and public organisations,
often appearing together with members of the business, military and
bureaucratic elites, as well as high-ranking foreign diplomats in the pages of
newspapers. His bibliography, including translations and poems, consists of 810
entries (Apele 1993). In addition to more than four hundred rather long entries
in the LKV, there are monographs and articles on questions of history,
archaeology, ethnography, ancient cultures, Latvian folklore, and mythology.
Apart from Latvian, several publications were also in Russian, Polish, Italian,
Latin, German, and Swedish, thus targeting the international audiences. In a
way, Straubergs represents the type of intellectual particular to Eastern Europe:
influential, almost authoritarian, closely related to power structures. As such, he
claimed the symbolic power of the nineteenth century national awakening, at
that time led by the avant-garde intelligentsia of the rising middle class (cf.
Milos 1998).

126

Straubergs was born into a wealthy peasant family92 in Jelgava district of

central Latvia. One can say, he was born into a folkloristic environment. One of
his first teachers at the local primary school was Ansis Lerhis-Pukaitis, the
editor of the first fundamental Latvian folktale edition, while decades later
Straubergs recorded from his parents and other household members more than
500 items of folklore material 93 . Straubergs graduated from the Classical
Gymnasium of Jelgava with a golden medal, at the same time earning his first
capital by providing private lessons to children of wealthy families for a gold
rouble an hour. The next gold medal Straubergs earned in 1916, graduating
from the University of Moscow with a degree in classical philology.
Simultaneously (19121915), he acquired the degree of qualified archaeologist
from the Moscow Institute of Archaeology (Straubergs 1995). During World
War I the young scholar was mobilised in the Tsars army, joined the Latvian
Riflemen battalion and in the same year, 1916, organised the Latvian Riflemen
Museum of War in Riga, becoming its first director. In 1917 Straubergs
participated in the first congress of Latvian teachers in Dorpat (Tartu) in order
to start negotiations on the establishment of the University of Latvia.
Demobilised due to poor eyesight, Straubergs left the approaching battle front
for Moscow at the end of 1917. During this refugee period he occupied a
teachers positions at several high schools and towards the end of the war
became a director of the local Latvian gymnasium. After returning to Latvia in
1918, Straubergs joined military circles again, now voluntarily, and headed the
Museum of War until 1920. The University of Latvia was established in 1919
and Straubergs started his scholarly career in the same year as an associate
professor of classical philology in the Faculty of Philology and Philosophy. Full
professorship was granted after the defence of his thesis Latu paraugu
iespaids Horcija dzej (The influence of Latin models on the poetry of
Horatio), for a PhD degree in philology. During his career, Straubergs occupied
various posts in the same faculty: secretary, librarian, and also, ultimately, dean.
Straubergs became a member of the Board of the university (19251940) and
pro-rector in charge of student matters (19411943). In the 1930s Straubergs
was also a director of Kr. Barona Tautas Augstskola (Kr. Barons Peoples
University) for several years and then a board member and manager of Latvijas
vstures institts (the Latvian History Institute). While this could already seem
a burden of duties heavy enough for one person, Straubergs participated in
shaping of academic policies within various committees at the University of
Latvia and the Ministry of Education, being a board member of Valsts
vsturiskais muzejs (The State Historical Museum) and head of various
government bureaus and other structures covering education and the policy of
92

Insufficient quantitative data does not allow us to draw a strong correlation between the
social background, choice of disciplinary field, and political ideology of Latvian scholars of
this period; however, there might be parallels.
93
Collection no. 880 at the Archives of Latvian Folklore.

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culture (cf. Straubergs 1995). Even in less official academia-related activities

Straubergs occupied leading posts, for example, heading the Fraternitas
Livonica section of the students fraternity, becoming an honorary member and
remaining so until the end of his life. Multiple duties obviously did not interfere
with his lecturing obligations: from 1919 Straubergs delivered numerous
lectures and seminars on ancient Greek and Latin language, grammar, literature,
and magic, etc.; in the 1938/1939 academic year he also lectured on Latvian
mythology.
As mentioned above, Straubergs was a member of the government for only a
short period of time; nevertheless, many of his activities were at the level of the
higher society and political elite. Straubergs often spoke at various meetings,
commemoration events, anniversaries, exhibition openings, and other public
events94. Multiple such events were because of Straubergs leading position in
two organisations of international cooperation and culture exchange: Latvieu
un itlieu tuvinans biedrba and Latvieu un pou tuvinans biedrba
(The Latvian-Italian, and Latvian-Polish, Mutual Relations Societies). The
significance of these positions must be considered in the context of the political
regime of Latvia in the late 1930s, after Krlis Ulmanis coup dtat in May
193495. Presumably, the Italian fascist duce Mussolini served to some extent as
a role model for Latvian father of the people Ulmanis. Intense diplomatic and
culture contacts were established between both states and the leaders greeted
each other with telegrams. The Latvian-Italian Mutual Relations Society was
established at the end of 1934 starting with about 100 activists and soon
acquiring several hundred members. Oriented towards the higher society, the
organisations events took place in Rigas most prestigious venues. The
Latvian-Italian Mutual Relations Society illustrates par excellence the social
94

For media coverage of Straubergs societal activities see Latvijas kareivis, 31.01.1932,
28.10.1934, 22.05.1935, 24.10.1937, 8.01.1938; Valdbas Vstnesis, 21.08.1928; Students,
7.02.1929; Jaunks Zias, 07.10.1936, 8.03.1937, 10.03.1937, 04.05.1937, 18.10.1937,
17.06.1938; Brv Zeme, 04.05.1937, 20.08.1937, 29.04.1938, 04.05.1938; Rts, 24.11.1934,
16.06.1935, 18.06.1935, 19.12.1935, 28.01.1936, 17.01.1937, 6.05.1937.
95
Benito Mussolini partially established his regime in Italy in 1924 and gained full control
over the country a few years later; in Poland Marshal Josef Pilsudski led a military coup in
1926, and headed a military dictatorship afterwards. Similar developments also took place in
the Baltic states: firstly, a military coup dtat in Lithuania in 1926 resulted in an
authoritarian conservative government led by Antanas Smetona; secondly, in October 1934
President Konstantin Pts dismissed the Estonian parliament Riigikogu and replaced it
with a bi-cameral assembly. The replacement of parliamentary democracy by authoritarian
regimes in interwar-period Europe came about because of multiple developments that varied
in significance from country to country: the invention of new propaganda techniques and
rise of the mass media, dissatisfaction with the outcomes of World War I, the global
economic crisis of 1929, fear of the rising powers of the Soviet Union, etc. Although
European dictatorships differed in their historical roots, social contexts, and ideologies, the
trend towards the rule of the strong leader and cult of personality that usually accompanies
it were in common (cf. History of Europe).

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life of its time as well as the relationship between intellectuals and artists and
the ruling power. For example, in the year after the establishment of the Society
its first significant event took place in the form of an exhibition of Italian
graphic art. The opening was attended by the State President, several government ministers, the Mayor of Riga, the ambassadors of nine foreign countries,
rectors of universities and other representatives of the elite (Latvijas kareivis,
09.04.1935). Straubergs draws parallels to the fascist rise to power March on
Rome in 1922 and local developments in one of his speeches: The march on
Rome swiftly turned the wheel of history creating chances of a new life in the
light of new ideas, honouring the unity of the nation and its firmness of will.
Events of the 15th May, when the leader of our nation Ulmanis led a new Latvia
on a bright path to its future, let us more clearly understand the meaning of this
march (Rts, 29.10.1935). Straubergs was interested in contemporary Italy as
an heir of Latin culture because of his expertise in classical philology; at the
same time, in these circumstances this was the perfect opportunity to combine
academic interests, political ambitions, and social life.
One more suggestive project is a book on Ulmanis native district
Brzmuias pagasta vsture (History of the Brzmuia district, 1937), coauthored by Straubergs and his older brother, well-known historian Jnis
Straubergs. The research and publication of the book was funded by the local
municipality and the book was dedicated to Ulmanis and solemnly presented to
the leader on his 60th birthday (Jaunks Zias, 13.09.1937). Straubergs
involvement with state ideology was directly related also to folkloristics, for
example, giving public lectures96 and consultations on ethnographic specifics
for the entertaining propaganda movie Fatherland Calls97 (1935). Stills from
the movie were also used as illustrations for the book Sens suitu kzas un
ekatas (Wedding and mummery of the ancient Suits, perli 1937), published
by the Archives of Latvian Folklore. It is still unclear how Straubergs became
the head of the same institution in 1929. Shortly before it happened, the
establisher and head of the institution Anna Brzkalne had a conflict with
officials of the Board of Monuments regarding the finances of the LFK. Next,
the board asked Brzkalne to leave her position, although soon one of boards
officials was incriminated for theft of the Archives funds (Vksna 2008). There
96

In 1935, Straubergs gave a lecture on Latvian traditions at a meeting of lecturers from

the Ministry of the Home Offices Department of Information and Propaganda; three years
later, with the support of the highly influential General Balodis, Straubergs provided a
lecture called New states in the light of history at several army garrisons (Brv Zeme,
5.01.1938).
97
Unfortunately, only fragments of the movie have survived until today. However, the
press release retells the plot and moral of this story: Jnis, the son of a local wealthy peasant,
had gone abroad, travelled a lot and now returns to his fathers home fashionable and
educated. Heavy peasant work no longer appeals to him as well as many other things in his
native country. Then he meets beautiful Anna, but she sets aside the absent-minded man.
After some time Jnis changes and becomes a proper hard working peasant. Ultimately he
conquers Annas heart (Rts, 30.08.1935: 4).

33

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is no direct evidence linking Straubergs with the people involved, but his duties
in the new position started with conflict with new colleagues the collegium of
the Archive. Personal relations with Brzkalne were also far from good and this
probably also influenced the relationship between the LFK and the Estonian
Archives of Folklore, the head of which was Oskar Loorits: As suggests
correspondence between Anna Brzkalne and Oskar Loorits, cooperation of
Riga and Tartu after 1929 was sporadic and insignificant; the relationship
between Krlis Straubergs and Oskar Loorits at particular periods of time could
be characterised as hostile (Treija 2008: 65). In the later correspondence
Straubergs is even suspected of censorship in the post98. Despite Straubergs
influential protges, Brzkalnes suspicions could also be raised from the
official position of the Republic of Latvia: Loorits was declared persona non
grata in 1935, and he was expelled from Latvia during the Baltic congress of
history in 1937 (Blumberga 2004, from Vstrik 2005: 205). As a result,
Straubergs as the head of the Archives of Latvian Folklore tried to improve
relationships by several programmatic publications in a bilateral LatvianEstonian monthly magazine (e.g. Straubergs 1935). However, the professor was
more successful establishing other international connections. In addition to the
above mentioned activities in the Latvian-Italian and Latvian-Polish societies,
for some time Straubergs also headed the Latvian-Swedish Mutual Relations
Society. During his career, he was commissioned to more than fourteen
countries, participated in international conferences and congresses and as well
as receiving the higher Latvian decorations also received several foreign orders.
Interestingly, Straubergs first official journey, after becoming head of the
Archives of Latvian Folklore, was to the Nordic Museum in Sweden: the
institution that became his workplace in exile.

2.2. Power and knowledge: Arveds vbe

Arveds vbe stands beside Krlis Straubergs in cultural history as one of the
leading Latvian intellectuals in the first half of the twentieth century. However,
his life, career, and rise to authority were totally different until the last exile
years when both scholars worked at the same institution in Sweden. Throughout
his lifetime his political alignment shifted from far left to right, and, always
being passionate about his stand, vbe has left significant heritage in the fields
98

Our university undergoes reorganisation, perhaps yours alike as well. I have asked the
rector for permission to teach the students method of comparative folkloristics. However, if
professor Straubergs will be in charge, I prefer working the same way as until now [...].
Please send me some message as soon as possible. I was not sure about the connections of
the above-mentioned great person with the censorship of the post, and I had no intentions to
inform him about the progress of my scholarly work. Therefore I had no desire to write
letters. Now, I hope, other persons work in the post office (Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumi Eesti
Kultuurilooline Arhiiv f. 175, m.: 9, 1, 35/35, quoted according to Treija 2008: 41).

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of Latvian history, culture, folklore, literature and law studies. A scholarly

bibliography consisting of 650 entries and 28 publications of novels and poems
speak for themselves, not to mention the multiple texts vbe edited, including
all 21 tomes of the LKV (Caune 1998).
vbe was born into a peasant family; his father worked as an overseer at a
local manor house in Lielstraupe district. The family was rather well off and
vbe started school at the local parish school, then continued in the towns
Csis, Valmiera, and Jelgava. At the turn of the century vbe got acquainted
with the ideas of Jaun strva (The New Current), the politically left
ideological movement, centred around the newspaper Dienas Lapa (The Page
of the Day); it mobilised broad masses of workers in the industrially developed
Latvian-speaking regions using both nationalist and socialist agendas. In Latvia
this movement became the main force in the 1905 revolution (cf. Cerzis 2001).
Still learning in secondary school, vbe participated in illegal meetings and
distributed revolutionary proclamations in his native town. During the response
young vbe was caught and sentenced to death; luckily, he was released due to
his status as a minor. Until the end of the decade vbe attended various
courses and obtained the rights of a private tutor, later on taking a teachers
position in a gymnasium in the north-west Latvian town of Rjiena. In addition
to fulfilling a teachers duties, vbe actively participated in the activities of a
local temperance association, which gathered politically left elements from
nearby parishes (vbe 1947).
vbe terminated his teachers career to study at the
(Peoples University of Shanevsky, Moscow).
During his studies (19111915) his interests shifted from the natural sciences to
history and philology, sociology, aesthetics, and later to law and economics.
The diversity of his interests is consequently reflected in his early writings on
folklore and mythology (p. 109113). During his studies vbe lived for the
most part in Moscow and returned to Latvia from time to time, to earn some
money by publishing in the social democrat newspapers (Jaun Dienas Lapa
and Domas) and public lectures at workers associations. Despite not being on
good terms with the Latvian leftist student society in Moscow vbe became
one of the most popular lecturers in the leftist circles in Latvia. In 1914, he
married Lna Maria Aure and once again became a teacher, now in Riga. After a
short period they returned to Moscow and vbe continued his studies at
university, exploring the latest works of English and French folklorists as well
as Russian ethnographers in (Rumyancevs Library).
Developments of the First World War forced the young family to leave
Moscow. Secured by forged documents, they departed to the Far East. In
Vladivostok and Harbin there were relatives of vbe and at the Far East
Institute in Vladivostok the already well-known Latvian Sinologist and
folklorist Pteris mits worked. Unfortunately, meeting with the fellow scholar
brought only disappointment as he was not familiar with works vbe had
studied (Wundt, Frazer, Lvy-Bruhl, Durkheim, etc.), also his library turned out

131

to be rather poor, with folkloristics represented only by a few German

handbooks (vbe 1947). Consequently, vbe ordered Frazers The Golden
Bough from London. He worked as a junior post servant (19161919) on the
Vladivostok-Harbin railway line, long and uneventful train trips providing the
opportunity to work with Latvian folksongs: here some of his early texts were
written, published later in Moscow and Latvia. vbe was also actively
involved in the local Latvian political activities99 and in the autumn of 1919
returned to Europe by ship, carrying in his luggage secret intelligence
documents (vbe 1947).
After returning to the now independent Republic of Latvia, vbe made
capital of his established connections: he was for seven years enlisted in the
Social Democrat Workers Party, worked as a civil servant in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs for a short period, stood as a candidate in elections and became
a member of the parliament. Participating in the work of the Committee of
Education and Culture, he passed laws on libraries and archives. The status of
parliamentarian provided access to the archives of Livonian knightage,
containing multiple unique sources of history which vbe explored. In 1921
vbe matriculated the Faculty of Economics and Law at the University of
Latvia. He graduated with a lawyers degree in 1926. During the 1920s vbe
occupied various different roles as head of Latvieu rakstnieku un urnlistu
savienba (the Latvian Writers and Journalists Union), board member of
Latvijas Nacionlais tetris (the Latvian National Theatre), etc.
While studying (19211923), vbe rewrote the history of Latvia for schools
according to the official ideology and published a collection of articles on
folkloristics called Raksti par latvju folkloru (Articles on Latvian folklore,
1923). Considering the authors and theories referred to, it was the most up-todate research in the field. In the same year vbe pioneered the publication of
Latvian folktales and legends according to the Antti Aarne classification.
Simultaneously he worked in other directions publishing his first anthology of
poems and a substantial study of feudal rights. 1926 turned out tragically due to
the suicides of his, and his close friend Pvils Roztis, wives, followed by a
loud scandal in the local tabloids. vbe became the chief editor of the LKV,
which was intended as an embodiment of all national knowledge; in subsequent
years he authored about 300 entries in this edition. During the 1930s vbe
published several articles on Latvian writers and Latvian folklore in Enciclopedia Italiana (Italian Encyclopaedia). In 1930 vbe became an associate
professor of Latvian legal history in the Faculty of Economics and Law
Scholarship at the University of Latvia. Apart from the overall importance of
national history in the construction and legitimation of the nation-state
99
Initially it is Vladivostoks department of the leftist Latvijas panolemans savienba
(Union of Latvian Self-Determination), then the central office of Sibrijas un Urlu latvieu
Nacionl padome (National Council of Latvians of Siberia and the Urals). In 1919 vbe
took the position of office secretary.

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(Hobsbawm 2009, Leerssen 2006 et al.) vbes Grundriss der Agrargeschichte

Lettlands (1928, English, French, and Latvian 1929) also played a practical
role: it was used to defend against the claims the Baltic German landed gentry
and nobility made to the League of Nations. Consequently, for this research into
legal history, vbe was decorated with a third degree Three-star order.
Although vbe returned to folkloristics with several publications in a folksong
edition by Roberts Klausti (vbe 1930a, b; 1931a, b), his main field of
interest was legal history. In 1932 vbe defended the thesis Livonijas
bruinieku sens tiesbas (Ancient Rights of the Livonian Knights) and obtained
the degree of Doctor of Law. Further, vbe became a professor at the same
faculty, actively published and took multiple responsibilities at various public
and educational organisations. After two years he started a professorship in the
Faculty of Philology and Philosophy, reading courses on the modern and
general history of Latvia. At the end of the 1930s vbe occupied the position
of vice-director of the Institute of Latvian History (Latvijas vstures institts).
He also continued his creative career, took up public responsibilities, and
among all these activities became an associate of the Estonian Science Society
(vbe 1947, Caune 1998).
History, as written by vbe from the Latvian/nationalist position,
contradicted the Soviet and German scholars elevation of events and their
meaning; for the former, the questions of class struggle and connections with
Russian progressive forces are undermined, while for the latter the Baltic
German role in history is depicted in a rather unpleasant light. Naturally, the
established research institutions of Latvian history could not continue to operate
under the Soviet or German occupation powers during World War II. In 1940
vbes, as well as Straubergs, posts at the Institute of Latvian History were
reorganised as without salary (Zelmenis 2007: 17). In 1943 German institutions
forbad vbe from lecturing and examining students; later the department of
Latvian history was closed and the professor dismissed. The Approaching
battle-front forced him to leave Latvia. In the same year vbe was arrested and
imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp in Germany. After release, vbe
lived in Germany for a few years, contributing to Latvian exile society with
publications and membership of various exile Latvian political organisations
(p. 9093).
To conclude, as with the case of Straubergs, vbes research into folklore
and mythology was shaped by the scholars other activities and political
position. As folklore was only rather secondary in vbes interests, his
scholarly production cannot be analysed apart from the wider context, which
touches on approaches utilised, purposes of research, and opportunities of time
for production.

34

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3. Mythological Space
The first section of this chapter contextualised the research into Latvian
mythology within the contested theoretical flows and approaches dominant in
different fields related to the subject matter and represented by particular
scholars. Case studies of power and knowledge relationships in the life histories
of two of them Straubergs and vbe contextualised research in the interwar
period political and cultural landscapes, illustrating the changing ideological
and personal agendas and their relationship to the scholarship of the new nationstate. Consequently, here I will trace the relationship between the above
described contexts and particular texts on Latvian mythological space, presented as an insight into the reconstruction of mythological space by two
different authors of this period: Straubergs and Adamovis. Their above
described differences allow us to track dependencies of the research outcomes
from the multiple factors constituting a particular researchers standing. These
two studies will also serve as a point of reference for further developments of
the subject matter, analysed in the next chapter of thesis.

3.1. Mythological space: Straubergs eschatology

Although Straubergs published only two articles regarding the structure and
particular semanthemes of the mythological space during the interwar period100,
his contribution perfectly illustrates the dynamics of the discipline as they relate
to both changes in his own scholarly approach and discussions within the field.
The first of the articles is written by a young scholar, a classical philologist in
the time when the discipline of folkloristics was not yet institutionalised in
interwar Latvia and discussions on the research of mythology were rather
sporadic. The second article was written by a prominent scholar, head of the
Archives of Latvian Folklore, fifteen years later. At this time several scholars
had already published their research on the subject matter, and the author
himself was professionally involved in folkloristics, both with his political
activities and by publishing multiple articles and entries in the LKV (p. 115
117). Consequently, both articles will be briefly analysed to illustrate how these
circumstances had shaped Straubergs notion of Latvian mythological space.
Via saule (Netherworld, 1922) starts with the Latvian folktale of a miserly
man who gets lost in the forest and finds a clearing with a wonderful meadow
where a rich meal is served; but the man could touch nothing, and all the other
guests are dead. Straubergs starts his analysis of this tale on familiar terrain
drawing parallels with the descriptions of the Elysian fields (the Islands of the
Blessed) in A True Story by Lucian of Samosata (c. 125180 AD), a rhetorician
and satirist who wrote in Greek. Straubergs goes on to refer to several folksongs
and customs characterising the ambivalent attitude of ancient Latvians towards
100

He continued this theme in the article Zur Jenseitstopographie (1957) in exile.

134

death in general; at this stage he extends Latvian and Greek parallels by

etymological analysis of terms relating to death and burial (Straubergs 1922:
607). In a similar way, referring to Latvian folktale motifs on the one hand, and
Homer and Plato on the other hand, Straubergs exemplifies one more probable
journey to the netherworld: the souls possibility to travel in dream in the same
way as after death. Interestingly, the author states that The fact that everything
we know about the soul until its burial are the traditions of ancient IndoEuropeans does not need any evidences (ibid.: 608). Straubergs next step, a
description of the guardian spirits at the entrance of netherworld, is based on the
parallels between Homers Odysseus and Latvian folksongs. After brief
mapping of other features of Ancient Greek eschatology, Straubergs describes
the Latvian underworld in more detail. The ruler of the underworld is the same
as of this world God (Dievs or Dievi); the netherworld is sometimes called
Vczeme (a name that coincides with the Latvian name for Germany), sometimes depicted as Dieva kalns (Gods Mountain) where the dead live and work.
On these and some other questions Straubergs refers to mits Latvian
mythology, noting that this particular question has been addressed thoroughly
enough there. Straubergs passage on the temporal specifics of travel to the
netherworld is based solely on material from tales: However, such travels to
the netherworld are not so simple a few moments spent there are a whole
eternity, and man, after returning from there, turns into dust (ibid.: 611).
Describing the brightness of the netherworld (diamond rooms, glass mountains,
etc.), the author draws parallels with Greek myths, explaining the brightness of
the land of the dead through its relation to the cult of Sun. Straubergs admits
that the entrance to the netherworld is located in various places in different
narratives. It could be inside a mountain, in forests, in swamps, beyond the
rivers, beyond the sea, over the dells, as well as inside the sea or in a lake, in a
graveyard; it can also be located directly underneath and one could go there
through a spring, a whirlpool, a hole beneath a stone, etc. The genre factor is
important here: the common source of information on the underworld are tales
depicting a heros travels to this realm and back. These tales disclose the
difference between the location of the entrance and exit of the underworld. If
the former was a cave in the forest, the latter could be by a long flight across the
sea on the wings of a huge bird. Straubergs argues that this fact could be related
to the Suns path, and this corresponds to heavenly body-related semantics in
the descriptions of that realm. Moreover, as this world is called pasaule or
saule (literally under-sun or this sun), the otherworld is called aizsaule or
visaule (literally beneath-sun or that-sun). Here the Sun is the connection
between this and the other world. Still, the netherworld is not always located in
the west, at the end of the Suns path, the place can be just somewhere far
away. In most tales it is depicted rather similarly to our world, with houses,
fields, trees, etc. Other tales mention the Mother of the Dead (Veu mte) as a
ruler of the underworld, together with her servants who bring the souls of the
dead to the last journey. The last motif is again explained with references to the

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Ancient Greeks. These parallels also extend to the connection of the cult of the
dead with magic practices related to chthonic deities and spirits who endanger
the living from beyond the grave. According to Straubergs, the same cult
practices also indicate the localisation of the underworld beneath our world: not
only are dead bodies buried in the ground, but souls also live there 101 . The
entrance of the underworld is somewhere near, and its inhabitants can visit this
world rather easily. At the end the author concludes that
the eschatology of our nation is not to be regarded as a uniform product, due to
its old age several notions of different age are reflected and combined there; the
fate of the dead is related to the main deities Dievi (Dievs) and Mother of
Sun who receive souls. Mother of Earth is a saver, guardian of flesh; she melts
with Mother of the Dead later, when both these parts of human, so-to-say, further
existence, are carried towards one place: the underground. In general, in the
development of our eschatology many things are the same as other peoples
(Straubergs 1922: 618).

Interestingly, the last sentence illustrates the comparative view, which is rather
unrelated to the selection of comparanda according to the synchronic historiccultural or comparative-linguistic criteria dominant in other comparative studies
of Latvian mythology. Otherwise, a more or less systematised heterogeneity of
ancient Latvian beliefs about the underworld, denomination of related deities
and nature of their invariance are the main variables in studies of the subject
matter.
In the opening of the other article, Pasaules jra (World Sea, 1937),
Straubergs states a preference for a different genre selection from the one
explored in Netherworld: Ancient Latvian notions regarding the world must
be researched in folksongs, where they are preserved due to their picturesqueness as well as [the fact] that folk poetry, contained by the rhythm, in
general can more easily cross over in an unchanged manner from generation to
generation (Straubergs 1937: 169). Likewise, from the range of cosmological
phenomena Straubergs highlight the way of the Sun as the most conservative
view. In general, the article is an extension of these two ideas. Consequently,
referring to more than one hundred folksongs, Straubergs reconstructs the
following structure of the mythological space: the Sun rises on the Heavenly
Mountain, crosses it during the day and the sets into the sea, on the next
morning starting this journey over again. During the night the Sun makes the
journey back across this sea. The sea, therefore, constitutes the opposite world,
the counterpart of our world. Straubergs draws parallels between the Latvian
mythical sea and the Ancient Greek Ocean that surrounds the earth on all sides.
In this mythical sea lives Jras mte (Mother of the Sea); Veu mte (Mother of
the Dead) also comes from the same direction. In the middle of the sea lies a
101

For the final development of his conclusions on Latvian customs and beliefs regarding
the dead see Straubergs 1949.

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mythical stone or island where various mythical actions take place. Another
motif, Saules koks (Tree of the Sun), is localised identically: in the middle of
the sea, in the path of the Sun. Some folksongs refer to this tree as a dwelling
place of celestial deities. The notion of Vczeme as the land of death is
mentioned here as well. Straubergs calls it the more ancient cosmology,
noting that the folktale materials supplement it: here he again refers to the tale
of the heros journey across the sea to or from the netherworld. Nevertheless,
the author states that The way of the Sun is also the ancient way of souls; and
the place, where it [i.e. Sun] sleeps during the night, in many folktales forms a
dwelling place of souls with an undertone of Paradise or similarities to our
world (Straubergs 1937: 172). Moreover, Straubergs argues that this stone or
tree (World Tree) in the middle of the sea is also a dwelling place of the higher
deities: God, Sun, Moon, etc. Straubergs also admits that God as the ruler of
heaven is a more recent motif, and therefore this folksong cosmology must also
be considered to include views from different periods.
Although the second article is dedicated to a particular semantheme The
World Sea while the first one concerns the netherworld in all its varieties,
differences in both reconstructions of mythological space are obvious: in
addition to Straubergs attitude towards the validity of particular folklore
genres, there is a shift from the dominant use of folktales to the dominant use of
folksongs. The second article includes only a few references to Ancient Greek
mythology, which was the main parallel in the first. In a way, these reconstructions reflected other contemporary research interests of the author. As
head of the Archives of Latvian Folklore Straubergs has published multiple
calls to send in particular folklore materials, among them verbal charms. As
these calls, and the volume and scope of his Latvian Charms (19391941)
suggest, he had started working in this direction already in 1937. Consequently,
a new source of references is introduced in World Sea consisting both of
material from Latvian charms and references to a charm study by prominent
Finnish scholar Viljo Mansikka (ber russische Zauberformeln, 1909).

3.2. Mythological space: Adamovis world outlook

Ludvigs Adamovis represents a differing background and institutional
affiliation from Straubergs, and the context of his work on Latvian mythology is
also entirely different: his program is based on the theory of the phenomenology
of religion, referring to van der Leeuw and the hypothesis of differentiation and
integration as the main processes that characterise religion as a dynamic system
(p. 118122). Naturally, the views of both scholars also differ on mythological
space. Adamovis Senlatvieu pasaules ainava (Ancient Latvian world outlook,
1938) is perhaps still the most complete description of spatial dispositions in
Latvian mythology. At the same time this forty-page-long article overviews and
questions all previous research on the issues has analysed. Later the author
summarises his conception of mythological space according to three themes: the

35

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Heavenly Mountain, the Sun Tree, and three levels of the world. The Heavenly
Mountain represents the sky, the Sun Tree represents the World Tree, located in
relation to the Suns path, and the three levels of the world consist of Heaven,
Earth (or This World), and the Netherworld (Adamovis 1938: 364366. See
Appendix I for the translation of original Adamovis description of this worldview p. 195196). So, according to Adamovis, mythological space consists
of variations between mutually displaceable semanthemes and routes between
the basic structure of the three levels. Variations across the genres, within one
genre, and across geographical locations where particular folklore materials had
been collected are problematic in light of a single unchanging ancient Latvian
world outlook and cosmology. After describing a variety of Sun Trees, the
author states that Such examples are more likely evidence of a free combinations of mythical folk songs than the basis of joining them together in one
view (Adamovis 1938: 22). However, by trying to provide a logical
description of mythological space, Adamovis uses various devices of interpretation to establish one primary system of which other variations are seen as
deviations akin to a course of profanation.
An eloquent illustration of such an interpretation is the example of the
World Sea semantheme. Adamovis refers to the above analysed article World
Sea (1937) by Straubergs several times and accepts his notion of sea all around
the world, although closer analysis of folklore material shows this assumption
to be somewhat problematic for the folklore of east Latvia, i.e. regions that are
further away from the coast of the Baltic Sea. As there is no evidence of the
notion of the sea or any other large water body in the eastern direction,
Adamovis just notes that folklore about this matter was somewhat reserved
(Adamovis 1938: 4). Furthermore, he claims that Regarding the position of
the sunset, as we see, empirical experience in the eastern part of Latvia has
overshadowed the notion of the World Sea. It is substituted by the lake and the
broad Daugava, in addition to the mythical places beyond the nine lakes or
where the nine rivers flow (ibid.: 7). However, during further investigation,
the World Sea remains important only as far as it is located in the west, because
that is the place where, according to Adamovis, all three levels of the world
meet. While folklore materials provide different locations for the passages
between the worlds, Adamovis here refers to the comparative study by Wundt
(Adamovis 1938: 31; cf. Wundt 1909: 220). Therefore, mentioning of the sea
or river Daugava in relation to the sunset is also interpreted as a reference to the
far west, mythical border zone of the world where a natural horizon is visible
(Adamovis 1938: 23). Following this example, other references to the sea are
reduced to the World Sea in the west. A similar pattern of interpretation also
characterises the authors analysis of the World Tree semantheme. Likewise, he
refers to Wundts idea: The World Tree that spreads its roots among the depths
of earth and reaches the sky with its branches, holding together the whole
world, being in the middle of the earth itself, which overshadows the whole
world with its leaves and hosts heavenly bodies in its branches. The prototype

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of the World Tree is the Tree of Life (Adamovis 1938: 15; cf. Wundt 1909:
193, 210, 214, 219). Adamovis finds the Sun Tree to be the main Latvian
variation of this semantheme and also locates it in the far west where Sun
sleeps at night. Even though he admits that the same World Tree also grows in
the underworld, as depicted in folktales (Adamovis 1938: 34), the other
locations of the Sun Tree are considered to be a deformation of the original
myth (ibid.: 26). This is explained either by a poetic play on words or by
mythical syncretism where other trees acquire the characteristics of the Sun
Tree.
There are also several other places where Adamovis speaks of profanation
or degradation of original mythical notions. For example, regarding folklore
materials in which Sun Tree could be found by a shepherd girl (Adamovis
1938: 17) or God could hide in a wormwood or mugwort102 bush (ibid.: 29) or
sleep under a grey stone (ibid.: 28). Such a devolutionist view of myth is
somewhat contradictory to his notion of the natural base as the primary source
of the mythical imagination. Mythical semanthemes are not only grounded in
this natural base but also designate the more ancient, older level of the worldview. On various themes, Adamovis states that this or that notion has already
evolved from its natural base, i.e. physical object: God as the sky and the Sun as
the sun are primary images. The greater their anthropomorphic features, the
more recent a stage of mythological development they characterise (e.g.
Adamovis 1938: 11, 25, 31). Such development also implies several world
structures from less developed or nature-like to more developed with the
Heavenly Yard and its inhabitants characterised by an elaborate social structure.
Other interesting questions in Adamovis mythical world order touch on
Vczeme. Literary translated it is the Land of Germans, and the
contemporary name in the Latvian language for Germany is a shortened form of
Vczeme Vcija. In several folk songs it bears the characteristics of the
netherworld; mits admits that theorists leaning towards animism consider
Vczeme as a land of the dead, while he explains these characteristics as a
simple misunderstanding, because Germany is located to the west of Latvia
(mits, 1926: 65). Adamovis makes a cursory reference to this question,
stating that Vczeme for ancient Latvians meant the place of otherness due
to an encounter with the different culture brought to Latvia by Germans. At the
same time, he admits that many mythical elements in descriptions of Vczeme
require special attention and Vczeme is not only a place of otherness, but also
of wrong-way-round-ness (Adamovis 1938: 2021).
The same description applies also to the Opposite World where Straubergs
(1937: 171) locates the home of the Sun, Moon, God, and all higher powers,
and souls (Adamovis 1938: 19). While Straubergs claimed here that the idea
of God and Gods location in Heaven is comparatively new, Adamovis states
that both Sun and God live in Heaven and that a special home of the gods and
102

Artemisia absinthium and Artemisia vulgaris, widespread slightly hallucinogenic plants.

139

dead souls far away at the horizon is not a primary independent concept, but
only a transitional combination (Adamovis 1938: 31). Instead, Adamovis
proposes that the Sun, God, Gods sons and other deities spend their nights in
the Great Heavenly Yard. That is generally everything that the author writes
about the third level of the world Heaven. The situation is considerably
different when it comes to the underworld. Adamovis, like Straubergs, refers
to many folktales describing various paths to the underworld (caves, wells,
springs, etc.) and out of it (directly, across the sea, by flying, etc.), referring also
to the locations of those entrances and exits both in this world and the far west,
inhabitants of the underworld, and heroes quests. In this tripartite worldstructure the question of the home of the dead souls, a subject not considered by
Adamovis remains problematic. Other issues discussed in Ancient Latvian
world outlook are also characteristic to other scholarly productions of the
interwar period, acquiring the most comprehensive form in this essay by
Adamovis, interpreted according to the theories he preferred.

4. Conclusion: Diversity within uniformity

The first task of scholarly research in the interwar period was to re-evaluate the
romantic heritage of the nineteenth century and find new approaches to the
interpretation of the large corpus of collected folklore materials. In most cases,
the methodological approaches were borrowed from comparative linguistics,
history, and the phenomenology of religion. Findings from folklore materials
were supported by the oldest written sources, such as the protocols of witch
trials, travellers notes, chronicles, and even writing by the Roman historian
Tacitus103. The majority of research work was done by well-established mainstream scholars (e.g. Ludvigs Adamovis, Krlis Straubergs, Pteris mits).
Following the older theories, such as animism (Mrti Bruenieks), the
attempt to find totemistic traits in Latvian folklore (the early works of vbe),
as well as efforts to create new religion on the basis of folklore by neo-pagan
movements is also characteristic to this period.
Analysis of several articles on mythological space allows us to separate
three interconnected dimensions that unite the works written in this period:
dependence of the research on the preference of particular folklore genres,
partially based in the general theoretical choices, determined on the local level
by scholars institutional background, and on international level by available
theories, as can be observed within the field of references each author creates; at
the same time, preferences for particular genres are inevitably connected to
claims of authenticity and ideological regime of knowledge production of this
period, related to identity construction of the newly established nation-state.
Here is the third connection, particularly highlighted in the life-stories of
103

Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 56 ca. 117)

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Straubergs and vbe: the entanglement of career and politics. The field of
references for all three dimensions is the easiest to map. Briefly, in the
references of publications on Latvian mythology a variety of popular names
from the international arena appear. The field of references often contains such
great fin de sicle names as Sir Frazer and Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (mits
1918, vbe 1920 et al.). From the publications of the early twentieth century
Arnold van Gennep and Emile Durkheim are referred to, while several
researchers have mentioned Wilhelm Wundt and Sigmund Freud. From
authorities on ancient culture there is Hermann Usener with his seminal work
on the differentiation principle in religions (e.g. Adamovis 1940b). Researchers, more oriented towards the history of religion, borrow their basic
assumptions from phenomenologist of religion Gerard van der Leeuw, and from
such classics as Rudolph Otto with his influential theory of sacrality (Maldonis
1935b, Adamovis 1937 et al.). The theory of culture was known through the
works of Ernst Cassirer; references also prove that the works of Lucien LvyBruhl were familiar to several Latvian researchers of this period. This variety
highlights two important features of the research. First, it was in line with the
tendencies in international academia. Folkloristics has the capacity to be at the
same time very local and very international and this duality must be considered
when researching disciplinary history, contributing to and using the comparison
with the situation in other countries (Anttonen 2005). Second, from these names
of scholars it is obvious that the approaches and their theoretical backgrounds
were rather diverse. This diversity to some extent illustrates the fact that at this
time only one professionally trained folklorist and no professional specialists of
mythology were working in Latvia (Ambainis 1989). Some of the researchers
came from the field of classical philology, some were archaeologists or
historians, for others mythology was just one of the interests while their main
academic specialisations were studies of religion or law. Of course, these
respective backgrounds left particular traits in their writings. Still, all authors of
this research tradition were writing more or less within the constraints of one
ideological regime, contrary to the diversity at this level in the post-war period,
as will be demonstrated in the next chapter.

36

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CHAPTER IV:
Parallel trajectories
Continuing mapping the field, in this chapter I will analyse various political and
theoretical developments in context of the research into Latvian mythology
from the end of World War II until the transitional period marked by the decline
of the Soviet Union 104 . As the political division of the Western and Soviet
worlds was the main factor determining the dynamics and content of knowledge
production, slightly changing focus from section to section characterises several
rather self-contained scholarly environments that influence the research on
Latvian mythology; again, analysis of mythological space is used to typify the
impact of institutional, political, theoretical, and personal factors on the subject
matter. Accordingly, the first section below describes Latvian mythology and
Latvian mythological space as they were conceptualised and described by
Latvian scholars who went into exile after the war and worked in Sweden. Here
the dialogue with interwar period discourse, continuities, and discontinuities is
described in light of the hypothesis regarding exile mentality and its impact on
scholarly production. The next section focuses of the changes and developments
of the discipline during the same period in Soviet Latvia, highlighting the
problematic nature of the research subject in the first post-war decades. Against
a background of institutional reorganisation, the role of certain personalities is
analysed and the relationships between the centre and the periphery in Soviet
Latvian academia are mapped. Here the political conditions of scholarly
production are accented, correlating scholarly practices with propagandist
mythography. In the third section I will shift focus towards the more general
level of the context of the research into Latvian mythology in this period,
characterising the main developments and status quo of the Indo-European
studies. A case study of two editions of the same work on Baltic mythology
provides closer insight into both the theoretical dynamics and ideological
conditions shaping the sub-field of this area. This case study contains one more
different version of Latvian mythology. The specific version of Indo-European
studies in the context of more recent Soviet (Russian) academia is analysed in
the fourth section of this chapter. Here the role of Latvian mythology as
material for a more general mythological reconstructions is accented,
illustrating the application of a Moscow-Tartu-school-specific methodology and
agenda in research on the subject matter. The concluding part of the chapter
summarises the main features of the parallel trajectories, according to which
research on Latvian mythology took place in the post-war period.

104

On transitional period see pages 99101 in chapter two.

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1. Exile scholars
1.1. Exile scholars:
The quest into the netherworld by Krlis Straubergs
The two most productive scholars researching Latvian mythology or religion,
and mythological space as a composite part of it, within the Latvian exile
community were Krlis Straubergs and Haralds Biezais, both of whom lived
and worked in Sweden. Coincidentally, their works cover the opposite parts of
the subject matter: while Straubergs was interested in a chthonic netherworld,
the topography of the Land of the Dead, and customs related to magic, death,
and sacrifice, the main works of Biezais cover the sphere of celestial deities and
the high religion of the ancient Latvians. Such a division of interests might be
determined by the scholars different backgrounds and previous interests. At the
same time, these also might be the strategies of intellectual and psychological
coping with loss of fatherland; especially, keeping in mind Straubergs very
high positions in interwar Latvia in both scholarly, social, and political areas.
Similarly, Biezais detachment from the Latvian (national) evangelic church
resulted in a shift of emphasis from priestly to scholarly duties.
Straubergs main work of this period is the comprehensive exploration of
Latvian customs and beliefs regarding death and burial practices Lettisk folktro
om de dda (Latvian folk beliefs on the dead, 1949), published in Swedish with
a summary in German. This work marks the change of research context in
several ways. The first, obviously, is the publishing language, related to institutional affiliation. The second is the slightly different choice of the
comparative material in the reconstruction of the most ancient Latvian beliefs:
in the two above analysed articles on mythical space (p. 134137) references to
Ancient Greek and Latin texts prevailed105. However, this comparative material
is only a secondary source; the research is based on the interpretation of
archaeological findings, historical records, and folk traditions. From the folklore
materials other than customs and beliefs, the author singled out folksongs
(Straubergs 1949: 131), although referring also to charms. Though Straubergs
held a degree in archaeology, this is the first mythology-related work where he
so extensively uses archaeological data and related chronology, thus
distinguishing the customs of different historical periods. These meta-data of
the research, on the one hand represent Straubergs as a mature scholar, operating with a very wide range of facts from different perspectives, guaranteeing
the unique quality and sense of depth of his most recent writings. On the other
hand, the slight changes in methodology and choice of sources might reveal
efforts to establish scholarly authority in a new, contested environment of
105
Here Straubergs introduces mainly Nordic Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian, as well as
Finno-Ugric (such as Estonian, Finnish, and Karelian) traditions. In addition to the typical
Baltic (Lithuanian and Prussian) context, several references are also made to Russian,
Scythian, German, Italian and other beliefs or conceptions regarding the dead.

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academic knowledge production, i.e. Swedish research institutions. First of all,

the problematic post-war Swedish-Soviet relationship, including Sweden
handing over to Soviet officials more than one hundred Latvian refugees
associated with the Latvian Legion in 1946 must be considered. This created a
sense of insecurity and distrust in the remaining Latvian migr community,
which feared a similar fate. In this general climate, Straubergs was involved in
some sort of political scandal and, perhaps due to denunciation, deported for ten
months from Stockholm to Jnkping in Central Sweden (Krkli 2003: 318).
However, his position in the Institutet fr folklivsforskning (Institute of Folklife
Research) at the Nordiska Museet (Nordic Museum) was secured. The second
important matter involves the disciplinary configuration of Swedish academia.
Unlike Latvia, where Straubergs headed the Archives of Latvian Folklore, an
institution primarily researching texts, i.e. folklore, since 1930 related subject
matters in Sweden had been divided between two slightly different disciplines
folkminnesforskning (folk memory studies) and folklivsforskning (folk life
studies). The former, most prominently represented by Carl Wilhelm von
Sydow at the University of Lund, could be considered an equivalent of folkloristics; the latter, conceptualised and promoted by Sigurd Erixon (18881968)
at the Nordic Museum and the University of Uppsala, was closer to
ethnography or ethnology. The rivalry between the disciplines ended in 1944
when von Sydow retired and Erixon restructured the academic system in both
cities according to his vision a few years later (Jacobsen 2001: 15, cf. Klein
2006). Therefore, the Straubergs affiliation with the Institute of Folklife
Research probably also implied participation in these politics, at least at the
level of positioning and methodology of research.
Concerning the reconstruction of Latvian mythology, Latvian folk beliefs on
the dead continues the interwar period discussion of differentiation in the
ancient Latvian pantheon, especially regarding the mythological Mothers.
Referring to mits, Straubergs states that all mythological Mothers are products
of the differentiation of Zemes mte (Mother of Earth), who greeted the dead in
the afterlife according to the most ancient beliefs; afterwards this function was
attributed primarily to Veu mte (Mother of the Dead), and in some cases also
to Kapu mte (Mother of Graves), Mra mte (Mother of Plague), Smilu mte
(Mother of Sand), or other mythological beings. Mythological space here is
mentioned only in passing. In this respect, Straubergs lengthy article Zur
Jenseitstopographie (1957), published in German eight years later is
significant. This work continued both the mapping of the netherworld, started in
the interwar period (Straubergs 1922, 1937), and, changing the focal point of
research from ancient Latvian to a broader perspective, orientation towards the
international audience. This trend, already encountered in Latvian folk beliefs
on the dead, manifests here in two ways. Firstly, it is the already mentioned
change of focus. Although defined nowhere in the article, the field researched

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by Straubergs is the pan-European conception106 of the world structure; it is not,

as previously, only Latvian beliefs. It therefore includes conceptions of different
linguistic groups that have lived and are living in Europe. Usually separately
analysed, Indo-European and Finno-Ugric ideas are combined into a monolithic
vision or map of the mythical world. Thus, the article is rather a contribution to
general European cultural history than a comparative mythology. Secondly, and
directly related to this new agenda, Straubergs moved more away from Latvian
folklore as well as from the classical Greek and Latin texts characteristic to his
earlier works. As a result, the main sources of Straubergs reconstruction were
late medieval and early modern written texts 107 . This fact might also reflect
problems with the available sources on specific Latvian matters as materials in
Latvia were no longer accessible.
In general, the reconstructed topography resembles those outlined in
Straubergs earlier articles, analysed above, and the section relating to the lower
planes in Adamovis Ancient Latvian World Outlook. The conception of
netherworld is also analysed according to the historical developments of burial
practices, as described in the first part of Latvian folk beliefs on the dead.
Accordingly, the land of the dead is originally located at the nearest burial
place, and its semantics are traced back to particular forms of burial. Later, the
other world was relocated to different places, varying according to particular
periods and cultures. Although in several cultures this location lies in heaven,
Straubergs states that the idea of a distant location in a the horizontal
perspective (1957: 58) or downwards (1957: 76) is more dominant. Contributing to studies of comparative mythology, he also claims the universal
resemblance of that and this worlds in the views of various people from the
Ancient Egyptians to Latvians. In the latter case, it is often the peasants
farmstead, where the dead are working and living similarly to the people of this
world (cf. the conception of Gods farmstead by Haralds Biezais, p. 149152);
although there is a motif of climbing to a such place in heaven both in folksongs
and folktales, from the broader comparative perspective Straubergs is reserved
on the location of such a place above (1957: 59). Similarly, when deciding
between the location of this distant place in the north as encountered in some
cultures, and in the west, Straubergs prefers the latter. This choice is related to
connection between the suns path and disappearance in the night; as the sun
appears each morning in the east and earth, according to ancient worldview, is
flat, there should be an anti-world, a space where the sun travels back from the
west to east and, in religions where the sun is anthropomorphic, also rests at
night. In a way, this as well as other ideas relating to the structure of the
mythical world is an extrapolation of the authors previous conclusion
106

Definition oldest European traditions is mentioned bypassing in the middle of the

article (Straubergs 1957: 69).
107
Here the Mannhardts sources of Baltic mythology, dominating in Straubergs interwarperiod texts dedicated to Latvian mythology, are accompanied by Old Norse Eddas, works
of Olaus Magnus, Saxo Grammaticus and other, mostly Nordic, authors.

37

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(Straubergs 1937) on a related but more general research object, thus

maintaining the integrity of the intellectual trajectory despite the changed
contexts of its implementation. Previously not encountered in Straubergs works
is the idea that the watershed, which souls of the dead cross in their journey
westwards, could also be a river, like the mythical Styx for the Ancient Greeks,
or a real river like the Rhine (as noted by Procopius108), Danube (according to
Tacitus), or Daugava in Latvian tradition. In addition, while characteristics of
the netherworld remain the same as in his previous articles (back to Straubergs
1922), the tendency of the underworld to gain the characteristics of Christian
hell now leads him to the unique idea of particular local variations as special
hells (Sonderhllen); here Straubergs refers to protocols of witch and werewolf
trials in sixteenth to seventeenth century Livonia, another set of texts he is
specialised in. Unlike in other works on netherworld, in Zur Jenseitstopographie Straubergs also analyses the process of rebirth or reincarnation in
European tradition. Consequently, ancient views on the idea of where the soul
of a child comes from support the hypothesis of a netherworld separated from
this world by water (i.e. the soul is carried by the river) or located below (the
soul is found at the places that otherwise mark the entrance into the
netherworld).
In the field of mythology research Straubergs took advantage of his
belonging to two language-defined research communities: publishing a
summarising translation of the first two parts of Lettisk folktro om de dda as a
separate article in Latvian as Pie mbas vrtiem (At the gates of eternity,
Straubergs 1995 [1956]). Continuing the themes related to death and burial,
Straubergs just decreased the number of folklore references mainly in favour of
folksongs, as the article was published within the Latvian folksong edition.
Published just before the authors death, Opferstatten und Opfersteine im
lettischen Haus- und Famielienkult (Offering and Sacrifice in Latvian Houseand Family-cult, 1962 109 ; translated reprint in Latvian: Straubergs 1995b)
concludes Straubergs research into Latvian mythology and related subject
matters, perfectly illustrating his interests, approach, and style. His style was the
investigation of religious and magic practices related to lower deities and
spirits, research-wise based on the early modern and later (up to 1867) historical
records, mainly church visitation protocols as well as some folklore materials.
His last article was in a way also a micro study of the mythical space, mapping
the sacrificial and cult space near every homestead. Unfortunately, this new
research direction was not continued due to authors own passing to the
netherworld.

108

The Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea (ca. 500ca. 565), one of the last
classical Greek historians.
109
Originally published in Commentationes Balticae, Bd. VIII/IX, H. 6, Bonn.

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1.2. Exile scholars:

The celestial pantheon and mentality of Haralds Biezais
In some respect, Haralds Biezais continued the interwar period research
tradition as his interest in genuinely Latvian material for the reconstruction of
mythology bordered on a scrupulous purism excluding all possible influences.
His version of Latvian mythology is to a large extent a folksong mythology
due to the particular status of folksongs among other Latvian folklore materials.
All his main works are dedicated to the Latvian pantheon (p. 9093), while
references to his research are often encountered in works on Baltic
mythology 110 . Biezais interest in Latvian polytheism, which relates to the
concepts of kingship in Indo-European mythology, and absence of interest in
lower mythological beings and chthonic deities, has been interpreted as a
particular exile Latvian political or psychological position and strategy of
dissociation (Leitne 2008). In this regard, one more facet of exile protestant
pastor Biezais interests must be mentioned the outcasts of the official
Christian church, a subject both of his publications and interest on a personal
level (Beitnere 2001: 243), manifested in travel, meetings, and correspondence.
Dagmra Beitnere also emphasises frequent use of the first person plural in
writings about Latvian history, in a given political situation referring to an
imagined community of Latvians (cf. Beitnere 2001: 247). Biezais defined his
approach, already positioning himself close to the previous research and
standards of study in his doctoral thesis Die Hauptgttinnen der alten Letten
(1955; translated and published in Latvian 2006) and consistently followed the
principles set. Independence from the institutions where works of the interwar
period researchers were published (mainly the University of Latvia and the
Archives of Latvian Folklore), as well as temporal distance from that setting of
knowledge production with all its academic politics and power relationships,
allowed Biezais both to conceptualise previous research as a whole and to
develop an impartial critical perspective. In this respect, Biezais works are not
only studies of particular issues, but are also a revision of preceding scholarly
activities, at least regarding the themes he was interested in. Here the critique of
others positions contributes to explanation of his own theoretical and
methodological position.
Consequently, he claimed that neither female deities nor their relation to the
corresponding deities of other Indo-European people had been properly
researched (Biezais 2006: 13). Regarding the latter, he warned that conclusions
of comparative linguistics on phonological similarities do not guarantee
similarities of the same phenomena in the area of religion; therefore, from this
perspective previous research must also be revised (ibid.: 14). However,
linguistic data as such are to some extent still the source for research of ancient
110

In addition, his own article on Baltic religion in Encyclopaedia Britannica concerns the
entire Baltic region but it is based mainly on the materials of Latvian mythology (see
Biezais 2009).

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religion (ibid.: 16). Apart from a little evidence from the historical records,
Biezais reconstruction of ancient mythology was based on folklore materials.
The latter were analysed with respect to the psychological and social contexts of
the time when the materials are collected, i.e. the nineteenth century and first
half of the twentieth. An important part of such analysis was the extraction and
separation of Christian traits from recent vernacular religion. Following the
standards defined in Kaarle Krohns Skandinavisk mytologi (Scandinavian
mythology, 1922), Biezais found relevant Latvian mythology to research in
folksongs, charms, legends, and partly also folk traditions (2006: 16). However,
he was reserved towards the application of folktale material for several reasons,
although he recognised it as containing adequate evidence on religious
phenomena. Firstly, folktales more than other genres contain international
travelling motifs. Secondly, there had been no comparative research into
Latvian folktales that would allow evaluation of this material and its authenticity. Thirdly, according to Wikmans Nutida traditionsforskning (Contemporary tradition research, 1950), storytellers do not believe the tale content
corresponds to reality. Moreover, the primary social function of folktales is
other than that of myth and they have no relation to history (Biezais 2008: 13).
Biezais methodology was informed by such works as Wilhelm Schmidts
Handbuch der Methode der kulturhistorischen Ethnologie (The Culture
Historical Method of Ethnology, 1937), Karl Wikmans Die Einleitung der Ehe
(Introduction of Marriage, 1937), Sigurd Erixon Regional European Ethnology
(1937), and especially Albert Eskerd rets ring (Years Harvest, 1947)
(Biezais 2006: 16). Consequently, for the first time in the research of Latvian
religion the principle of spatial unity is followed and applied; in addition,
particular traditions are localized. In the research of folk life it is called
geographical method (2006: 15). It is the mapping of particular traditions that
due to the lack of precise historic evidences is a prerequisite of international
comparison. Biezais mentioned mits Latvian mythology and Adamovis
Latvian religion as the predecessors of his works; however, this is rather useless
because of the lack of strict methodology regarding the evaluation of sources
used:
Uncritical application of sources can be observed both in the works of those who
tried to call into being the ancient Latvian religion, as well as in more serious
works related to names of Zicns, Straubergs, Rumba, mits, Bruenieks, etc.
This approach to sources in extended perspective is rooted in national
romanticism. These researchers often subordinate the texts of songs, views, and
ideas to their own vision
(Biezais: 2006: 20).

Particularly detailed analyses was dedicated to conceptions developed by vbe

and mits of the dating of folksongs, including criticism of mits theory of a
Golden Age and decline in creation of new songs (2006: 2843). Biezais was
also aware of the wild flora of speculations and statements on vernacular

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religion that are found on any nation and any time, but which have especially
flourished on the subject of Latvian folk religion, but left it aside, his
discussions remaining within the academic discourse only (Biezais 2008: 12).
He also closely followed the developments of the discipline in Soviet Latvia (cf.
Biezais 1970. Online), which allowed him to state that
After the second Russian occupation in 1945, no works on Latvian religion are
published. In particular cases direct or indirect references to Latvian mythology
could be found in some folkloristic texts. Nevertheless, these passing references,
made by scholars totally cut off from the Western-European research of history
of religion, do not have any serious meaning
(Biezais 2008 [1961]: 10).

In general, Biezais works exemplify the complicated situation of scholarly

production in displacement: as a Latvian he continued to pursue the ideals of
national scholarship, as a scholar critically revised the previously produced
works on the subject matter, and as a refugee enclosed this criticism in an aura
of nostalgic longing for a lost paradise. In this respect a close parallel could be
drawn with the life and work of another outstanding exile historian of religion
Romanian Mircea Eliade (cf. Ellwood 1999). The particular version of
mythological space, reconstructed by Biezais within these contexts, is presented
below.

1.3. Exile scholars:

Mythological space in discussion with the past
Questioning conclusions made by Adamovis and other interwar period
researchers, Biezais described mythological space in the chapter Worldview
and mythical world outlook in Seno latvieu debesu dievu imene (Heavenly
gods family of ancient Latvians, 1998 [1972]), also analysing a particular
motifs in detail in Dieva tls latvieu tautas reliij (Image of God in Latvian
folk religion, 2008 [1961]). In Worldview and mythical world outlook,
Biezais warned that his aim is not to give a complete description or explanation
of the ancient Latvian worldview, but only to explore those moments that are
related to the sun and its role in mythical and religious experiences (Biezais
1998: 136). Despite this, his description of the world structure was rather
comprehensive. Biezais also had no difficulty relating mythical phenomena to
their natural base, admitting, that the interpretation of myths is about meaning
rather than images (Biezais 1998: 136, 2008: 67). Instead, his interpretations
have more social insight, reconstructing, on the one hand, the heavenly family
and, on the other hand, relating it to peasant psychology.
His disagreement with the interwar period researchers Adamovis, Straubergs and, to some extent, Zicns is mainly limited to a differing evaluation of
folklore genres. As stated earlier, his interpretation led to an almost exclusively

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folksong mythology. Of course, Biezais was also aware of a thick layer of

Christian syncretism in folksongs. Although most of them were collected during
the nineteenth century or later, Biezais stated with certainty that the Latvian
peasant from whom the songs were collected lived in this period in a world of
religious notions closely related to his pre-Christian religion (Biezais 1998:
141). This is in stark contrast to his view of folktales; he claimed that Latvian
folktales and views included in them represent shared traditions of European
culture and therefore reflect rather Christian views (Biezais 1998: 145). On
this basis, he contested the tripartite world structure advertised by Straubergs
(1922) and Adamovis (1938), because both of them referred only to folktales.
As an alternative to this, Biezais offered a simple division of this world and
the invisible other world in which the latter is inhabited by the souls of the dead,
dwelling in an environment more or less similar to this world (Biezais 1998:
144). According to him, the location of this realm is somewhat virtual rather
than located in some particular region of mythical geography the far west or
elsewhere.
Interpreting folksongs, Biezais came to the same conclusion as Adamovis
regarding the Heavenly Mountain it represents the sky. The sun travels across
or around it in a circular movement. Biezais explained the variations of this
movement in different folksongs as varying perceptions of individual creators
of the texts, thus making him the first to considers the role of tradition bearers
in Latvian mythological narratives. His interpretation of the World Sea is also
interesting. Biezais argued that neither the notion of World Sea surrounding the
entire world nor the notion of the underground sea are clearly expressed in
folklore materials or other genuine sources of Latvian mythology (Biezais 1998:
174), and therefore such notions have to be left out of consideration if one
remains within the materials of Latvian folklore only. He also denied
Adamovis aforementioned argument that the sea is substituted by other water
bodies in Eastern Latvia due to the lack of a real sea, referring to folksongs
recorded in the very east of Latvia that mention sunset at sea. At the same time,
he disagreed also with Straubergs (1937) and proposed the sea as another
metaphor for Heaven (Biezais 1998: 175, 176). Moreover, he further stated that
this notion could be older than the idea of the Heavenly Mountain, although
neither view is contradictory.
While other researchers using folktale material have described the underworld in detail, Biezais paid special attention to Heaven and to the Heavenly
Yard. The hosts of this realm are the Sun and God (Biezais 1998: 146, 2008:
81). The Heavenly Yard has also been described earlier (e.g. Adamovis
1940a). The novelty in the works of Biezais is a caution regarding the
construction of the Yard from separate semanthemes scattered across the body
of folklore materials. He supposes that the buildings of Gods household are
located around a central yard, that there might be three springs, and the
surroundings consist of forests of oaks, limes, pines, birches and spruces. Silk
meadows and golden mountains, gardens, rivers, springs and the sea are part of

150

ancient Latvian heavenly topography (Biezais 2008: 86). Still, he admitted that
there is no direct evidence about Gods house or the Heavenly Yard in
folksongs (Biezais 2008: 81), therefore those images are deduced from the
descriptions of actions of God, his sons and other inhabitants of the realm and
also from particular semanthemes like Gods front door (cf. Pakalns 1992).
His final conclusion was as follows: Due to poor sources, only the fact that
God also has his house in Heaven must be accepted (Biezais 2008: 84).
Nevertheless, there is one building from the Heavenly Yard that has attracted
the special attention of the author the Heavenly Bath-house or Sauna. It has
all common celestial mythical signifiers gold, silver and diamonds. Only the
fact that it is almost never mentioned in connection with God, at least not in the
sources Biezais trusts, is somewhat problematic. Instead, in this bath-house one
can more often encounter sons of God and daughters of the Sun, and sometimes
also the Moon and other celestial deities (Biezais 2008: 325). Analysing the
meaning of this semantheme, Biezais reached several conclusions that are
important for his scholarly programme in general. First of all, it is a direct allembracing correlation of empirical reality and transcendental realms. Therefore,
the special place of bath-house in the Heavenly Yard is derived from its special
place in the Latvian peasants household as the place of birth, various rituals,
and the dwelling place of several lower mythological beings. This also implies a
shift in religious studies from texts to contexts. As Biezais wrote: In broader
interconnection, this uncommon feature of Latvian mythology supports the
direction of research that demands that religious studies pay more attention to
the ecological facet (Biezais 2008: 327). Furthermore, the Heavenly Bathhouse seems to be unique to Latvian mythology with no direct analogies in
other religions (Biezais 2008: 327). This shows the interrelation of comparative
studies with nationally oriented research based on folklore materials of one
language group only, and verifies ethnic mythology as a particular object of
study, because features like this would be unnoticed when researching older or
broader levels of mythological notions in Baltic or Indo-European mythology.
Apart from this discourse relating to writings of prominent scholars,
narratives on Latvian mythology and Latvian mythological space in the exile
community were also constructed by other authors exploring other approaches.
For example, in 1962 a student of Maldonis, Dr. phil. Krlis Polis (18761969),
published 500 copies of his book Dievs un dvsele k reliiozs priekstats
aizkristietisko latvieu tradicijs (God and Soul as a Religious Notion in PreChristian Latvian Traditions) in the USA. Polis examined the same sources as
Biezais, paying additional attention to archaeological evidence. However, due
to the differences in the agendas behind the research and in corresponding
methodology, according to which particular folksongs are selected and
interpreted, the conclusions both authors reached were radically different. For
example, Polis claimed the special status of Latvian mythology, arguing that the
Pre-Christian Latvian God has no essential similarities with the gods of
neighbouring people Slavic, Germanic, Finno-Ugric, etc. The seeming

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connection of characteristic elements of the thunder god Prkons, the Sun, and
Laima with gods of neighbouring peoples is a common religious feature of all
humanity, like the barrowing of the ancient Arians from the Indo-European prepeople (Polis 1962: 147). Also original is Polis vision of mythological space,
including perhaps the most detailed scenic description of the netherworld. The
netherworld, according to Polis, is a total contrast to this world. There are silver
and golden hills, silk grass, silver birch-trees, and oaks with golden leaves. The
way of souls leads there through the Land of the Dead where the souls get rid
of everything earthly and, kindly escorted by the Mother of the Dead, cross the
river Ilga (Eng.: Longing) and reach the gates of the netherworld, shining in all
colours of the rainbow. Here the souls are greeted by the Sons of God and in
their company go along a broad, white road, illuminated by invisible light;
sweet, gentle smells linger around and wonderful music flows across the
beautiful landscape where silver, golden, and diamond horses, and magical
cows graze. At the horizon stand silver and golden mountains; on the top of one
silver mountain a young man ploughs, and a golden ladder leads there.
Surprised by everything experienced, the souls slowly continue the way, and
silver birch trees present one silver bough to each soul; suddenly, silver fog
pours over the souls. After a turn in the road, at the river a magnificent oak
grove grows. Golden leaves and acorns seduce the souls, and a golden fog pours
over them. Further, huge silver gates, incrusted with pearls and gold, open to
the yard of M-Dievis (Dear-God) where a great golden apple tree with
diamond leaves grows. The souls are greeted by the deity Laima; after singing
songs to God, the souls enter Gods maisonette and stay there forever (Polis
1962: 226227).
Apart from this description, Polis also reconstructs the dynamics of the
ancient Latvian religion of the Bronze and Stone Ages. Remembering the works
of Merkel and the Neo-Latvians, one has no choice but to agree with Biezais
that, Such ideas of Polis are created by uncritical national romanticism and
also are characteristic to this direction. However, they have little to do with the
scholarly research on the subject matter (Biezais 2006: 44). Concerning the
general discourse on Latvian mythology, it is notable that the vision outlined
above was published more than a hundred years after the heyday of national
romanticism, while the sentiments expressed remain the same. While this
comparatively marginal version of Latvian mythology is saturated with national
romanticist ideology once again claiming the status of scholarly knowledge, in
the native country of the author neither nationalism nor mythology are subjects
to discuss with positive connotations. Hence the opposite situation is explored
in the next section, regarding the status of the discipline in the Latvian Soviet
Socialistic Republic.

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2. Soviet Latvian mythology

2.1. Soviet Latvian mythology: The politics of mythology
Perhaps to understand the disposition of disciplinary practices in Soviet Latvia a
distinction between two broadly accepted meanings of the term myth must be
introduced: the interplay between these two meanings is exactly the key factor
in several dimensions defining the process of knowledge production that the
current treatise explores. The first meaning of this term is the one historically
constituting the object of study of folkloristics and the history of religion, i.e.
myth as a narrative component of a religion and a structural determinant of a
pre-modern worldview. The second meaning of the term is myth as a specific
relationship of signification, a type of speech, a metalanguage. It is a secondorder semiological system in which a sign (the sum of concept and image)
becomes a mere signifier (Barthes 1977). Resembling ancient sacred narratives
or not, the contemporary mythology in this meaning saturates the discourses of
culture, politics, advertising, etc. Most importantly, the change in signification
system implies a different mode of discourse, hiding a primary semiological
system behind the natural language. Without going deeper in Roland Barthes
theory, we can specify this mode of discourse as ideology, an instrumentalisation of power relationships. Returning to the subject matter, Soviet Latvian
research into mythology is constituted by a subordination of myth as a
phenomenon of religion, to myth as ideology. The power imbalance in Soviet
knowledge production apparatus is reflected in the same way: the Communist
Party, drawing its legitimisation from Marxist-Leninist science, dictates truth to
the sciences. Rephrasing Bacon: in this system power is knowledge rather than
vice versa. A particularity of Soviet culture and society, a context for academic
research into myths, is the tension between both meanings of myth in power
dimensions between academia and the public sphere. Tension rises from an
overlapping of these meanings: the mythical nature of Soviet ideology contentwise too closely resembles the mythical nature of religion or myths in the
primary sense111. If this structural resemblance was also to be activated within
the knowledge production system, a short circuit in power relationships would
occur. In other words, the ideology could not be allowed to be de-mythologised.
If the above-described circumstances have a truth value, they also explain the
specific modification of the studies of mythology in the Soviet Union and,
consequently, Soviet Latvia. The bibliography shows that no works on Latvian
mythological space, as well as hardly any on mythology as such, were written
in the LSSR. One of the reasons is the specific definition of folklore, which is
also related to the general regime of truth and political ideology in the USSR,
described in the next subchapter.
111

Descriptive terms such as myth and ritual enjoyed considerable frequency in Western
analyses of the Soviet political system even during the Soviet period (McClure and Urban
1983). E.g. Kolakowsky 1989.

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At the same time, research on ancient mythology or vernacular religion was

replaced by active folklore and myth-making within the public sphere and,
further, research into materials produced in the academic sphere, creating a
reflexive, circulatory relationship between these two domains of knowledge
production. The research object of Soviet folkloristics became new folksongs,
tales, and proverbs. Speaking of the above mentioned tension between modes of
myth, in several of these genres religious or mythical elements were simply
replaced by images appropriate for the regime. A special place in this new
mythography was reserved for leaders of the people: Lenin and Stalin, gradually
assumed the legendary proportions of mighty giants, epic heroes (cf. Kunitz
1928, Panchenko 2005, Cbere 2009). In addition to the recycling of
biographical data, new narratives tended to replicate already known myths and
legends, creating a dense net of allusions with saints and heroes: As
explorations of ritualistic and religious elements in early Soviet culture suggest,
motives recognisable from the folk tradition of oral narratives played an
important role in propagating an authoritarian type of leadership among the first
generation of post-revolutionary readers (Skradol 2009: 21). Of course, in
comparison to the first post-revolutionary generation in Soviet Russia, the postwar society of the Baltic states was far more advanced and, importantly, for the
most part lacked the Russian Orthodox background. Still, in one form or
another, mythogenesis was cultivated in official narratives, for example, via
newspapers and radio broadcasting, by literary practices from authored novels
to altered life-histories and memories, in architecture, fine arts, and movies,
etc., forging the new world-view and constructing collective identity. The
purpose of this new mythology was
to shape peoples perception about significant questions, pertinent to their
existence, building an irrational orientation system for rational reality. Soviet
myths simplify reality, facts, events or phenomena, arranging these into a system
based on strict binary oppositions a black and white view of the world. Myths
had to be simple, effective and unequivocal
(Ansone 2008: 6).

According to these principles, the whole Soviet culture industry built a system
of mythical imaginary. Rituals of annual political celebrations and red corners
with leaders icons added the cult dimension to this religion-like system.
Likewise, narratives of exceptional moments during the founding of the Soviet
Union and building of Communism were produced, writing a sacred history.
Reflecting the dominating centralisation of cultural production, Soviet Latvian
mythology consisted of translations and adaptations of myths produced on an
All-Union level. Ancient mythology as an object of academic research was
overshadowed by cultural production of contemporary mythology in the public
sphere.

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2.2. Soviet Latvian mythology:

The establishment of a new discipline
While within the exile community the research into mythology continued to
develop according to the different disciplinary trajectories of folkloristics and
the history of religion, as represented by the authors analysed in the first section
of this chapter, research into the subject matter in the Soviet Socialistic
Republic of Latvia was consolidated under the umbrella of folkloristics a
branch of linguistics and literature studies in local academia. The discipline,
with a one-hundred-year-old history and sources shaped by this history, could
not be restarted from a zero point, also keeping in mind the matter of human
recourses: scholars who continued their careers, or at least had been educated
within the previous regime, like Anna Brzkalne, Alma Medne and Jnis
Alberts Jansons, used discursive and rhetorical strategies to continue pursuing,
in modified form, the research they had begun previously. Thus, one of the
cornerstones of new disciplinary identity was uncompromising critique of
previous developments (e.g. Niedre 1948, Ambainis 1958, Ozols 1968),
especially regarding the works of Baltic exile scholars, prohibited or limited to
only a narrow circle of readers in the LSSR.
The necessity of active identity construction and legitimation of research is
also illustrated by often repeated self-definitions of folkloristics, its research
object and purposes. These definitions show the heterogeneity within the
seemingly uniform period of Soviet rule, again related to ideological changes in
the USSR. Therefore the two definitions below from the beginning and from
the end of Soviet period are juxtaposed to demonstrate the ideology implicit
in the construction of disciplinary identity. The first of these definitions was
written during the period of Stalinism (see p. 8790) and correspondingly
reflects the hegemonic ideological trends:
Folklore is the oral art of the vast masses of working people112, their ideological
formation. Folklore expresses the views, thoughts, seeking, endeavours, and
thirst of the working people; folklore reflects their worldview, shows their life
and struggle. Folklore is the oral poetry of working peoples far and recent past,
present, and future as well. Folklore is various songs of the folk, rich narratives,
various compositions of small genres (...). Vast masses of people composed and
repeated it in remote past, when they yet had no written literature, working
people composed and repeated it while struggling against noblemen and
capitalists, they compose and repeat it while building the socialism
(Niedre 1948: 5).

The following adjustment is also noteworthy: Soviet science, as already said,

labels the oral poetry of working people, excluding various beliefs, such as
112

The Latvian term tauta in different contexts means nation, folk, or people. Translation of this term in this thesis is kept as close as possible to given context, as in the
compound terms working people, folk art, and Soviet nations.

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witchcraft, customs etc., with the term folklore. Those catch folklorists
attention as poetical creations or ornamentation of peoples poetry (Niedre
1948: 6).
Three important rhetorical moves are made here, basically connecting
folklore and class-struggle: first, the de-nationalisation of folklore, locating its
creative sources in the lower classes according to international Soviet paradigm;
second, the narrowing of the definition of folklore genre-wise, excluding
materials that could compromise the idea of the linear development of classstruggle with clear division lines between the cultures of oppressors and
oppressed, including an exclusively positive evaluation of the latter. The third
move leads towards the particular understanding of contemporary folklore,
shifting the emphasis from the cultural heritage of pre-modern society to ongoing process of modern society, of course also narrowing it by class and
relating it to the narrative of struggle. As Latvieu folklora (Latvian Folklore,
Niedre 1948), with the above quoted definition, characterises the beginning of
Soviet Latvian folkloristics, Latvieu folkloristikas vsture (History of Latvian
Folkloristics, Ambainis 1989) characterises the decline of these trends in the
last year of LSSR existence. Here too the opening paragraph defines the field:
In the culture and history of any people, in any period of social development, a
significant role is played by folklore one of the oldest forms of social
consciousness. The origins of folklore as ideology are simultaneous to the most
ancient manifestations of human spiritual activities. The later modes and forms
of folklore take shape together with the development of human language and
practical activity. The first mans efforts of seeing, summarising, and generalising the most important observations in the individuals life, as well as
understanding the regularities of the society, environment, and world from which
the existence and further development of particular human and collectives are
dependant, are found in it. From the ancient, syncretic forms of spiritual culture,
folklore later outgrew as a particular mode of folk art, in which peoples
conceptual, artistic, scientific, and merely practical views are collected over the
course of many centuries. The world-view and aesthetic basic principles of
folklore become a base of national literature; evaluation of the moral, ethical,
and social principles stored in folklore, secures the preservation of social and
national continuity
(Ambainis: 1989: 5).

In this definition, published half a century later, the most obvious feature, of
course, is the (re)introduction of the term national. The previously dominant
narrative of class struggle is also absent, although it heavily influences periodisation and interpretation in further pages of Ambainis book. Importantly, this
definition leads towards the more comprehensive understanding of folklore as a
particular form of the human (not class) consciousness. Published in the last

156

years of the LSSR, it proves the sensitivity of the humanities towards the
political developments going on all over the Soviet Union113.
One of the rare articles on Latvian mythology published during the early
years of Soviet Latvia was written by Arturs Ozols (19121964); it is a chapter
in introduction to a new edition of folksongs. Ozols was one of the most
influential folklorists of his time, head of the Department of Latvian Language
and Folklore at the University of Latvia, vice-chairman in scientific work of the
director of the LSSR Academy of Sciences Institute of Folklore and
Ethnography (cf. Biezais 1970, Jrns 1986). While, in Sweden, Biezais
described the ancient Latvian pantheon, Ozols in Soviet Latvia argued that
Soviet folklorists, who were armed with Marxist-Leninist theory, objectively
research, care for, and bring to light treasures of the peoples art (Ozols 1955:
48). Objectively here means the discovering of a class struggle beyond the
creation of folklore. Ideological constraints and angle of interpretation
dominating in the earliest Soviet Latvian folkloristics are well illustrated by the
course on methodology of Soviet folkloristics within the programme of Latvian
folkloristics at the State University of Latvia in the 1949/50 academic year
(Ozols 1968: 194195; for English translations see Appendix II p. 197). Here
the above-mentioned uncertainty of disciplinary identity, manifested in the ongoing critique of bourgeois folkloristics, is reflected in four points out of five.
The programme also clearly shows the invention of a new identity along with
the invention of new a research object the contemporary, i.e. Soviet, folklore
of working people. Thus, the continuity of discipline was constructed on a
meta-level: referring to its research object, but not to the scholarly endeavours
of past generations, which were practically continued by the heirs of the
Archives of Latvian Folklore and the University of Latvia. Folklore was not
only invented, but also instrumentalised as a tool of propaganda and education,
and as such its purpose was to mobilise the working people in the struggle of
collective construction, the struggle for new cultural achievements, raising the
might of the Soviet Union (Niedre 1948: 225). While many researchers have
paid attention to the contradictory nature of Soviet folklore as the discursive
construction of an artificial subject (cf. Miller 1990, Panchenko 2005), an
example of one such new folksong speaks for itself, illustrating the subject
matter:
Worker extends hand to worker,
Struggle will banish the spectre of crisis.
The worker will build himself a new state,
On work and reason it will be founded
(Ozols 1968: 219).

113

For changes of the meaning of term folklore during Soviet period in Estonia see Jaago
1999.

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This is defined as a folksong probably due to its classical four-line form and
origins from the lowest level of society, in this case, prisoners114. However, it
has no metric features characteristic to Latvian folksongs, and it was excerpted
from an originally written source. During field expeditions, Soviet folklore was
also often composed by local activities specially to match the collectors agenda.
Research into mythology in this framework of Soviet folkloristics had a
special status because of the twofold necessity to legitimise a research subject
close to religion. Such legitimation was obtained by two strategies: pre-defined
interpretation, analysed in detail below (p. 159161), and the practice of using
canonical references, characteristic to the discipline, and to the humanities in
general, in this period115. First of all, it is Karl Marx who unfortunately had not
written anything on mythology in particular but has a short note on Greek art;
therefore, this very note was cited in almost all material regarding mythological
subject matters:
We know that Greek mythology is not only the arsenal of Greek art, but also its
basis. (...) All mythology subdues, controls and fashions the forces of nature in
the imagination and through imagination; it therefore disappears when real
control over these forces is established. (...) Greek art presupposes Greek
mythology, in other words that natural and social phenomena are already
assimilated in an unintentionally artistic manner by the imagination of the people
(Marx 1999 [1857]).

Careful reading of other canonical authors (e.g. Lenin and Stalin) also provided
similar, rather de-contextualised material. In this regard, the writings of
Friedrich Engels and Maxim Gorky were applied as a kind of cornerstones of
Soviet (Latvian) approach to mythology. Engels had defined mythology as
fantastic reflection of reality in humans minds (Niedre 1948: 34) and the
origins of supernatural beliefs as a coping strategy with external forces 116 .
Engels thesis of fantastic reflection and its foundation in economic relations
discovered by Marx were synthesised by Maxim Gorky and retold to Latvian
readers by Jnis Niedre:

114

Originally LFK collection no. 908, item no. 1379. Collection no. 908 mainly consists of
the excerpts from (presumably political) prisoners notes and diaries, stored in the Latvian
State Archives.
115
See p. 8790 for Stalinism and Soviet science.
116
All religion, however, is nothing but the fantastic reflection in mens minds of those
external forces which control their daily life, a reflection in which the terrestrial forces
assume the form of supernatural forces. In the beginnings of history it was the forces of
nature which were first so reflected, and which in the course of further evolution underwent
the most manifold and varied personifications among the various peoples (Ozols 1955: 46,
quoted from Engels Anti-Dhring).

158

An image was consolidation of the sum of particular experience and was

accepted as an idea which aroused the creative power, increased the lacking real,
provided by the peoples own desires. Therefore, myths are not infertile fantasy,
but the very reality in their fundaments, which are supplemented with fiction and
called to lead the activity of collective
(Niedre 1955: 35).

From collective activity, line of thought leads to the role of work and the
working class. Ozols reference to Gorky, paraphrasing the same fragment of
Engels which was chosen by Niedre, is quoted here at length to illustrate the
scholastic nature of this periods rhetorics:
In addition to many other questions of folklore, the basic meaning of the
mythological substance of folklore is also illuminated by the great writer of the
world and thinker M. Gorky: I do not doubt that you know ancient folktales,
myths, and legends, but I would very much like that their basic meaning would
be understood more deeply. This meaning is reducible to the efforts of the
ancient working people to ease their work, to increase its productivity, likewise,
to arm themselves against four-legged and two-legged enemies as well as with
the means of the power of the word witchcraft, charming to influence
elemental, hostile natural forces.
By idealising Mans abilities and somewhat anticipating his potent development,
myth creation in its foundations was realistic. In every blink of the ancient
imagination it is easy to find its stimulus, and this stimulus is always Mans
desire to ease his work. Certainly, this stimulus was created by the workers of
physical labour. And indeed, certainly, god had not came into existence and
existed for such a long time in the daily life of working people, if it would not be
particularly useful for the rulers of the land, exploiters of the work...
(Ozols 1955: 67, cf. Gorkijs 1946).

The most distinct characteristic of these definitions is the absence of religious

terminology that is a constitutive element of other approaches to mythology,
both in the fields of folkloristics and the studies of religion. Here, instead of
sacrality, the struggle of the working people appears as a central term,
corresponding to the Marxist understanding of class struggle as a vehicle of
history. Such understanding also implies the stretching of religious experience
and related narratives in Procrustes bed of historical materialism, interpreting
them either as a metaphor for social and natural phenomena or as an instrumental ideology of the oppressors.

2.3. Soviet Latvian mythology: Revisions and prohibitions

The developments of folkloristics that took place until the Soviet era were, with
few exceptions, harshly criticised in multiple ways, thus simultaneously
constructing a new identity for the discipline. Leaving aside the very differences
in understanding of folklore and the role of folkloristics, this critique labels and

159

characterises particular researchers and their heritage, drawing strict line

between the historical periods. This approach was regularly practiced by Jnis
Niedre (19091987), unmasking and evaluating the previous regime in multiple
publications. Niedre, who previously worked in the Ethnographic section of the
Museum of History (19281934), was a member of the Communist party from
1934. In that year he was sentenced to three years in prison for anti-government
political activities, then rose to power immediately after the occupation of
Latvia by Soviet forces, heading the central censorship institution 117 , later
becoming assistant director of the Folklore Institute and occupying other high
positions in the state machinery (trle. Online; cf. Samsons 1968: 138,
Zelmenis 2007: 17). Written from the hegemonic position, his articles in the
press and programmatic book Latvieu folklora (Latvian folklore, 1948)
established and defined right and wrong in a way characteristic to a
totalitarian state. Figuratively speaking, Niedre was treated with his own
medicine after the next change of political regime: in 1990 Anda Kubulia used
almost the same rhetoric as Niedre to describe his contribution to the discipline,
also pointing out the probability of specific personal disposition in Niedres
attitude towards the more talented scholars. In the latter regard, it is relevant
that Niedre used his position to acquire an academic degree without fulfilling
such requirement as graduation of university (Kubulia 2000/2001: 161).
During the post-war decades vbe, despite the rather leftist ideas in his
early writings, was called the bourgeois nationalist who, for example, claimed
that Latvian folk art is the production of the higher classes118. vbes views are
supported by L. Brzi, P. mits, and the apologist for the Finnish school in
Latvian folkloristics Anna Brzkalne. Even working in a Soviet research
institution, Anna Brzkalne expressed the views of western bourgeois archreactionary folklorists (Niedre 1953: 56; cf. Niedre 1947, Medne-Romane
1950: 87, Ozols 1968: 56). mits was also criticised for searching for too many
written folklore sources and thus undermining the creative spirit of the people
(Niedre 1953: 58), as well as for overestimating the loans in narrative folklore
(Niedre 1948: 13, Ozols 1968: 56). Not only particular theories, but also some
directions of research were not welcomed: As mentioned before, the collection
of folklore developed as the search for unreal delusions. The collection of
Latvian folklore in this morbid direction was especially driven by P. mits with
his articles, and K. Straubergs with his descriptions of charming and magic
(Niedre 1948: 61). The following, perhaps, is said about the same: Ignoring the
healthy evaluation of life by the working people, Latvian bourgeois collectors
117

Preses un biedrbu departaments, the Department of Press and Associations, and later
LPSR Galven literatras prvalde, The Main Authority of Literature of the LSSR.
118
vbes personality and works are an exemplary case of this ideologically laden criticism:
he had been involved in national academic politics, he was in exile, and some his writings
were easy to interpret as reflecting Hans Naumanns theory of gesunkenes Kulturgut. The
latter was one of the central objects of criticism in Marxist-Leninist folkloristics in general
(cf. Dorson 1963).

160

of folklore were chasing the decadent reverie of a few intellectuals, often the
shallowness of these men identifying with folk poetry (Niedre 1948: 61).
vbes works published after 1917 were taken out of public circulation in
the LSSR (Arveda vbes zintnisk darbba. Online) after he went exile. Later
it was written that vbes views on the history of folkloristics were
unacceptable because he illustrated the tendency of pro-western understanding
of the discipline: Bourgeois scholars, touching the questions of history and
methodology of Latvian folkloristics, had tried to conceptualise them as though
Latvian folklorists had always been under the influence of western scholars
theories and methods, and that Latvian folkloristics was mere imitation of
western folkloristics, illustrated by Latvian folklore materials (Ozols 1958:
56). Soviet Latvian historiography, at the same time, tended to foreground the
links between Latvian and Russian scholars and theories (e.g. 1951,
Ambainis 1958), contributing to the centre-periphery hierarchy in Soviet
science which itself related to the special role of Russia in Soviet discourse.
Ojrs Ambainis (19261995) was a researcher associated all his life with the
Archives of Latvian Folklore (Etnogrfijas un folkloras institts, The Institute
of Ethnography and Folklore during the Soviet period), primarily specialising in
research on folktales. He was also the author of the only history book on
Latvian folkloristics (Ambainis 1989). A shorter historical overview of
disciplinary developments is also included in his dissertation (Ambainis 1958).
There Ambainis recognised vbes pioneering role in analysis of classstructure and social relations in Latvian folktales, despite this claiming that In
his judgements the author often arrives at reactionary, un-scientific
conclusions (Ambainis 1958: 46). In general, criticism of previous academia
sometimes went as far as this laconic conclusion: There was no Latvian
folkloristics in the Pre-Soviet period (Niedre 1948: 61). Revision of previously
produced works and theories is an integral process of knowledge production;
however, a particular regime of truth dictates the mode of this critique. As
interwar period researchers positioned themselves against the scholars and
publicists of the nineteenth century, mainly on the basis of theoretical
differences, Soviet Latvian scholars, willingly or not, positioned themselves
against interwar period academia on the basis of political differences which, in
their turn, dictated theoretical position. The latter, dogmatic in its nature at each
stage of development, still had its dynamics.

2.4. Soviet Latvian mythology:

The single correct interpretation
In the Soviet countries, the interpretive framework of folklore was shaped to
invest Marxist-Leninist doctrine with scientific legitimacy, and use it as an
ideological foundation for the building of the new society. The ideological
means of discipline were foregrounded, creating a kind of self-referring

41

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structure of knowledge production with biased objectivity; such a system was

claimed to be objective because of its very un-objectivity. First of all, as stated
in the previously given definitions of folklore, some folklore materials were
more preferred than others. If during the interwar period there was a tendency to
prioritise folksongs through formal-historical arguments, during the Soviet era
this selection was made according to content of the narrative the authenticity
of folklore materials and thus their value to research was determined by their
correspondence to the narrative of the working class; in this context, to a large
extent formulated by Gorky (cf. Dorson 1963) these dialectics of labour were
enough for the explanation of mythological phenomena as well (e.g. Ozols
1955). Secondly, the interpretation of these selected materials was further
shaped by the adaptation of works by scholars recognised by Soviet power, e.g.
Yuri Sokolov, Sergei Aleksandrovi Tokarev, or Vsevolod Zelenin. The
recognition or condemnation of particular theories was a dynamic process. In
the first decade after the 1917 Russian Revolution, the work of literary scholars
and folklorists in the Soviet Union was relatively less censored and controlled.
Various trends, such as formalism, the Finnish school, and the historical school,
freely coexisted (Oinas 1973). The 1930s brought the establishment of a single
correct dogma in various areas including the arts and humanities; this process
corresponded to the Stalinistic purge in the Communist party and Stalin
obtaining absolute power by exiling or destroying other Communist party
leaders, such as Leon Trotsky. In an Orwellian way the power-knowledge
modification in the Soviet Union included not only censorship and critique, but
also public confessions and the acceptance of Truth119:
Leaders of the historical school whose interpretations had dominated Russian
folklore study publicly acknowledged their contamination from reactionary
Western scholars. Propp renounced formalism, Andreyev the Finnish method,
Zhurminsky and Sokolov the vulgar sociology of Hans Naumann. Academicians
Y. M. Sokolov and Veselovsky Miller now recognized their neglect of the
creative factor in the poetic compositions of the working class, and their failure
to perceive the true social and class nature of oral poetry and legend
(Dorson 1963: 9798).

In the LSSR, the programmatic writings of Niedre illustrate this shift of the
official position regarding New Linguistic Doctrine founded by Russian
philologist and archaeologist Nikolai Yakovlevi Marr (ca. 18641934) in the
1920s. Briefly, Marr built a brilliant academic career 120 using Marxist
phraseology and presenting his doctrine as the only Marxist alternative to
119

Gennady Batygin in this respect points out the interesting similarity of communist
ideology and early protestant movements, where public repentance and the open display of
personal lives were the basic requirements of engagement (Batygin: 2004: 16).
120
Up to the position of head position in the Section of Materialist Linguistics of the
Communist Academy and receiving the Order of Lenin.

162

bourgeois comparative linguistics. In his works the stages of glottogonic

development are linked to historical socio-economic formations (Yakubovich
2005). In 1950, however, Marrs teachings were declared anti-Marxist in
Stalins article Marxism and questions of linguistic science published in the
central Soviet newspaper Pravda (20.06.1950; cf. Stalin 1972). Initially, Niedre
claimed that Marrs theory, explaining the oldest stage of human developments,
is one of the basic components of Soviet folkloristics: it shows the process of
mythogenesis, explains the formation of particular folktale motifs, and
appropriately questions the borrowing of folktale motifs (Niedre 1948: 26, 125
6, etc.). Just five years later Niedre celebrates Stalins article, stating that, In
this work not only N. Y. Marrs anti-Marxist, idealistic teachings on language
are unmasked down to their roots, but also Marxist-Leninist science is elevated
to a new, higher level (Niedre 1953: 66). Marrs theory is now called pseudoscientific linguistics, wrong statements, and vulgarisations, which had
contaminated Soviet folkloristics with vulgar and idealistic statements,
leading to formalistic archaism (Niedre 1953: 6668).
The gap between the necessity of politically correct theory and scholarly
praxis comes into the light when reading Niedres Latvian folklore: in the
chapter regarding Latvian mythology, Niedre just briefly retells mits Latvian
mythology with minor adjustments. In general, apart from the rhetorics of class
struggle and the relation of particular notions to corresponding socio-economic
formations, the most significant novelty of the time is the (re)introduction of the
theories of animism and totemism, somewhat adjusting the ideas of the British
anthropological school to the linear course of history defined by Marxists.
Regarding totemism, the most referenced author is Russian ethnographer,
researcher of Slavonic mythology Dimitry Konstantinovich Zelenin (1878
1954). Animism and totemism are also mentioned in practical works in Latvian
folkloristics (at the above-mentioned programme at the State University of
Latvia for the 1948/1949 academic year) in the mythology-related part, the
Analysis of the reflection of primitive worldview in material of folklore
(Ozols 1958: 200). These tasks allow the projection of the materialistic
worldview onto earlier forms of consciousness, explaining religious practices
with evolutionary theory, the role of labour and, further, the class struggle. On
the whole, a lot of effort was invested defining (adopting from the centre) and
adjusting a single correct (i.e. official) theory; despite this, bearing in mind the
reasons outlined above, the implementation of these theories hardly ever took
place because of the problematic nature of the research object itself.

3. Indo-European studies
The discipline of folkloristics in Soviet Latvia was a rather self-contained realm
of knowledge production: structured along the clear lines of power hierarchy,
censored and isolated from the academic world outside Socialist countries. The

163

knowledge production process was legitimised according to Marxist-Leninist

doctrine and derivations of this ideology by Soviet Russian scholars of the field.
At the same time in the post-war years Western European and American
scholarship continued developing in other directions, mythology being
reconstructed and interpreted by the new methodology of structuralism
(especially in France and the USA), the history of religion (in Sweden) and
other freely contesting theories. Outside the LSSR, the research into Latvian
mythology in the second half of the twentieth century to a large extent took
place within the framework of IndoEuropean studies, articulated in multiple
fields from comparative linguistics to history, archaeology, and the structural
study of myth.

3.1. Indo-European studies: The birth of modern scholarship

The special place of Baltic languages and ancient religions, mainly Latvian and
Lithuanian, in reconstructive research of Indo-European culture has often been
mentioned in post-war Western scholarship (cf. Mallroy 1989: 82; Gimbutas
1963; Puhvel 1989). However, the idea of Indo-European studies was present a
long time before the division of the world by Iron Curtain. The field itself was
established with Sir William Joness pronouncement before the Asiatic Society
in Calcutta in 1786, that Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Germanic, and Celtic languages
have more in common than can be ascribed to accident, and that they all sprung
from a common source that perhaps no longer exists (Mallory and Adams 2006:
5). Soon the first hypotheses regarding the common Proto-Indo-European
culture, including mythology and religion, were developed according to the
methodology, knowledge and ideology of the respective period. Yet, from the
contemporary perspective one has to agree that
The earlier scholarly history of such study is a sad, not to say an embarrassing
chapter. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the first intoxication of the
discovery of Vedic Sanskrit, the then current naturist doctrine of myth
interpretation, and personal idiosyncrasy coalesced in the fertile brain of F. Max
Mller to produce a first flowering of comparative Indo-European mythology; it
was essentially a loose derivation of Greek mythic names from Sanskrit
prototypes, propped up by the tenet of the omnipresence of sungods and solar
allegory, and the doctrine of the disease of language and the decay of metaphors
(Puhvel 1968: 57).

Probably, there is no concise study of the linguistic aspects of the IndoEuropean people that does not contain a reference to Swiss scholar Ferdinand
de Saussures Course in General Linguistics, first published in 1916 from the
notes of his students. It is generally agreed, that the book and its multiple
translations ushered in a revolution in linguistic thinking during the 1920s and
1930s that is still felt today in many quarters, even beyond linguistics proper

164

(Koerner 2006: 753). De Saussure in his ground-breaking study not only

outlines the principles of comparative linguistics for more than half a century,
but also, in the light of new methodology, re-evaluates the principles of
linguistic comparison which, until his time, has served for the purposes of
comparative mythology. First of all, de Saussure pointed out the mistake of
earlier linguistic scholars in promoting Sanskrit to prototype due to it simply
being the oldest documented IE language (cf. de Saussure 1966: 215). In this
way the possibility for a new comparative, non-reductive reconstruction project
was opened. Secondly, according to de Saussure, every language is a
continuation of what is spoken before; therefore more archaic languages can be
encountered simultaneously with more modern languages, i.e. more changed
languages, in comparison to the common proto-language. In this respect,
Saussure marks out Lithuanian, attested only since 1540, as no less valuable
than Old Slavic, which was recorded in the tenth century, or than the Sanskrit of
the Rig Veda for that matter. Containing the more archaic language state,
sixteenth-century Lithuanian is older than the Latin of the third century B.C.
(Saussure 1966: 24, 216). Consequently, the linguistic data on the mythological
subject matters have similar implications, and, consequently, this implies the
special role of Baltic mythology in reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European
mythology121 . Still, these reconstructions were caught up in the discourse of
Aryans not only for most of the nineteenth century, but also in the 1930s and
1940s, particularly in Germany, with terrible consequences (Lincoln 1999:
121). Another highly influential scholar of linguistics mile Benveniste
(19021976) took diachronic analysis further by considering that the systems
of representation and the social structures are organised like linguistic
structures. Through analysis of the IE languages, Benveniste dedicated himself
to reconstruction of the culture and history that are signified within these social
structures (Guimares 2006: 737).
Saussures work in linguistics was also the origin and model of structuralism, later adapted to anthropology (by Lvi-Strauss), to psychoanalysis (by
Lacan), and to literary theory (by Barthes) (REF: 6759). The influence of
Saussure on Indo-European linguistics was as great as the influence of Georges
Dumzils (18981986) works on the studies of Indo-European religion and
ideology. The foundation of Dumzils theory and much more that has been
written about Indo-European mythology has its origins in the sociological
approach to the study of religion championed by Emile Durkheim, which
assumes that myths express certain social and cultural realities, i.e. that
important social and cultural realities are inevitably collectively represented
by supernatural beings and concepts (Mallroy 1989: 130). Proceeding from this
point, Dumzil revolutionised the field of comparative mythology, especially
comparative Indo-European mythology, which since the second decade of the
121

The singling out of Lithuanian from other Baltic languages can probably be related to its
role in Saussures career the study of Lithuanian dialects was one of his first works.

42

165

twentieth century has been undergoing a sort of crisis due to the eclipse of the
great comparative projects of the nineteenth century, e.g. Max Mllers solar
mythology, the stormgods of Adalbert Kuhn, the moon myths of Georg Hsing,
the animal allegories of Angelo de Gubernaitis, and the Arische Feuerlehre of
Johannes Hertel (Littleton 2005: 2518, Puhvel 1968: 57). Starting with his
doctoral thesis Le festin dimmortalite: Etude de mythologie comparee indoeuropeenne (The Feast of Immortality: A Comparative Study of Indo-European
Mythology, 1924), Dumzil initially attempted to develop a new comparative
mythology, grounded in Frazerian model of the study of kingship, religion, and
magic. By 1938, he began to draw upon a wholly different theoretical base
Durkheims sociology of religion. Over the course of the next decade, Dumzil
arrived at a comprehensive model of the common Indo-European ideology
that is, the tripartite cognitive model in terms of which the ancient (and not so
ancient) Indo-European speakers ordered their social and supernatural universes
(cf. Grottanelli 1996; Littleton 2005). Within this trifunctional ideology human
and divine phenomena are hierarchically classified as belonging to one of the
functions: sovereignty and sacredness, war and physical force, or the third
function related to production, health, fertility, and wealth. The basic tripartite
division is manifested in the structure of the world and understanding of the
human body, each level is also associated with particular colours, animals,
natural forces, etc., thus providing the gridlines for semantic analysis of cultural
entities. An idea much contested afterwards was that this trifunctional ideology
is exclusive to Indo-Europeans (Grottanelli 1996, Lyle 2006). The very
structure is questioned and adjusted, for example, by elaborating primary
binarism (Gamkrelidze and Ivanov 1996), or finding additional matrilineal
patter: the stories I have studied today have suggested the strong presence of
an ancestress (or primal goddess), from whom the kings are descended and take
their eligibility. There is also another female, a young one who is a queen
(Lyle 2006: 67). Notwithstanding this, Dumzils works are the firm foundation
upon which the contemporary comparative studies of Indo-European mythology
rest as liberated from the political contamination of previous, Aryan, discourse.
They also form crucial context for the research into Latvian mythology in the
second half of the twentieth century.

3.2. Indo-European studies: Baltic mythology and

the recontextualisation of Old Europe
The accumulation of knowledge on Proto-Indo-European language, culture,
religion, and migration routes allows us to more clearly separate and research
the older layer of European culture by more sophisticated analysis of linguistic
data and interpretation of archaeological findings. Certain parallels could be
drawn between the role of the IE layer of Baltic mythology in reconstruction of
PIE mythology, and the older layer of Baltic mythology in reconstruction of

166

Old European mythology, at least its regional variety. The historically and
politically determined changes in understanding Latvian mythology as a
constitutive part of Baltic mythology (cf. p. 9396) are also related to the
developments of IE scholarship as the latter are outlined in the previous
subchapter. Both layers of Baltic mythology were described by a Lithuanian
origin American scholar, educated in Germany, holding a doctors degree in the
field of archaeology with minors in ethnology and the history of religion
Maria Gimbutas (p. 9396). Gimbutas provides an interesting case in the study
of Latvian mythology within the concept of Baltic mythology because of her
mixed identity, disciplinary background, and seminal influence on both IndoEuropean studies and late feminist archaeology (cf. Marler 1995. Online).
However, her unique contribution to the current study is the publication
history of one Gimbutas books, illustrating the contextual determination of
knowledge production in the studies of Latvian mythology during the post-war
period. Two editions of The Balts by Marija Gimbutas (Gimbutas 1963,
Gimbutiene 1994) show differences of some kind regarding all facets of the
research sources, theories, and conclusions. Even the vocabulary differs.
There are at least two obvious reasons for this. First is related to the changes in
the authors views, manifested in her other publications between the two
editions, briefly, the introduction of the concept of matricentric pre-historic
European religion (e.g. Gimbutas 1996 [1974]), paralleling developments in
feminism theory. Since the 1970s a number of feminist scholars like Helen
Dinner, Elizabeth Gould Davis, Evelyn Reed, and Marilyn French have
postulated the existence of matriarchal clans or even the universal structure at
pre-historic times (cf. Gamble 2004: 271). However, although Gimbutas
interests might be related to this scientific-cum-ideological current, the research
into ancient goddesses would be impossible without rapid developments in her
field of specialisation archaeology, consisting both of multiple new
discoveries and changes in interpretation and dating122 of findings. The second
factor determining the differences of both editions are the particular conditions
of publication. The edition of 1963 was published in London, within the context
of Western scholarship. The Latvian language edition of 1994 was based on the
Lithuanian language version, published in Soviet Lithuania in 1985. The latter
may also explain the shift in the dictionary from Baltic religion to Baltic
religion and mythology, a reflection the problematic nature of studies of
religion in the Soviet Union. A more detailed comparison below characterises
the differences in conceptualisation and categorisation of the phenomena of
Baltic and Latvian mythology in both editions.
The positioning of the subject matter in relation to more general research
fields remains the same; however, against this background conceptual differences are more obvious. For example, in 1963 the author stated that:

122

Radiocarbon dating was discovered in the 1950s.

167

The customs, beliefs, mythological songs and folk art symbolism of the
Lithuanians and Latvians are amazingly replete with antiquity. The Christian
stratum is recent and can be easily detached. For comparative religion, the value
of the Lithuanian and Latvian folklore and folk art is the same as that of the
Baltic languages for the reconstruction of the mother tongue of the IndoEuropeans
(Gimbutas 1963: 180).

In 1994 the same statement is worded as follows:

As the Christian stratum is comparatively recent, it can be easily detached.
Underneath lay the corn-bins of antiquity: some still living elements of Baltic
mythology reach not only into pre-historic, and not only into the times of IndoEuropean proto-people, but also into more ancient times. For a comparative
mythology, the value of Lithuanian and, in my opinion, also Latvian oral poetry
is the same as that of the Baltic language for the reconstruction of the IndoEuropean proto-language
(Gimbutiene 1994: 174).

Originally, the basic source for the reconstruction of the ancient Baltic religion
for Gimbutas was folklore, which splendidly supplements the evidence of
recorded history and the archaeological monuments (1963: 180). Recorded
history was more criticised in the more recent edition (1994: 175), instead
introducing data from linguistic comparison as the more important source. This
new edition also refers to Dumzils research and the theory of three functions,
as well as being updated with references to works by Biezais, and the
Lithuanian scholars Norbertas Vlius (19381996) and Algirdas Greimas
(19171992), published in the decades following 1963. The first edition was
informed by the novelty of its time: discovery of previously unknown remains
of cult buildings in the excavations of 19551957123; thus, allowing us to speak
about the previously doubted level of institutionalisation of ancient religion in
the Baltic region, corresponding to the evidence of a few written sources from
the fourteenth century.
Gimbutas version of the ancient Baltic religion and mythological space,
described in 1963, is comparatively monolithic. Advancing from the analysis of
burial customs and archaeological evidence to references to cult practices and
celestial deities in the works of other researchers, it consists of a description of
the hill of the dead which reflects Bronze Age graves and the heavenly hill
in folklore materials:

123

South of Smolensk, in Soviet Russia; the region was previously inhabited by the eastern
Balts.

168

If the realm of the vls124 on a high sandy hill in the neighbourhood of the
village reflects the more realistic side of this peoples beliefs about life after
death, there also exists an imaginary hill, or a steep stone hill, which the dead
have to climb, and therefore they need to have good fingernails or the aid of
animal claws. On this steep hill Dievas (God) resides and summons the vls
(Gimbutas 1963: 189190).

Further, referring to Straubergs Lettisk folkro om de dda, the author briefly

describes the topography of the netherworld: beyond the heavenly hill the long
road of souls continues through the sky (Milky Way) or over the water by boat
as the Sun does it during the night. There the Sun sleeps, there she washes her
horses and there appear other gods, Dievas, the Thunder god, the Moon, and the
deity of the Sea. And somewhere in this remote place are the grey stone and the
sun tree (1963: 190). The sun tree stands on the stone, at the end of the way
of the Sun. There is the realm of gods and light, the end of the visible world.
With names in both Latvian and Lithuanian mythologies, Earth is the Great
Mother. Her functions are distributed among the separate minor deities of
forest, field, stones, water and animals, who in Latvian folklore acquired the
names Mother of Forests, Mother of Fields, Mother of Springs, Mother of
Domestic Animals (1963: 192). Apart from this, the Lithuanian male deity of
the homestead, empatis or emininkas, who was considered to be a brother of
emyna, the Earth deity is mentioned here. Further, the deities of homestead
and the patrons of particular areas are indentified, differing slightly in Prussian,
Lithuanian, and Latvian sources. The higher deities in this version are the sky
god Dievs, the thunder god Perknas, Laima, the goddess of fate, and Velns.
These four gods, with minimal differences in names, are similar to all Baltic
subgroups. From the lowest circles Gimbutas mentions fairies, water spirits and
spirits of other areas (it remains unclear how these spirits, represented by male
deities in Lithuanian variation, and mythological Mothers in the Latvian
variation, are related to the Mother of Earth). Other celestial deities are the
Divine Smith, and less anthropomorphic deities identical with Sun, Moon,
morning star, etc. Referring to Mannhardts sources, the author introduces a
particular deity of fire. Concerning the mythological space, Gimbutas version is
distinctive with the mentioning of multiple castles where the celestial deities
dwell. Dievs large fenced homestead recalls a castle, having three silver gates
and comprising manor, farmhouses and vapour bath, with a garden and forest
trees around. It is located beyond the sky; beyond the stone, silver, gold or
amber hill (1963: 200). There his sons also live. Saule and her daughters also
had a castle with silver gates beyond the hill in the valley or at the end of the
water (ibid.), and Prkons castle is on the high hill in the sky (1963: 202).
In the more recent version of The Balts this pantheon was separated into two
parts and hierarchically re-arranged. Thus, Gimbutas separates two groups of
gods: mythical beings inherited from the matricentric ancient Europe and
124

43

Lat.: vei, souls of the dead.

169

gods and goddesses with Indo-European origin. The first group consists of
three life-giving and life-taking female deities: Laima, Ragana, and emna.
Each of these has several related goddesses. Laima is the deity of fate and birth.
Related to her are, for example, the Latvian Mra and Lithuanian twin-sister of
Laima Giltine (Death). Ragana is the lunar deity of death and reincarnation.
emna is Mother of Earth and Mother of the Dead. Higher deities of prehistoric times are ska (Snake, female) and Zalktis (Grass snake, male).
Secondary deities of this pantheon are Lauma (The Fairy), a representative of
Laima and Ragana on Earth, and Austja, patroness of brides and expectant
mothers. Various (male and female) patrons of particular areas and functions
are related to emna. In this version, the Lithuanian material is somewhat
dominant (cf. Gimbutiene 1994: 176186). The other group, symmetrically,
also includes three main gods, male: Dievs, Prkons, and Vels/Velins (Lat.:
Velns). Dievs is the god of heaven, light, peace and friendship, the patron of the
day and contracts; Prkons is the god of thunder, justice and soil fertility; the
third is the evil and cruel god of the death and underworld realm, but he is
also god of cattle. Secondary deities of this pantheon are all celestial deities
(Moon, Sun, Gods sons, Suns daughters, Dawn, morning star) as well as the
divine smith and two Lithuanian deities of fire (Gimbutiene 1994: 187198).
Interestingly, descriptions of the netherworld in the Latvian language edition
are absent; this relates to both the road of souls125 and the castles of the celestial
deities. A reason for this difference, aside from the possibility of simple
economy of the text, might be related to the intellectual climate of 1985 when
the Lithuanian language edition was published in Soviet Lithuania. The notion
of mythological space was Probably too far from the Soviet materialistic master
narrative; explanation of it would imply the dimension of sacredness as integral
part of the interpretation, an ultimate idealism. Exclusion of the gods castles
might also be related to wrong implications relating to class-structure, which
further could be associated with the creation and role of folklore materials126. In
general, close comparison of the two editions (with Latvian as translated
Lithuanian) clearly shows the interrelation of the following factors in
knowledge production: overall development of the discipline (new data and
methods), the presence and possible influence of contemporary theoretical
trends (feminist discourse), and the impact of the ideological regime on editorial
practices. The latter is usually questioned when talking about editions of
folklore materials (e.g. Briggs and Bauman 1992 or Melne 2000), but obviously
also strongly influences scholarly texts in the politically vulnerable fields of the
humanities.

125
In addition, the article on netherworld (Straubergs 1957) is removed from the
bibliography of the Lithuanian-Latvian edition.
126
Cf. the above described situation in early Soviet Latvia and Niedres critique of vbe
and Brzkalne regarding the origins of folklore p. 159161

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Metadiscursive practices and rhetorics, characteristic to the last years of the

Soviet empire when socialist science was still the official position, but the
presence of Western influence was already inevitable, show the most extended
structural reconstruction of the ancient Baltic world outlook by the Soviet
Lithuanian scholar Norbertas Vlius (19381996). The English translation The
World Outlook of the Ancient Balts was published in 1989, while the Lithuanian
original, in 1983, i.e. around the same time as the Lithuanian version of The
Balts (1985) came out of the press. On the one hand, Vlius mandatorily refers
to the founders of Marxism-Leninism (1989: 10), while on the other hand
exploring the comparatively progressive methodology of the Moscow-Tartu
school as well as referring to the French anthropologist Claude Lvi-Strauss.
Based mainly on Lithuanian materials, the book places a background of
historical reality behind the timeless study of archaisms manifested in folklore
and ethnology: The present book attempts to interpret only the most general
features of Baltic world outlook and does not aim for the reconstruction of the
Weltanschauung or social structure of a concrete historical period (ibid.). Such
positioning, apart from personal theoretical preference, might have been chosen
to avoid discussion on the compatibility of the ideological implementations of
the work with the dominant regime of truth. A short note gives information, at
least about the latter, legitimising another mythological study by Vlius on the
chthonic netherworld. Here the author legitimises his historical-comparative
research on the devil (Lit.: velnias) stating that Without the proper knowledge
of the origin and essence of this mythological character it is impossible to
understand and give a proper evaluation of this image in traditional and
contemporary art or to use it for atheistic purposes (Vlius 1987: 288).

4. From Moscow to Tartu

4.1. From Moscow to Tartu:
Reconstructions of the proto-myth
Latvian mythology within Indo-European studies acquired a particular form and
function for the reconstructive research purposes of the Moscow-Tartu school
of semiotics. Taking place in the 1970s1990s, this particular context united, on
the one hand, discussion and cooperation with contemporary Western scholars
and the theories they represented, and, on the other hand, specific modification
of the power-knowledge relationship, characteristic to post-Stalinist Soviet
scholarship (p. 9699). Regarding Proto-Indo-European mythology, the
Moscow-Tartu school scholars adopted and contested Dumzilian tripartite
ideology (see above p. 164166). Nevertheless, for the unique contribution of
this school to research into Latvian mythology syntagmatic structural analysis,
leading to reconstructions of the plots of myths rather than the religious systems
they belong to, is quintessential. T. M. Nikolayeva claims that The research
concerning reconstruction of the proto-myth (as well as research of an artistic

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text) is the strongest part of the Moscow school of semiotics () and has no
match among semiotics of the whole world ( 1997: XXV). The
leading scholars of this direction are definitely Vjaeslav V. Ivanov (,
1929) and Vladimir N. Toporov (, 19282005); multiple works on the
subject matter have also been written by other current or former employees of
The Institute of Slavonic and Balkan Studies at the Russian Academy of
Sciences, working at the Department of Structural Typology ( 1997).
A more structural than semiotic study of myth was championed by Eleazar M.
Meletinsky (, 19182005), who was affiliated with the Russian
State University for the Humanities. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the
structure of proto-mythic plot and the linguistic key-elements were reconstructed, especially regarding the Slavonic version of this myth and its
connection to the Baltic version ( 1986: 49). The reconstruction of the
proto-myth127 by Moscow-Tartu school representatives is inseparably connected
with the notion of mythopoetic, mentally structured space. As such it is somewhat trans-temporal, or, more precisely, trans-historical. Such overwhelmingly
diachronic structural analysis makes them spatialize time and reduce the
variety of cultural phenomena to their supposed archetypes in the primordial
mythopoetic thought of humankind (Waldstein 2008: 118). Consequently, the
understanding of cultural phenomena tended to be reduced to reconstruction of
origins that would allow an understanding of the deep-structure functions of
the phenomena. Such mythopoetic studies involves multiple risks: for example,
epistemological difficulty, because the reconstruction of ones own conditions
is already determined by these conditions; secondly, very high arbitrariness of
interpretation by connecting distant phenomena via reference to common deep
structure. At the end of the day, if everything can be speculated about as the
echoes of proto-myth, such an approach loses meaning.128
Although there were different trends in the Moscow and Tartu studies of
myth and folklore, the scholars concerned with the reconstruction of IE protomyth basically organised their efforts on three levels: the reconstruction of
primary plot; research into the forms and transformations of basic characters of
this primary plot; research into the secondary characters and typology of their
127

Briefly, the proto-myth is about the fight of an anthropomorphic hero (thunder god) with
a teriomorphic antagonist (serpent, dragon, etc.). In the beginning, the thunder god is
somewhere on the top; usually, on the hill, in heaven, at the upper part of tripartite World
Tree. The serpent is underneath, at the roots of the World Tree. The serpent steals cattle and
hides them in the cave, behind the cliff; the thunder god smashes the cliff and frees the cattle
(or humans). The serpent tries to hide under different living creatures or turns into them,
hides under the tree or stone. The thunder god smashes the tree or stone with his weapon, the
thunderbolt. After victory, it starts to rain and the body of serpent is covered by water. The
proto-myth is related to other basic myths, for example about the World Tree or Heavenly
Wedding (cf. 1997).
128
For a summary of the different trends of criticism of mythopoetic analysis see Waldstein
2008: 118120.

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incarnations, various national traditions and their incorporation into mythopoetic space. Further in reconstruction of the proto-myth or its elements
temporally and geographically distant, languages and texts are explored; the
combination of synchronic and diachronic linguistics allows, for example,
analyses based on a pairing of Old Scandinavian and Iranian ( 1997).
In the same way, Baltic languages and mythologies are contextualised not only
with the neighbouring East-Slavonic or Scandinavian, but also with Balkan;
thus, creating the specific Baltic-Balkan perspective ( and
1981, 1997). Toporov suggests that the plot of proto-myth, although not
elaborated, is represented in Latvian folksongs with surprising completeness in
comparison with other traditions, even such recognised traditions as Ancient
Indian. Furthermore, in this respect materials of Latvian folklore are more
telling than the Lithuanian ( 1986: 48). In this regard, Latvian
folksongs provide valuable insights into the motivation behind the events of
proto-myth, the related characters (e.g. Jnis, Laima, Mra), and the main
antagonist.

4.2. From Moscow to Tartu: Layers of Latvian mythology

The pantheon of ancient Indo-European origin Latvian deities, as reconstructed
by Ivanov and Gamkrelidze, was already described in chapter II (p. 6368).
Therefore here I will characterise the relationship of this reconstruction to the
above-mentioned proto-myth as well as a particular interpretation of the Latvian
mythology within the framework of mythopoetic studies by scholars of the
Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics. In comparison to other research traditions
characterised so far, this School is unique for several reasons. Leaving aside the
already highlighted methodological facets and contradictory relations to the
totalitarian state, its detachment from the previous research in the field might be
emphasised, referring to it as neither positive, nor negative. The schools
theoretical particularity as well as massive advancement in research create the
self-contained realm of knowledge within which a particular place is reserved
for Latvian mythology. For the first time in history, obvious political implications, characteristic to works written on the subject matter previously or at the
same time in the LSSR, are obviously absent. Since complete analyses of the
Schools heritage in Baltic and Indo-European scholarship requires study far
beyond the scope of this thesis, the insight provided below is based on three
selected articles two on Latvian and one on Baltic mythology. On the one
hand, the following analysis demonstrates how the Schools leading scholars,
Ivanov and Toporov, relate the material on Latvian mythology to IndoEuropean proto-myth. On the other hand, it is intended to characterise the
particular style of reasoning which allows and forms this relationship: the
above-mentioned high arbitrariness of interpretation, diachronic comparison of
cultural phenomena, almost Gnostic and trans-historical systematisation, and
reduction to origins, related to the discourse on archaisms.

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In the article (On the

mythopoetic foundations of Latvian folksongs, 1986) Ivanov emphasised the
rich layer of mythological archaisms in Latvian folksongs, paying close
attention to a particular motif related to proto-myth: the Heavenly Wedding of
divine twins, articulated as the wedding of Dieva dli (Gods Sons) and Saules
meitas (Daughters of Sun). The reconstruction of Latvian mythology here was
in a way subordinated to already reconstructed IE motif, in Ivanovs words:
The comparative-historical analysis shows that the plot comes from the
common Indo-European motif of a partly successful or completely unsuccessful
wedding of the divine twins, burdened with astral symbolism in the Latvian
variation ( 1986: 6). Continuing the analysis, the Latvian deity Jumis
was related to the same Indo-European twin motif, bearing linguistic
resemblance with Vedic twin character Yama, who features in corresponding
versions of the myth129. Function-wise, the motif of the Heavenly Wedding is
related to the prohibition of incest. Further analysis of the legal aspects beyond
the proto-myth leads to one more pair (twin) figure in Latvian mythology. It is
the pair of Heaven and Earth, related to creation of the world. According to
Ivanov, all these three twin figures suggest the initial dual mythical oppositions the very foundation of early Baltic and Slavonic mythological systems
( 1986: 18). Unity of the oppositions can be represented also by
similarly widespread androgenic motif or figure, also represented by the same
Latvian Jumis in earlier variations of myth before the emergence of his female
counterpart (Jume, Jumala). Graphical representation of Jumis consists of two
symbolic horse heads, corresponding to the motif of the divine twins, which are
related to horses too. The Heavenly Wedding in Baltic mythology is often also
articulated in astronomical code as the Wedding of the Sun and Moon or
other anthropomorphised heavenly bodies. In this version of myth, folksongs
frequently feature the figure of the Heavenly Smith or God-Smith, fighting with
its mythical enemy. Introduction of this figure allowed Ivanov to unite Latvian
folklore with Estonian and generally Baltic-Finnish and Scandinavian folklore
( 1986: 24) as well as to refer to an older layer of mythology, the
remains of the megalithic culture present in Europe long before the arrival of
Indo-European tribes (cf. 1986: 25).
In addition, Toporovs contribution demonstrates research into Latvian
mythology almost exclusively from folksongs, but with a slightly different
emphasis, folksongs as a source for the linguistic reconstruction of PIE
mythology. In the article
Latvju dainas ( 150-
. ) (On the reconstruction of the cycle of archaic
129
Both Jumis and Yama have their female counterparts in corresponding traditions.
However, the number of wedding parties varies both in Latvian traditions (one, two, or
several Sons of God and one or several Daughters of Sun) as well as in comparison to other
Indo-European groups, e.g. three and one in Celtic, or thirty and thirty in Hittite, traditions.

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mythopoetic views in light of Latvju dainas (on the 150th anniversary of Kr.
Barons birthday), 1986) Toporov emphasised the role of Latvian mythological
folklore in reconstructing the thunder gods opponent in proto-myth, a chthonic
character related to linguistic form *Vel-130. In folklore materials, partially due
to more recent Christian influences, it is often Velns (Devil). Particular to
Latvian mythology is the relation of this stem to a female character, Veu mte
(Mother of the Dead), while Velns, and the thunder gods normal antagonists in
other traditions, are male figures. Even though the Mother of the Dead might
seem to belong to mythology other than IE (cf. Gimbutas 1963), the author
suggests that both male and female Vel- characters represent two different
storylines of the same proto-myth: the character of Velns is related to the fight
with the thunder god, while Veu mte denotes the realm of punishment where
the opponent of the thunder god is imprisoned after the fight, respectively, the
realm of the dead ( 1986: 51). Regarding the tendency of IE dualism,
Veu mte in this plot might also be the female counterpart of Velns, acquiring
this name from the cult of mythological Mothers particularly characteristic to
Latvian mythology. Importantly, she can be related to Mother Earth, in her turn,
a female counterpart of Father of Heaven (Dievs, God). As the thunder god is
the transformation of this supreme deity, Toporov arrives at the conclusion that
the Latvian Veu mte is a unique source for the reconstruction of the name of
thunder gods wife in Indo-European proto-myth *Vela ( 1986: 52).
Her main characteristic is her relationship to death, her main attribute are the
keys of the underworld. Symbolism of death also extends to the motif of water,
often accompanying the Mother of the dead and the realm of the dead (for
example, in some folksongs Veu mte dwells in the sea). This relationship
resembles the release of water at the end of the plot of proto-myth, thus
showing a double binding of the *Vel- figures to the symbolism of water.
Ivanov and Toporov also provided a unique systematisation of Baltic (here
including Latvian) mythology in seven levels, according to the function of the
mythological being or character, level of anthropomorphisation, and topicality
in human life. This highly abstract system was reconstructed on the basis of the
mythologies of the Baltic tribes living south and west of the Baltic sea at the
turn of first and second millennia AD, next to the Slavs and Baltic Finns
(Ivanov and Toporov 1995: 112). Latvian mythology was reconstructed mainly
from folklore materials; the authors also mention the important role of folk art
(ethnographic items) in the course of the research. The linguistic data, applying
the comparative-historical method, allowed them to separate the ancient IE level
the remains of the proto-myth and names of its characters. Overall, the
authors analysis is somewhat reductive: The main traits of Baltic mythology
are manifested in the set of basic semantic oppositions, describing temporallyspatial, social, and evaluative characteristics of the world (ibid.: 114). In this
setting, the first level of Baltic mythology unites the higher deities belonging to
130

This is a linguistic proto-form.

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the Pan-Baltic pantheon and mythological plots. In Latvian mythology these

deities are Dievs, Prkons, Dieva dli, Saules meitas, Jumis, Velns, and
probably also Zemes mte, i.e. characters of the proto-myth and Heavenly
Wedding131. Another myth with common characters in all Baltic mythologies is
the Heavenly Wedding between members of the Heavenly Family: Auseklis (the
morning star), sun, moon, stars, Austra (morning blaze). The second level
consists of deities related to agricultural cycles and particular functions related
to seasonal rites. They include the Latvian si, mythological Mothers, and to
some extent also Christian saints of vernacular religion, and spirits of locations
or elements. The third level includes mythological characters with more abstract
functions. For example, Laima (deity of fate), Death (Lithuanian Giltine),
folkloristic characters doubling the deities of proto-myth, like Saule (Sun),
Mness (Moon), and other astral deities. The fourth level unites characters who
start some historical tradition later mythologised. In some manifestation,
individualised characters of proto-myth also belong here: Velns, Veu mte,
Jumis, as well as Lauma. The fifth level includes spirits and characters of
folktales inhabiting forests, waters, fields, etc. To the sixth level belong classes
of un-personalised and often un-anthropomorphised spirits. Such are fairies,
witches, dwarfs, nightmares, werewolves, different kinds of ghosts, and
mythologised snakes. Many Latvian mythological Mothers and Mjas kungs
Master of the House, the spirit of each homestead are related to this level. The
seventh level includes man in mythologised hypostasis, first of all as bearer of
spirit and participant in ritual. Similarly, priests and seers, different ritual and
cult practices, festivities, symbols, ritual items and texts, idols, and sanctuaries
are related to this level (Ivanov and Toporov 1995). The necessity of such
categorisation, nevertheless, remains unclear.
In summary, Latvian mythology within the works of Moscow-Tartu school
of semiotics scholars was conceptualised primarily according to its relation to
the IE proto-myth; syntagmatic structural analysis revealed the mythological
system as a part of meta-text (the deities are defined primarily as characters of
mythical text) and diachronic comparative analysis validated this against the
gridline of basic semantic oppositions and further developments of constitutive
elements of the Indo-European worldview (thus allowing high variability and
replacement of particular elements). This was localised in the timeless
perspective of the text, unrelated to historical religious practice and religious
experience, which are foregrounded in the approach to the subject matter from
the perspective of the history of religion.

131
In the most ancient reconstructed form of Baltic myth, one of the [divine] Twins was
Gods son, another his daughter. But the further development of the plot, avoiding the
obvious incestuous quality of this wedding between them, leads to a division of twin-brother
into two brothers, accompanied by one sister (Ivanov and Toporov 1995: 117).

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5. Conclusion: The mapping of the post-war period

A period from the end of World War II until the decline of the Soviet Union in
the late 1980s brought the division of the research of Latvian mythology into
several parallel trajectories. While in interwar period Latvia it was consolidated
under the same political circumstances and mainly centred around two research
institutions: the University of Latvia and the Archives of Latvian folklore,
resulting in variability of mythological reconstructions only along the lines of
theoretical trends preferred by scholars, each with his or her own personal
background and agenda, the outcome of World War II resulted in a previously
unseen variety of totally different approaches to the same subject matter, now
differentiated not only by theoretical position but also by juxtaposed political
ideologies, themselves containing historical dynamics. With knowledge
production institutionalised at the level of the second half of the twentieth
century, institutional basis became the dominant factor shaping research
according to corresponding state ideologies. Several variations of reconstructions of Latvian mythology and mythological space, produced within
this period, tend to contain isolated circles of references; thus, allowing us to
speak about the existence of parallel, unconnected research traditions.
First, maintaining both positive and critical continuity with the research
done in the interwar period is a discourse on Latvian mythology created by
exile scholars who left Latvia at the end of the war. From a certain perspective
it might be supposed that the cases of Krlis Straubergs and Heralds Biezais, as
analysed above, reflect different strategies of psychological and intellectual
coping with displacement. Reflected in the choice of the research themes, they
manifest in two juxtaposed sets of works on Latvian mythology: on death and
the netherworld by Straubergs and on celestial deities and Heaven by Biezais.
At the same time, Straubergs continued his own research, made during the
interwar period, adjusting it to the new setting of knowledge production by
emphasising broader parallels to the subject matter in the history of European
culture, while Biezais consolidated and revised all prior Latvian mythology
research in the light of a comparatively new discipline: the comparative history
of religion. Notable is the fact that works of both scholars were published in
German and other European languages, thus making the subject matter
accessible to a wider circle of scholars. Nevertheless, these academic versions
of mythology in the exile environment were contested by a continuing trend of
lay writings bearing strong national romanticist connotations.
Relationships with the past were differently maintained in the newly
established academia of Soviet Latvia. After centralised reorganisation of the
research and teaching institutions, an uncompromising critique of the scholarship of the interwar period served as a tool with which to build new disciplinary
identity along with the All-Union invention of a new research object Soviet
folklore. Here scarcity of the works on mythology-related subject matters by
scholars was paralleled by active ideological mythmaking and construction of

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new collective identity in the public sphere, adopting models developed earlier
in the Soviet Russia. The absence of studies on mythological space marks a
particular theoretical disposition: the exclusion of religious scholarship from
academia, and the conceptualisation of folklore as a narrative of class struggle
and manifestation of working peoples spirit. Under the aegis of Stalinism, the
first decade of Soviet Latvian folkloristics show straightforward dependence of
methodology and theoretical approaches on centrally defined ideological positions; this mechanism was also implemented by the censor and vice director of
the Folklore Institute Jnis Niedre.
Research into Latvian mythology acquired a new dimension in Western
scholarship in the post-war period. Within the globally changing academia it
became more often encountered within the comparative studies of IndoEuropean mythology or Baltic mythology. The former, informed by Saussurean
linguistics, recovered from being discredited by Arian discourse, which, derived
from earlier large-scale comparative projects, was enthusiastically exploited by
ideologists and scholars of interwar Germany. Since the end of the war it was to
a large extent tuned by Dumzils discovery of tripartite Indo-European
ideology. Particularly interesting is the version of Latvian mythology as a part
of Baltic mythology conceptualised by Maria Gimbutas. In this regard, the
analysis of two temporarily and geographically distant editions of the same
book demonstrated the changes of knowledge production shaping the subject
matter on two different levels: as determined by introduction of new theoretical
trends and development of the discipline, and as determined by political
contexts influencing editorial practices.
Comparative research on Indo-European mythology, including its Baltic and
Latvian parts, was articulated in a particular form by the scholars of the
Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics. Here, mainly in works of the leading
researchers Ivanov and Toporov, folklore and linguistic data relating to Latvian
mythology was integrated into reconstructive research on Indo-European protomyth, in a way creating a timeless perspective of textual study. In this way a
unique version of the systematisation of Baltic mythology according to seven
levels was produced. This direction of research, developed in the 1970s and
1980s, continues today bearing a high level of credibility despite its origins in a
now-defunct totalitarian state. Comparison of this trajectory with that of Soviet
Latvia highlights the hierarchical relationship of the centre and the periphery in
disciplinary history.

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CONCLUSION
Writing of any history is an action of selection and interpretation, possible only
from a certain distance: therefore there is no history of today, while yesterday
already becomes an object of history writing. This is also the reason why this
thesis defines its subject matter temporally bounded to the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, covering the most recent developments only in the form of
overview. When writing a disciplinary history, distance allows us to separate
trends and define key personalities related to the establishment and maintenance
of these trends or patterns, whether they would be theory-related, marking a
particular style of reasoning, or constituting a legitimising rhetoric. Similarly,
writing about the past is always writing for the present and future. From this
point of view, this thesis is intended to explore the determination of scholarly
practices, showing how the object of research was historically constructed and
embedded in broader intellectual, institutional, and textual contexts.
The realms of mythology
Often overlapping, interest in mythology-related subject matters and research
on mythology are separated by the institutionalised nature of the latter, as well
as the presence of particular means of creating the scholarly authority within the
academic context. Both modes of investigation serve various agendas and
supplement each other. Narratives on mythology have special epistemic status
due to their composite sources, blurring of disciplinary boundaries in construction of the research subject, and involvement in political and, recently, lifestyle
agendas. This makes mythology a highly contested realm of lay and expert
knowledge. With no direct and systematic evidence regarding the hierarchy of
ancient Latvian gods, mythical topography, economics of divine patronage and
other categories of scholarly reconstructions, the latter are completely based on
the indirect textual representations of lay knowledge.
The earliest historical documents were of secondary derivation, shaped by
agendas of other people rather than the subjects of mythology crusaders,
Christian clergy, or travellers interpreting the beliefs of local inhabitants.
More recent records represent the contesting Enlightenment and Romanticism
ideas, while the late nineteenth century folklore collections were shaped by
particular editorial practices favoured by patriotically inclined enthusiasts on
the eve of national awakening. Consequently, the source material for Latvian
mythology research is a partial representation of lost beliefs and ritual practices.
Since the emergence of institutionalised research into Latvian mythology these
sources have been applied selectively to the construction of expert knowledge,
depending on disciplinary affiliations or personal careers, current theoretical
trends or ideological agendas. The most prominent principle appears to be the
changing interpretation of the theory of folklore genres, which delineated the
preference for particular folklore materials in reconstructive practices. Data of

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historical reconstructions or comparative mythological research were often

verified against the statements of comparative philology, another powerful actor
in the construction of Latvian mythology as a field of expert knowledge.
However, these scholarly constructions have been contested by popular
opinion, negotiated within different agendas, and applied in a selective way.
First of all, expert knowledge has been indirectly and directly utilized in
identity discourses from national identity to the construction of contemporary
marketing and sub-cultural images; it also plays an important role in neo-pagan
religious movements serving for purposes of reinventing ritual practices. This
impact of established expert knowledge is evident in the practice of festivities
as well as in fine arts. On the other hand, this recent lay interpretation of
scholarly knowledge contests the latter on grounds other than the oppositional
intellectual trajectories in academia. Lay perception in this field relates to expert
knowledge in the same way as vernacular religion relates to official church
doctrine. It is a juxtaposition of the on-going construction of public opinion
based on different, often acronychal sources of archival knowledge and reconstructions created by scholars of past and present.
Timeline
The scholarly construction of Latvian mythology as a self-contained realm of
knowledge was shaped in the early twentieth century, further evolving and
changing in different political contexts and in response to prevailing ideological
agendas. Still, the historical records which served as secondary sources for this
construction, dates back to ancient Rome, growing in number in the Middle
Ages, when descriptions of heathen religion became a part of mapping the
borders of the Christian world and, consequently, advocating the necessity of
expansion. Several publications from the seventeenth century already feature
catalogues of Latvian deities, extended by each subsequent author until the
introduction of the primary source of mythology research, namely folklore
collections, in the nineteenth century. The same nineteenth century is also
characterized by the widespread ideological movement of cultural nationalism,
acquiring its particular expressions in each country but united by common
interest in language and history, as well as by other similarities in culture
building processes. In this mode, Latvian mythology simultaneously became a
discovery for intellectuals interested in the ethnographic and historical definition of emerging Latvian nation, as well as a source of creative inspirations
for writers and poets. Needless to say, these two groups often shared the same
personnel; thus, the discovery and invention of mythology were inseparable.
The last decades of the century faced more socio-political articulation of the
national movement; consequently, interest in mythology was no longer among
the main arguments proving the nations ancient history and rights to exist.
Simultaneously with the developments of comparative mythology in other parts
of Europe, Latvian mythology became an object of more academic interest,

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taking shape according to one or other current theory. At the same time,
increasing collections of folklore material allowed the introduction of new
modes of scholarly authority, based on the newly created methodologies of
research and interpretation of folklore materials. Fragmentary, interested only in
particular deities or phenomena, scholarly discourse on Latvian mythology
formed until World War I. Establishment of the independent nation-state in
1918 coincided with the publication of the first comprehensive monograph on
the subject matter, describing Latvian mythology as a system.
The interwar period was the time of the institutionalisation of the discipline
by establishment of the national research and education institutions and
formation of local academia, resulting in comparatively large number of publications touching the subject matter from various perspectives. This period also
brought the first discussions and publications on Latvian mythological space, a
constituent of the Ancient Latvian worldview. International by circle of
references and national by construction of research object, the scholarly interest
in Latvian mythology at this time shows a strong correlation with national
identity discourse and politics; often also featuring politically active scholars
(among them two government Ministers of Education). Despite the ideological
similarities, the period is characterised by the diversity of theories applied to
Latvian source material. The latter was interpreted in light of totemism (vbe)
and animism (Bruenieks), from the points of view of the phenomenology of
religion (Adamovis, Rumba, and Maldonis) and a hard to define mix of
cultural history and comparative mythology (Straubergs). mits laid the
foundations of the new disciplinary identity by uncompromising critique of all
previous mythographies, especially those inspired by national romanticism, as
well as by defining the role of comparative linguistic analysis for the research
on Latvian together with Lithuanian mythology. Models of mythological space,
proposed by scholars of this time, appear to be dependent on preferences of
folklore genres by each author writing on the subject matter. Generally
speaking, the research into mythology occupied the space in academia between
folkloristics and the history of religion, with representatives of the both sides
interpreting the same sources according to their research agendas.
Research into Latvian mythology took several parallel trajectories after
World War II: first, in the Latvian exile community the idea of a national
research object was shaped by new institutional and intellectual contexts, as
well as being influenced by researchers personal responses to the exile
situation, echoing in continuities and breaks with the previous research. Thus,
the chthonic realms of Latvian mythology were integrated into the pan-European comparative framework (Straubergs), while the celestial spheres were
analysed in the light of the history of religion (Biezais); at the same time, on
margins of the academic discourse, the construction of Latvian mythology and
mythological space continued in the mode of national romanticism (Polis), once
again stressing the role of mythology in the conceptualisation of national
uniqueness. Apart from this, research into Latvian mythology showed a

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tendency of integration into the broader subject matter of Baltic mythology (e.g.
Gimbutas and Vlius). The scholarship took rather the opposite direction within
the research and education institutions in post-war Latvia, i.e. in the LSSR. In
line with the new political regimes antipathy towards religious ideas, as well as
according to new institutional setting, studies of mythology were exclusively
subordinated to the field of folkloristics. The latter, in its turn, was defined
roughly as the oral literature of the working class and its predecessors. At the
same time, contemporary Soviet ideology-laden folklore was positioned as the
central object of collection and analysis. In this setting, the mythology-related
research was possible only as an exception, resulting in a couple of articles and
a few fragmentary notes. However, this clearly shows the new regime of truth
and specific Soviet modes of legitimisation of knowledge: the construction of a
new disciplinary identity by means of political critique, the establishment of a
single correct interpretation, and a specific, hierarchic quotation culture. Slight
changes to the political regime after the death of Stalin, as well as the complex
interplay between the centre and the periphery in Soviet academia allowed the
emergence of the so-called Moscow-Tartu School of semiotics. With one of its
major branches developing towards semiotic and structural studies of culture,
the school also embraced studies of Latvian mythology within the circle of its
interests. However, the subject matter here was utilised as source material for
broader-scale comparative reconstructions rather than explored for its own sake.
Here Latvian mythology added significantly to the reconstruction of ProtoIndo-European culture (Gamkrelidze and Ivanov) and clarification of some
motifs of Indo-European proto-myth (Ivanov and Toporov), also being
conceptualised from both Baltic and Baltic-Balkan perspectives. The most
recent cluster of knowledge production involving the subject matter might be
located in the late 1980s and 1990s, characterised by the merger of all previous
research traditions; again, the disciplinary identity underwent the process of repositioning. On the one hand, on-going research continued, and due to censorship the unavailable works from the interwar period and the exile researchers
were discovered and celebrated, on the other hand, the new national idea
demanded the revision and critique of previously written works, as well as the
new market economy and system of education and research demanding the
reshaping of publication and research practices. In sum, the density of similar
factors allows us to separate several clusters of Latvian mythography along a
timeline that is characterised by on-going disciplinary identity construction,
based on the dialectics of continuity and critique of the past. Ironically, here the
Eliadean idea of ethereal return, characterising the nature of myths, might also
be applied to the study of mythology.
Northern parallels
If the knowledge production process shapes the object of knowledge, not vice
versa, then because the conditions of this process are similar, the outcomes too

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must be similar. Latvian mythology, as stated by almost any researcher of the

subject, has the same, relatively recent origins as Lithuanian mythology;
multiple similarities point towards a common Baltic mythology, part of the
lived experience before the separation of Prussian, Latvian and Lithuanian
tribes. Such similarities and common origins are promising for object-focused
research. At the same time, Latvia and Estonia had similar or closely parallel
historical processes for several hundred years, as well as similar social
structures, a common historical Baltic-German elite, etc. Indeed, as is shown in
comparative Appendix III of this thesis, the similar conditions and sociopolitical contexts of knowledge production also generated a significant volume
of similarities in the scholarly practices and their relation to the dynamics of
power. At the same time, objects of inquiry Latvian and Estonian mythologies
had always remained different by content and distance under the researchers
gaze. Therefore, the additional comparative study of knowledge production
highlights the importance of the process-focused instead of object-focused
approach to writing the disciplinary history.
Recognition of the local peasants languages, beliefs, and customs in both
countries was inspired by the same Enlightenment and Romanticism related
ideas, manifested in the works of Herder and Merkel. Similarly, the interest in
such phenomena and legitimation of it as culture was introduced by members of
a local, non-native-speaking (mostly Baltic-German) elite; this played a rather
similar role in articulation of the national idea to that played by the Swedishspeaking elite in the Great Duchy of Finland (cf. Anttonen 2005). The abolition
of serfdom contributed to the emergence of a new, upwardly mobile, nativespeaking middle class and intelligentsia, showing similar patterns of networking
and organisation in learned societies and publication ventures. The universities
of Dorpat (Tartu), St. Petersburg, and Moscow became intellectual centres for
both Latvians and Estonians. Distribution of identical calls for the collection of
folklore introduced this form of activity as a tool for mobilising the masses
towards the formation of national consciousness. Until World War I, a
significant amount of folklore material was collected and published in both
countries, paralleled by the emergence of national literature merging the realms
of creativity, folklore, and mythology in canonical national epics. Institutionalisation of the humanities took rather similar turns during the interwar period,
leading to rather similar research patterns and regimes of truth related to the
political and academic configuration of both newly established nation-states.
Conducted from the common centre Moscow reorganisation of research and
education institutions resulted in mirror images of Latvian and Estonian
folkloristics, articulated according to the ideology of Marxism-Leninism. At the
same time, Latvian and Estonian scholars in exile communities in Sweden
continued their endeavours (for example, Loorits and Straubergs) or started
new, comprehensive projects of mythology studies under the light of the history
of religion (like Paulson and Biezais). In general, Finnish scholarship, due to
the origins and construction of the discipline according to the similarities and

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differences of languages discovered by comparative linguistics, always had

played a rather similar role in research into Estonian mythology as had
Lithuanian scholarship regarding Latvian mythology. In respect of the dynamics
of knowledge production, research conceptualising Baltic mythology with its
integral part of Latvian material might be paralleled with the research
conceptualising the Finno-Ugric worldview. At a more general level of
comparison, two parallel fields of scholarship concerning the subject matter in
views of corresponding nations are the Indo-European studies on the Latvian
side and the Uralic or North-Europe-Asian studies on the Estonian side.
Reflexivity
Histories of disciplines allow us to recognize that knowledge is made, not found,
and that knowledge, once made, is put to use beyond the small community of
knowledge-making specialists. In any field addressing culture this means, of
necessity, that versions of a fields knowledge themselves become part of
culture, filtered through individual or group interests, in turn to become part of
disciplinary investigation (Beck, Giddens and Lash 1994: vivii132). This process
may be inherent to all inquiry, but it is defining for disciplines that address
culture. Cultural knowledge-making contributes to the instability and transformative of that which is studied
(Bendix 1997: 220).

Reflexivity in studies of culture means recognition of the vicious circle that runs
through the realms of epistemology, psychology, politics, and history. There are
no facts, no matter how vague or unrecognised, without theory behind them;
there is no theory without the academic apparatus of knowledge production and
legitimation; there is no academia without society and its culture. As this
determination goes in both directions from particular details to systems and
back neither inductive, nor deductive methods are sufficient to explain the
whole process. Recognition of the vicious circle in knowledge production also
questions the position of the author; the classical death of the author is not an
option anymore, especially in the sciences, where construction of scholarly
authority is part of discursive rules. The author might be dead as a romantic
genius, as the god-like creator ex nihil. At the same time, the agency of author
represents the reflexive link between embeddedness in cultural and scholarly
contexts on the one hand, and creation of these contexts on the other hand. Or,
Behind the discourse on what constitutes the disciplinary subject reside
relationships between the self and the subject, the self and the profession, and
the self with the self (Bendix 1997: 219). Paraphrasing the famous proposition
of Aristotle, the author is by nature a political animal. Since politics is a power
132

Beck, Ulrich; Giddens, Anthony and Lash, Scott (1994) Reflexive Modernization:
Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order. Stanford: Stanford University
Press.

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play, power dictates knowledge, and knowledge feeds power. As demonstrated

in this thesis by analysis of the scholarly production of different periods and
regimes, this appears to be a universal principle of the field: research into
Latvian mythology emerged and evolved alongside nationalism, intertwining
with it, changing the modality of this relationship through time, but never
leaving it. Moreover, folklore studies contributed similarity to the politics of
nationhood as well as to the totalitarian vision of a liberated working class.
Nevertheless, the knowledge-power linkage is by no means simple. Individual
actors and multiple agencies are bounded in multidimensional and multihierarchic dynamic networks where microcirculation of power occurs: the
relationship between fellow researchers might be as significant as the relationship between the government ministry and local academia. Each of the involved
parties is somewhat related to the other; the only real possibility for finding
causality in these relationships is mapping the density and the most significant
junctions in the network. Similarly, knowledge is not a substance; even the most
complete bibliography or library containing absolutely every text on the subject
matter will represent only a representation of knowledge and some level of
intertextuality. The locus of the meaning remains in the contexts. Once written
and published, texts gain their importance by reading; the questions of who
reads and how they interpret these texts are as important as the questions of who
authors them and how the authors voice is constructed. Consequently, research
into the disciplinary history is an on-going process of selection, interpretation,
reconstruction of contexts, and negotiation of various dilemmas: fragmentary
and multidimensional living experience requires a distance to be observed, but
the distance always comes with the sacrifice of details for the sake of
generalisation. Another dilemma is created by the dialectics of familiarity and
alienation understanding temporally (as well as geographically) distant milieus,
especially working in their shadow. An insiders view on the discipline is
privileged by access to particular discourses and keys of interpretation that
define this view as insiders. At the same time, the shadow of the discipline in
which the researcher belongs might hide relationships and details which only an
outsider might find. However, I believe this research concerning the
disciplinary history of Latvian mythology benefits from my double position:
being an insider in Latvian academia and writing this history within an Estonian
university. With an honest and maximally rigorous approach to the partial
truth of history as it touches on the developments and dynamics of scholarship
concerning Latvian mythology, this thesis welcomes exploration of all other
approaches that have been and will be elaborated under the principles of
reflexive studies of ethnography and disciplinary histories.

47

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SUMMARY IN ESTONIAN
Lti mtoloogia distsiplinaarne ajalugu
Vitekiri ksitleb teadmisloome protsessi mtoloogia uurimise valdkonnas
folkloristika, ajaloo ning religiooniuuringute piirialal. Vitekirja autor defineerib refleksiivse historiograafia metodoloogia, mis lhtub postmodernistlikust
ning poststrukturalistlikust diskursusest, lingvistilisest antropoloogiast, kriitilistest kultuuriuuringutest ja teaduse sotsioloogiast, ning rakendab seda. Analsis
keskendutakse institutsionaalsele teadusteadmiste loomele, uurides phjuste ja
tagajrgede vastastikuseid suhteid tekstides ja praktikates, mis puudutavad
geograafiliselt ning lingvistiliselt konstrueeritud uurimisobjekti lti mtoloogiat.
Uurimisaines ja meetod
Mtoloogia uurimine on distsipliin, mille piirid on rmiselt hgused. Kuigi
neis on sageli kattuvusi, eristab mtoloogia uurimist huvist mtoloogiaga seotud teemavaldkondade vastu esimese institutsionaliseerunud olemus ning konkreetsete vahendite olemasolu sellele teadusliku autoriteedi andmiseks akadeemilises kontekstis. Mlemal uurimisviisil on mitmesugused eesmrgid ning nad
tiendavad teineteist. Mtoloogiat puudutavatel narratiividel on episteemiline
eristaatus tnu nende liitallikatele, distsiplinaarsete piiride hgustumisele uurimisainese konstrueerimisel ning kaasatusele poliitilistesse ja viimasel ajal ka
elustiiliga seotud eesmrkidesse. See muudab mtoloogia nii erialakaugete kui
ka ekspertteadmiste tuntavalt poleemiliseks valdkonnaks. Et vanade lti jumalate, mtilise topograafia, jumaliku patronaai konoomika ning teiste teaduslike rekonstruktsioonide kategooriate kohta puuduvad otsesed ja sstemaatilised tendid, phinevad need kategooriad tielikult mitteerialaste teadmiste
kaudsetel tekstuaalsetel representatsioonidel. Et minu uurimist tegeleb lti
mtoloogia teadusliku produtseerimisega, vldin mdi ja mtoloogia valmisdefinitsioone, mis vivad uurimisainest kitsendada formaalsetest kriteeriumidest lhtuvalt, ent kasutan selle asemel genealoogilist mudelit: jrgin enese
defineeritud uurimisobjekti nii, nagu see on teaduslikus diskursuses kinnistunud. Eelkige on minu uurimuse lhtekohaks teosed, mille on kirjutanud akadeemilised uurijad ning mille pealkirjaks on Lti mtoloogia vi mis otsesnu
mratlevad, et ksitlevad lti mtoloogiat. Ajaliselt on kesoleva dissertatsiooni vaadeldav aines piiritletud 19. ja 20. sajandiga, uuemat arengut ksitletakse ksnes levaatlikult.
Nende variatsioonide kaardistamine, mida seesama defineeritud aines teeb
erinevate uurijate tdes, vimaldab tielikult kaardistada distsiplinaarset ajalugu, vltides htlasi formaalset (olemasolevast definitsioonist tulenevat) vi
institutsioonilist (ht konkreetset distsipliini eelistavat) kallutatust. Niisugune
ksitlus on valitud, et koondada thelepanu uurimisainese akadeemilisele

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konstrueeritusele, avastades selle taha jvaid algatusi ning kontekste, mis

annavad kuju igale konkreetsele vormile.. Oletatavate lti mtide ning eriti
mtiliste olendite, nagu jumalad ja jumalused, rekonstrueerimise, kirjeldamise
ja seletamisega on tegelnud erineva tausta ning huvidega petlased. Kriteeriumid, mis moodustavad mtoloogia, erinevad teadmisvaldkonniti ning olenevad
sellest, kes nendega tegelevad. Seega uurin ma sel teemal htsuse taotlemise
asemel uurijate erinevusi, kes on valinud ning tlgendanud materjali vernakulaarsest kultuurist ja vanadest ksikirjadest, et konstrueerida oma uurimisobjekti, ning seelbi mjutanud arvamusi allikate kohta. Seesuguse mitmekesisusega silmitsi seistes ei rita kesolev uurimus pakkuda tielikku levaadet ega
ksikasjaliselt uurida kike lti mtoloogia kohta kirjutatut. Pigem on mu eesmrgiks hendada ja krvutada helt poolt sel teemal kirjutatud kige mjukamaid tid ja teisalt visandada selle valdkonna mitmekesisus, hendades radikaalselt erinevate ksitluste analse. Seega on lpptulemuseks ideede virtuaalne kaart, millel on mitmeid, le aegade ulatuvaid keskmeid ja perifeeriaid.
Erilist thelepanu plvib mtoloogiline ruum. Niisuguse valiku tegemisel lhemaks vaatluseks on mitu phjust: (1) vrreldavus arvukate uurimuste olemasolu
tttu; (2) interdistsiplinaarsus tnu ksitletusele uurimustes, mille perspektiivid
erinevad; (3) rekonstruktiivne sensitiivsus, mis nitab selgelt valitud allikmaterjalide olulisust; (4) strukturaalne sltumatus: ruum kui thi miste ei ole tingimata seotud panteoni ega teiste mtoloogiliste elementidega; (5) interkonnektiivsus: mtoloogilise ruumi mistmine osana konkreetsest maailmavaatest, mis
hendab nn. krgeid religioosseid valdkondi argise kultuspraktikaga; sel taustal
eksisteerivad hiselt praegune ning tulevane elu, seal elavad vrdselt inimesed,
vaimud ja jumalad, see on prgament, millele mdi kujul on kirjutatud elav
kogemus. Nii kirjeldan mitut mtoloogilise ruumi mudelit, analsimaks neid
kujundanud kontekste.
Et mu uurimismeetod tuleneb uurimisainese tekstuaalsest loomusest ning
lalkirjeldatud genealoogilisest defineerimisest, vib selle lhidalt kokku vtta
omamoodi diskursiivse analsina. Keskendudes lti mtograafiatele. on tegu
neile esmastele tekstidele konteksti moodustavate, tekste nende loomise asjaoludes kontekstualiseerivate ja neid hendavaid intertekstuaalseid seoseid
esiplaanile toovate avarduvate tekstiringide edasi-tagasi lugemisega. Esmane
tekstikorpus koosneb monograafiatest, folkloorikogumike sissejuhatustest, ajakirja- ja ajaleheartiklitest ning entsklopeediakannetest, mis puudutavad lti
mtoloogiat. Teisene ehk kontekstuaalne korpus koosneb memuaarkirjandusest,
biograafiatest ja autobiograafiatest, arhiivimaterjalidest, teemaga seonduvast
ajalookirjutusest, populaarsetest ja harivatest artiklitest ning muust esmaseid
tekste puudutavast, nende autoritest ning institutsioonilisest taustast, millel need
tekstid valmisid. Niisuguse lugemise tulemused paigutatakse ldise hiskondlik-poliitilise ja akadeemilise ajaloo konteksti.
Minu uurimist praegune esitusviis on allutatud selle eesmrkidele:
demonstreerida, kuidas on konstrueeritud konkreetne uurimisobjekt, kuidas see
saavutab vi kaotab oma teadusliku legitiimsuse, kuidas selle variatsioonid on

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seotud loojate teoreetiliste, sotsiaalsete, institutsiooniliste ja poliitiliste positsioonidega eri ajaperioodidel ning erinevates uurimistraditsioonides. Sidudes
eristavate hoiakutena tlgendatavate tde vi diskursuste ruumi nende tootjate
positsiooni ruumiga, lheneb kesoleva vitekirja meetod konstruktsionistlikust
lhtekohast lbiviidud teadmisloomesotsioloogiale. Ent tpsem katustermin, mis
hendab teooriad, elulood, institutsioonilise ja poliitilise ajaloo htseks tervikuks, on refleksiivne kultuurikriitika. Sellisena vtab see akadeemiliste objektide olemuse suhtes konstruktsionistliku kriitilise hoiaku, austab representatsioonile ja tekstuaalsusele pratavat thelepanu, mida jagab hulk 20. sajandi
lpu kultuuriuuringutest, etnoloogiast ja antropoloogiast tulenevaid teooriaid,
ning peegeldab refleksiivsust kui ht akadeemilise produktsiooni mistmise
keskset terminit. Minu uurimuses osutab refleksiivsus eelkige teadmise ja
vimu suhtele: kuidas suhestuvad akadeemilised projektid ja eesmrgid, millest
lhtuvalt neid defineeriti. Seetttu liigub t lesehitus ldisest kontekstist
autorite biograafiateni, nende mdiuuringutega seotuse analsimiselt mtoloogilise ruumi konkreetsete kirjeldusteni ning jlle tagasi ldkonteksti juurde,
nidates nende tasandite vastastikmjusid.
Sisu
Vitekirja 1. peatkis vaadeldakse esiteks mtoloogiauuringute ldajalugu ning
folkloori kui selle peamist allikat; teiseks analsitakse valdkonnale iseloomuliku vimu ja teadmisringluse modaalsust, keskendudes rahvuslusele kui peamisele ideoloogiale selle taga; kolmandaks kirjeldatakse vitekirja teoreetilist
raamistust, alates selle taustaks olevatest filosoofilistest ideedest ja teoreetilistest arengujoontest kuni refleksiivse distsiplinaarse ajaloo formuleerimiseni.
Ajalooline levaade rhutab folkloristika ja vrdleva mtoloogia rajamisel
keskset osa mnginud Johann Gottfried von Herderi ning vendade Grimmide
mjukat prandit, mis oma teadusliku autoriteediga kujundas diskursust Teisest
nii ajalisest kui ka klassi seisukohast, sidudes keele, vernakulaarse kultuuri ning
rahvusliku vaimu idee poliitiliselt laetud tervikuks, mis viis nii ldrahvaliku
huvi trkamiseni selle valdkonna vastu kui ka teadusliku uurimist mitmekesiste suundadeni. Nende tde anals, mis osutab akadeemiliste pdluste ja
poliitiliste ideoloogiate, eriti rahvusluse, nagu seda hes alapeatkis iseloomustatakse, vahelistele suhetele, lhtub suuresti postmodernistlikust ja poststrukturalistlikust filosoofiast. Et see moodustab ka minu teoreetilise ksitluse tausta,
tehakse kokkuvte Foucault ja Lyotardi kui selle mttevoolu kige mjukamate esindajate ideedest; need aitavad meil mista humanitaar- ja sotsiaalteaduste konkreetsemaid arengujooni, mis viisid distsipliini nn. representatsioonikriisini 1980ndatel aastatel. Seda kriisi, nii nuet le vaadata varasem
uurimist kui ka antropoloogia, folkloristika ja sugulasdistsipliinide uurimisainese uue ksitluse leidmise vajalikkust vaadeldakse eraldi alapeatkis, mis
aitab iseloomustada teoreetilist keskkonda, millest refleksiivne ksitlus vrsus.
Et viimases seisnebki kesoleva dissertatsiooni metodoloogia, moodustavad

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refleksiivsuse miste, arusaam uurimisobjekti sotsiaalsest konstrueeritusest ning

mitmed analsitehnikad omaette alaosa. Peatki lpetab meetodi ning vitekirja teistele osadele aluseks olevate konkreetsete jrjestikuste analsisammude kontseptualiseerimine.
2. peatkk seab ainesele ajalised, rahvuslikud, institutsioonilised ja diskursiivsed piirid ning rhutab ka selle sisednaamikat ja kokkuvttena pakub vlja
lti mtoloogia teadusliku uurimise periodiseeringu, alates romantilise rahvusluse esilekerkimisest kuni iseseisvuse taastamiseni 1990ndatel aastatel ning
jrgnenud arenguni. Kigepealt sisaldab peatkk lti mtoloogia rekonstrueerimisel kasutatud allikate ajalooliste rikute, folkloorimaterjali ning lingvistiliste andmete kronoloogilist ja analtilist kirjeldust, kaardistades nende
kttesaadavust erinevatel akadeemilise huvi perioodidel ning iseloomustades
lhidalt allikate olemust: kogumise ja toimetamise phimtteid, avaldamisaega
ning nende olemusega seonduvaid probleeme. Lingvistiliste andmete puhul esitatakse kaks juhtumianalsi, et illustreerida vrdleva keeleteaduse ja selle
ajaloo rolli ainese uurimisel. Edasine anals vaatleb lti mtoloogia teadusliku
uurimise alustamist ja dnaamikat: selle pritolu sidumist kultuurilise rahvuslusega 19. sajandil, piiride tmbamist sama ainese rahvalike ning ekspertversioonide vahele, teadusliku uurimist varajase arengu kirjeldamist ning seejrel edasiliikumist institutsionaliseerumisprotsessi ning sellega seotud algatuste
juurde. Teadusliku uurimist rahvuslikku iseloomu krvutatakse rahvusvaheliste suhetega, mida ksiktoimijad sellel vljal on loonud ning mis on seotud
vaadeldava ajavahemiku ldise intellektuaalse ajalooga. Uurimisvaldkonna
piiritlemise jrel analsitakse teadustegevust, lhtudes sisednaamika laadidest
ning ldisest ajaloolis-poliitilisest kontekstist; selle tulemusena eristub mitu diskursiivset klastrit, mida iseloomustab erinevus ksteisest ning sisemine sidusus.
Tpsemalt on need (1) mtoloogia kontseptualiseerimine Lti Nukogude
Sotsialistlikus Vabariigis; (2) lti pagulaskogukonda kuuluvate teadlaste samal
ajal kirjutatud td; (3) lti mtoloogia balti mtoloogia osana; (4) selle koht ja
modaalsus Tartu-Moskva semiootikakoolkonnas; (5) kigi teiste uurimistraditsioonide liitmine ning revideerimine Nukogude Liidu murenemise ja lagunemise jrel, mis andis tulemuseks praeguse olukorra. Peatki jrelduste osas
tehakse arengust kokkuvte ning pakutakse vlja lti mtoloogia uurimise
periodiseering vastavalt peamistele teguritele ning ajaloolisele kontekstile, mis
on neid uuringuid mjutanud.
3. peatkk on phendatud lti mtoloogia uurimise kige viljakamale ajajrgule, sdadevahelisele perioodile, mis kestis ligikaudu 19181944. Siia limitakse teaduslike biograafiate ning asjakohaste teoste analsi varasemad
arengujooned, mis on selle aja teaduse jaoks olulised ja mida pole 2. peatkis
ksitletud. Kigepealt tehakse kahekordne kaardistamine, iseloomustades peamisi mtoloogia ksitlusi ning nendega seotud vtmeisikuid, tutvustades uurimist mitmekesisust, mitmesuguste uurijatevaheliste dialoogide olemust ning

48

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nii varasemaid uuringuid kui ka kaasaegseid versioone puudutava kriitika

olemust. Kirjeldatakse teoreetilisi hoiakuid sotsioloogilisest ksitlusest religiooni fenomenoloogiani ning nende paiknemist neid esindavate teadlaste elulugudes ning karjris ning esitatakse see distsiplinaarse ja institutsioonilise
arengu ldises kontekstis. Prast seda levaadet analsitakse ksikasjaliselt
teadmisloome poliitilist mdet kahe mjuka teadlase Krlis Straubergsi ja
Arveds vbe nitel, tutvustades tpsemalt elu- ja ajaloolist konteksti, mis
mjutas nende teoreetilisi hoiakuid, ning konkreetset kuju, mille mtoloogiahuvi nende tdes vttis. Ka jrgneb kaks juhtumianalsi mtoloogilise ruumi
kontseptualiseerimisest, kus demonstreeritakse mudeleid, mida on tekitanud
kaks erinevat arusaama mtoloogiast, mis tuginevad erinevatele meetoditele ja
allikatele. Peatki kokkuvttes analsitakse folkloorianride mistmise mju
kui selle aja teoreetilist krghetke, demonstreerides, kuidas allikmaterjali puudutav metateooria mjutab jrgnevat teadustd suhteliselt enesekllases
teadmisvaldkonnas. Viimaks esitatakse mitu jreldust sdadevahelise perioodi
teooriate tereiimi ja dnaamika kohta.
4. peatkk puudutab distsipliini ajalugu prast II maailmasda, mida kige
mrgatavamalt iseloomustab paralleelsete enesekllaste uurimistraditsioonide
esiletus, mis suhestuvad varasema arenguga eri viisil. Nii tegeldakse esimeses
osas lti mtoloogia uurimisega lti pagulasteadlaste poolt, vaadeldes lhemalt
jrjepidevust ning katkestusi Krlis Straubergsi mtoloogiateemalistes kirjutistes ning iseloomustades Haralds Biezaisi kirjutatud kige mahukamat ja
phjalikumat lti muinasusu uurimust. Taas paigutatakse teadusloome mlema
teadlase eluloo ja selle taustaks olnud institutsioonilise keskkonna konteksti
ning pakutakse vlja hpotees pagulaskogukondadele iseloomulikest akadeemilistest ja pshholoogilistest strateegiatest. Samuti vaadeldakse lhemalt teadust jtkamise teisenemist ja katkestusi ning dialoogi minevikuga mlema oma
eesmrkide ja ksitluste poolest mrgatavalt erineva autori versioonis mtoloogilisest ruumist. Nukogude Lti mtoloogiale phendatud alaosas ksitletakse uue distsiplinaarse identiteedi loomist, arvesse vttes akadeemilise tegevuse struktuuri mberkorraldamist ja selle tsentraliseerimist, tsensuuri rolli
totalitaarses riigis, kriitika- ja tsiteerimiskultuuri teadusliku autoriteedi kehtestamise vahendina, investeerimist marksismi-leninismi petusse ning eelkige
radikaalselt teistsuguse tereiimi rajamist, iseloomustades teadmiste ringlust ja
vimu sellel taustal. Kui algul ksitleb kesolev peatkk peamiselt esimesi
sjajrgseid aastakmneid rahvuslikus paguluses ning Nukogude teaduses,
uurin edasi indoeuroopa vrdleva mtoloogia teoreetilist ldkonteksti ning balti
mtoloogia kui selle eriharu uurimist 20. sajandi teisel poolel. Siin esitatakse
lisaks ksimusi vrdleva keeleteaduse ja vrdleva mtoloogia kohta, andes
samal ajal aimu peamistest arengujoontest kummaski distsipliinis vastaval
ajaperioodil. Konkreetse ksikjuhtumi vaatlus on seotud toimetamispraktikaga
kahes balti mtoloogiat ksitlevas trkises, mis on loodud arheoloogia perspektiivist ning seotud hiljutise arenguga sugupooleuuringutes ning feministlikus

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ideoloogias. Lpuks sisaldab 4. peatki viimane alalik lti mtoloogia kontseptualiseerimise analsi Tartu-Moskva semiootikakoolkonda kuuluvate petlaste poolt. Selle koolkonna ldeesmrgistikku on iseloomustatud ka 2. peatkis, siin nidatakse konkreetsete teadlaste tid vaadeldes ainese seostamist
indoeuroopa protomdi rekonstrueerimisega ning balti, sealhulgas lti mtoloogia seitsmeks kihiks liigitamise ainulaadset mudelit. Peatki kokkuvttes
kaardistan sjajrgse perioodi paralleelseid teadustrajektoore, seostades poliitilise keskkonna, teadmisloome laadi ning tehtava t sisu.
Kigi peatkkide tulemused ja jreldused resmeeritakse vitekirja ldkokkuvttes, milles on kirjas lti mtoloogia uurimist 20. sajandil enim kujundanud
mjurite kogum ning esitatakse lisaks kokkuvtlik vrdlus distsipliini dnaamikast Ltis ja Eestis. Sellist vrdlust kasutatakse, rhutamaks rahvusliku ja akadeemilise identiteedi sarnasusi mlemas riigis. Siinkohal vimaldab vrdlevajalooline anals krvuti seada loodud teadmist ning loomiskonteksti, sest
esimene on olnud seotud peamiselt lingvistilise ja etnogeneetilise diskursusega,
mis hendab Ltit ja Leedut, kuna viimane illustreerib Eesti ja Lti sajandeid
kestnud hise ajaloo olulisust sel on olnud suur mju distsipliini ajaloo
kujunemisele, kuid see jb kttesaamatuks, kui lugeda ksnes lti mtoloogia
alaseid tid. Kokkuvttele jrgnevad kirjandusloend ning lisad, mis sisaldavad
t phiosas viidatud materjale.
Ajaline jrgnevus
Varaseimaid ajaloolisi dokumente ei kujundanud mtoloogia subjektide, vaid
teiste inimeste tegevus ristirtlite, kristlike vaimulike vi reisijate omad.
Hilisemad rikud esindavad valgustusaja ja romantismi vistlevaid ideid, samas
kui 19. sajandi lpuosa rahvaluulekogumist kujundasid konkreetsed toimetamispraktikad, mida soosisid patriootliku hoiakuga entusiastid rahvusliku rkamise
eelhtul. Seetttu on lti mtoloogia uuringute allikmaterjali nol tegemist
kadunud uskumuste ja rituaalse praktika osalise representatsiooniga. Lti mtoloogia institutsionaliseerunud uurimise tekkest saadik on neid allikaid rakendatud ekspertteadmiste konstrueerimises selektiivselt olenevalt distsiplinaarsest
kuuluvusest vi isiklikust karjrist, hetkel valitsevatest teoreetilistest trendidest
vi ideoloogilistest eesmrkidest. Kige mrgatavam printsiip nib olevat
folkloorianride teooria muutuv tlgendamine, mis visandas konkreetsete folkloorimaterjalide eelistamise rekonstrueerivas praktikas. Ajalooliste rekonstruktsioonide vi vrdlevate mtoloogiauurimuste andmeid testati sageli, krvutades neid vrdleva filoloogia videtega, mis oli teine vimas mjur lti mtoloogia kui ekspertteadmiste valdkonna konstrueerimisel. Juba 17. sajandist prineb mitu publikatsiooni, mis sisaldavad lti jumaluste nimekirju, mida iga jrgnev autor tiendab, kuni mtoloogiauuringute esmase allika, nimelt rahvaluulekogude sissetoomiseni 19. sajandil. Sedasama 19. sajandit iseloomustab ka
laialt levinud kultuurilis-rahvuslik ideoloogiline liikumine, mis igas riigis

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omandas talle iseloomuliku vljenduskuju, kuid mida hendas hishuvi keele ja

ajaloo vastu ning teised kultuuri lesehitamisprotsessis ilmnevad sarnasused.
Selles laadis sai lti mtoloogiast heaegselt avastus trkava lti rahvuse etnograafilisest ja ajaloolisest defineerimisest huvitatud intellektuaalide jaoks ja ka
loomingulise inspiratsiooni allikas kirjanikele ning luuletajatele. Mtoloogia
avastamine ja leiutamine olid lahutamatud. Sajandi viimastel aastakmnetel
seisti silmitsi rahvusliku liikumise hiskondlik-poliitilisema vljendusega: seetttu polnud huvi mtoloogia vastu enam peamiste argumentide seas, mis testasid rahvuse iidset ajalugu ning eksisteerimisigust. Samal ajal mujal Euroopas
aset leidnud arenguga vrdleva mtoloogia vallas muutus lti mtoloogia akadeemilisema huvi objektiks, kujunedes vastavalt hele vi teisele pevakorralisele teooriale. Samal ajal vimaldas folkloorimaterjalide kogude kasv kasutusele vtta uusi teadusliku autoriteedi laade, mis tuginesid folkloorimaterjalide
vastloodud uurimis- ning tlgendamismeetoditel. Lti mtoloogia teaduslik
konstrueerimine enesekllase teadmisvaldkonnana kujunes vlja 20. sajandi
alguses, edasi arenes ja muutus see erinevates poliitilistes kontekstides ning
vastusena domineerivatele ideoloogilistele suundumustele.
Sdadevaheline periood oli distsipliini institutsionaliseerimise aeg rahvuslike uurimis- ja haridusinstituutide loomise ja kohaliku teadlaskonna moodustamise kaudu, mille tulemuseks oli sna suur publikatsioonide hulk. Teaduslik
huvi lti mtoloogia vastu, mis viitamishaardelt oli rahvusvaheline ning objekti
konstrueerimise poolest rahvuslik, nitas les tugevat korrelatsiooni rahvusliku
identiteedi diskursuse ja poliitikaga, sageli olid teadlased ka poliitiliselt aktiivsed. Siiski on sellele perioodile, vaatamata ideoloogilistele sarnasustele, iseloomulik Lti allikmaterjalile rakendatavate teooriate mitmekesisus. Materjali
tlgendati totemismi ja animismi valguses, religioonifenomenoloogia ning
kultuuriloo ja vrdleva mtoloogia segu vaatepunktidest. Tolleaegsete teadlaste
pakutud mtoloogilise ruumi mudelid nivad sltuvat sellest, mida iga sellest
teemavaldkonnast kirjutav autor eelistas. ldjoontes hivas mtoloogia uurimine akadeemias folkloristika ning religiooniloo vahelise koha, mlema poole
esindajad tlgendasid samu allikaid vastavalt oma uurimiseesmrkidele.
Prast II maailmasda kulges lti mtoloogia uurimine mitmel paralleelsel
trajektooril: kigepealt kujundasid lti pagulaskogukonna ideed rahvuslikust
uurimisobjektist uue institutsioonilise ja intellektuaalse konteksti ning sellele
avaldasid mju uurijate isiklikud reaktsioonid pagulusele, milles kajastusid
jrjepidevus eelnenud uurimistga ning murrangud selles. Nii limiti lti
mtoloogia ktoonilised valdkonnad pan-Euroopa krvutavasse raamistikku,
kuid taevaseid sfre analsiti religiooniloo valguses; samal ajal jtkus akadeemilise diskursuse realadel lti mtoloogia ja mtoloogilise ruumi konstrueerimine rahvusromantilises vaimus, taas rhutades mtoloogia rolli rahvusliku ainulaadsuse kontseptualiseerimisel. Muidu ilmnes lti mtoloogia uurimises tendents limuda laiemasse ainesesse balti mtoloogiasse. Sjajrgse
Lti Lti NSV teadus- ja haridusasutustes vttis uurimist priski
vastandliku suuna. Jrgides uue poliitilise reiimi vastumeelsust religioossete

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ideede vastu ning uue institutsioonilise tausta tttu allutati mtoloogia uurimine
eranditult folkloristika valdkonnale. Viimast omakorda defineeriti ligikaudu
tlisklassi ning selle eelkijate suulise kirjandusena. Samal ajal veti kollektsioneerimisel ja analsimisel keskseks objektiks kaasaegne, Nukogude ideoloogiast laetud folkloor. Niisugusel taustal oli mtoloogiaga seostuv uurimust
vimalik vaid erandkorras, andes tulemuseks paar artiklit ning mned fragmentaarsed mrkmed. Kuid see nitab selgesti uut tereiimi ning spetsiifiliselt
nukogulikke teadmiste legitimeerimise laade: uue distsiplinaarse identiteedi
konstrueerimist poliitilise kriitika kaudu, heainsa ige tlgenduse sisseviimist,
ning spetsiifilist hierarhilist tsiteerimiskultuuri. Kerged muutused poliitilises
reiimis prast Stalini surma ning ka keskuse ja perifeeria kompleksne vastastikmju Nukogude akadeemilises elus vimaldasid niinimetatud Tartu-Moskva
semiootikakoolkonna esiletusu. Et koolkonna ks peamisi harusid arenes
semiootiliste ja strukturalistlike kultuuriuuringute suunas, hlmas selle huvidering ka lti mtoloogia uurimist. Siin lisas lti mtoloogia olulise osa protoindoeuroopa kultuuri rekonstrueerimisele ning indoeuroopa protomdi mnede
motiivide selgitamisel, kui seda kontseptualiseeriti nii balti kui ka balti-balkani
perspektiivist. Kige hilisema seda materjali puudutava teadmisloome klastri
vib paigutada 1980ndate aastate lppu ja 1990ndatesse aastatesse ning sellele
on iseloomulik kigi varasemate uurimistraditsioonide segunemine; taas tegi
distsiplinaarne identiteet lbi mberpositsioneerimisprotsessi. hest kljest
jtkus kimasolev teadust ning taasavastati ning tunnustati sdadevahelisest
ajast vi pagulasteadlastelt prinevaid tid, mis olid olnud tsensuuri tttu kttesaamatud; teisalt nudis uus rahvuslusidee varem kirjutatud tde levaatamist
ja kritiseerimist ning uus turumajandus- ja haridus- ning teadusssteem nudsid
avaldamis- ja uurimispraktika mberkujundamist.
Vrdlev lppsna
Kui teadmisloomeprotsess kujundab teadmise objekti ja mitte vastupidi ning
selle protsessi tingimused on sarnased, peavad sarnased olema ka tulemused.
Nagu peaaegu kik selle ainesega tegelnud teadlased on elnud, on lti mtoloogial samasugune suhteliselt hiline pritolu kui leedu mtoloogial; arvukad
sarnasused osutavad htse balti mtoloogia poole, mis oli preisi, lti ja leedu
himu kogemusliku elu osa enne nende lahknemist. Niisugused sarnasused ja
hine pritolu on paljutotavad objektikeskse uurimist jaoks. Samas on ka
Ltil ja Eestil olnud sadade aastate vltel hesuguseid vi tugevasti paralleelseid ajaloolisi protsesse ning hesuguseid sotsiaalseid struktuure, hesugune
ajalooline baltisaksa eliit jne. Sarnased tingimused ja teadmisloome hiskondlik-poliitiline kontekst on tekitanud olulisel mral sarnasusi ka teaduspraktikas ning selle suhtes vimuga. Samal ajal on uurimisobjektid lti ja eesti
mtoloogia jnud alati sisult erinevaks ning uurija pilgule kaugeks. Seetttu
rhutab teadmisloome tiendav vrdlev uurimine objektikeskse ksitluse asemel protsessikeskse ksitluse thtsust distsipliini ajaloo kirjutamisel.

49

193

ABBREVIATIONS
ABF

Fund of Anna Brzkalne at the Academic Library of the University

of Latvia (Annas Brzkalnes fonds LU Akadmisks bibliotkas
Rokrakstu un reto grmatu noda)
Est.
Estonian
IE
Indo-European
KHM Kinder- und Hausemrchen (a book by the brothers Grimm)
Lat.
Latvian
LFK Latvieu folkloras krtuve, Archives of Latvian Folklore
Lit.
Lithuanian
LKV Latvieu Konverscijas vrdnca Latvian lexicon
LSSR Latvian Soviet Socialistic Republic
LVVA Latvijas Valsts vstures arhvs (Latvian State Historical Archives),
PIE
Proto-Indo-European
REP Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
USSR Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics

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APPENDICES
Appendix I
Latvian mythological space by Ludvigs Adamovis
(Adamovis 1938: 364366)
1. Heavenly Mountain. Ancient Latvians have imagined the sky in the form of a high
mountain, called the Mountain of Pebbles, Silver Mountain or Ice Mountain. The
first two designations denote a bespangled sky, while the third derives from an
explanatory myth on the formation of snow. The Heavenly Mountain descends into
the World Sea. In several folk songs, the mountain has transformed into a table with
four corners. On this mountain, or by it, or around it, or otherwise the Sun moves in
its daily orbit. Completing it at the foot of Mountain, she (the Sun) starts her nightly
return path through the World Sea and the underworld in a silver or gold boat.
Changing the mode of movement at the seaside, the Sun swims her horses. In the
areas where such a clear notion of the sea in the West is absent, the Sun sets on a
lake, the great river Daugava, or in some mythical place where there are nine lakes
or where nine rivers meet.
Some songs depict the Sun in unceasing movement, but some tell of her resting
in the middle of the day or sleeping at night. Those songs testify to the developing
anthropomorphisation that distinguishes the mythological figure of the Sun from her
natural basis the sun.
Furthermore, the ways of the ancient Latvian God (Heavenly Father) on
Heavenly Mountain are depicted mainly as driving across the hill or the reeds,
gravel or copper bridge, i.e. rainbow. The most frequently sung about is his trip
down the hill.
2. Sun Tree. Ancient Latvians were aware of the special Sun tree, which is a particular
derivation of the mythical World Tree, a projection of the Milky Way in myths. In
the descriptions of this tree, bright precious metals silver and gold are not
spared. A frequent depiction presents the tree such as a birch with three leafs or
forked branches where the Sun, Moon, God, Laima, Auseklis [morning star], or
Daughter of the Sun rests or act.133 Moreover, it seems that the setting and rising of
Sun is always connected with the same tree.
The mythical place where the Sun Tree grows is at the side of the Suns path
or at the side of the sea path. It is at the far West where the Suns daily orbit
ends at the seaside, beyond the lake, in Daugava; in other words at the mythical
border zone of this world, where the natural horizon is visible and the slope of the
Heavenly Mountain approaches the earth. Laying its roots here, the Sun Tree
extends all over the sky and appears as the true tree of Heaven.
This is how ancient Latvians have imagined that beyond all lakes and hills at the
very edge of the earth or edge of the sea, the borders of this world, Heaven
(Heavenly Mountain) and the underworld (other world) meet. There the mythical
Heavenly Tree grows in whose branches the Sun, Moon and other heavenly bodies
each settle at a particular time. There the Sun rose every morning, adorned herself
and her daughters as well to shine all over the world.
133

Latvian: Saule, Mness, Dievs, Laima, Auseklis, Saules meita.

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Perhaps in the beginning this Sun Tree was imagined in the shape of a wonderful
shining oak (golden branches, silver leaves), but later free poetic fantasy lost the
real mythical meaning of the Sun Tree and started to imagine other trees like the
Sun Oak, imagining them at the side of Suns orbit. Around this time, the
mythical notion of this path also ceased to exist. There only remained the abstract
notion of a Sun Tree that could be applied to an oak as well as to a lime or birch, or
willow, hazel and sallow, or even a reed. In the end, the oak was placed in the
mythical heavenly Daugava, which according to origins is the same Sun Tree, the
projection of the Milky Way in the world of myths. But the slender reed remained
on the stone or on the island in the middle of the sea, or beyond the sea that [stone]
is the landmark of this and the other world, at the very horizon. Some songs suggest
that in their imagination inhabitants of particular farms also decorated their sacred
oaks (sacrifice oaks) with the elements of the Sun Tree myth. Other songs imagine
the Sun as an apple, pea, nut or ball that rolls along the branches of the Sun tree.
3. Three levels of the world. Overall, the ancient Latvian God means the sky: there his
dwelling place must be. Folk songs that tell of God sleeping on the earth (under a
stone, in a vervain bush) do not seem to be taken seriously in the reconstruction of
myths. An idea propagated by Professor Krlis Straubergs and outlined in the article
World Sea (Senatne un Mksla 1937, IV) that God, the Sun and Moon dwell in the
underworld does not seem well founded. Ancient Latvians do not separate this and
the opposite world, instead [they separate] three levels of the world: Heaven, earth
and underworld, which meet in the World Sea at the horizon. The path from one
level to another leads through the horizon and across the World Sea.
Direct traffic in a vertical direction is also possible. From earth it is possible to
get to Heaven by the heavenly stairway: the branches and leaves of a tree, beanstalk
or rose. The direct route to the underworld is depicted in folktales: it goes into the
earth through a well, spring, deep cave, or hole. These folktales already know and
mention the other way from the underworld one can get onto the earth across the
World Sea and through the horizon. They know also of travels to the sky, there and
back. Sometimes special stairs are used, but a direct path to Heaven is also familiar
via smoke or a broom, with return by a rope fastened to a cloud. But folktales also
relate that it is possible to go to Heaven across the big sea, i.e. through the horizon.
There is a crossroads where three roads meet or separate: to Heaven, earth and the
underworld.
In their basic elements, those views of ancient Latvians concur with general
notions of the world-view and the world tree as they are depicted by W. Wundt
Vlkerpsychologie II Bd. Mythus un Religion, Dritter Teil (1909) but Latvians have
their features; nice poetical depictions stand out especially.

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Appendix II
The course on methodology of Soviet folkloristics within
the programme of Latvian folkloristics in State University of Latvia
in academic year 1949/50 (Ozols 1968: 194195)
1. Term of folklore and folkloristics (1h)
Folklore peoples art as one of the ideological formations by working
people. Folklore as an oral poetry. The folklore of workers, peasants and other social
groups. Childrens folklore. Regional folklore. Other forms of peoples art (music,
choreography, applied art, and other art). Folkloristics as a Soviet science and
critique of bourgeois folkloristics.
2. The class-related, party-related, and people-related character of folklore (3h)
Folk/people as creators of all values of material and spiritual culture. Changes of
the notion folk in particular socio-economic stages. Doctrine of MarxismLeninism on the folk art and character of the folk art. Pre-Soviet folklore as
expression of the longing and endeavours of the exploited working people. Soviet
folklore folklore of the nations free from exploiters. Folklore as a reflection and
explanation of real life in particular socio-economic environment. National character
of the folklore. Bourgeois theories of nations spirit and critique of the cosmopolitan conception.
3. Folklore as a historical category (3h)
Folklore as a folk poetry that consistently accompanies people in their history
from the most distant past until today. The problem of the periodisation of folklore.
The principles of Soviet periodisation. Bourgeois unhistorical understanding of
folklore and its critique.
4. Specifics of folklore compared with literature (3h)
Particularity of the conceptual and artistic foundation of folklore. Complexity
and diversity of the folk art. Tradition, improvisation and creativity in formation of
folklore. Relations of the individual and collective in formation of folklore.
Question of author and performer in folklore. (...). Mass dissemination of the
folklore materials. Soviet methods of collection of folklore and critique of bourgeois
methods.
5. Interaction of folklore and literature in relation to the history of nation (2h)
Folklorisation of revolutionary and democratic compositions of Russians,
Latvians and other nations. Genres of folklore and problem of classification of
folklore materials.

50

197

Appendix III
Some Latvian Estonian parallels
The purpose of this appendix is based on two ideas the conflicting meaning of the
term Baltic, mentioned multiple times in the thesis, and determination of knowledgeproduction practices by historically rooted socio-political conditions. It is intended to
demonstrate some parallels, similarities and points of intersection between Latvian and
Estonian folkloristics and the research of corresponding mythologies. My point of
departure is the differences in historical, geographical, and linguistic definitions of the
term Baltic. Briefly repeating what has been previously stated, the term Baltic states
refers to the interwar and current republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia; the term
Baltic languages refers to the branch of Indo-European languages, including the
languages and dialects of Latvian and Lithuanian, but excluding Estonian. Usually
based on the latter, coming from comparative linguistics understanding, the term Baltic
mythology refers to a common Latvian and Lithuanian ancient religion, reconstructed
foremost from folklore materials. At the same time, the correlation of nation-building
processes and interest in folklore, the latter gradually developing in institutionalised
scholarly practices, constitutes the close relation of Latvian and Estonian disciplinary
histories of folklore and mythology research on political, institutional, and personal
levels. In other words, the Latvian and Lithuanian historical and socio-political
differences, crucial for the formation of corresponding ethnic nationalisms in the
nineteenth century, had resulted in differences in the instrumentalisation of folklore and
formation of disciplinary histories. First of all, during the period of nation building,
Lithuania had an important symbolical resource the two other emerging Baltic countries
lacked the glorious pasts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (13th16th century) and the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (until 1795). Secondly, although in the nineteenth
century the territories of all three contemporary republics constituted parts of the
Russian Empire, the social-ethnic structures and administrative politics differed
considerably.
Poland-Lithuania was dominated by a Polish-speaking elite and represented the
Catholic region of the Russian Empire. Russian replaced Polish as administrative,
literary, and educational language after the failed rebellion against Romanov rule in
18301831. Vilnius University was closed until 1919 and most of the nobility went into
exile. After the next failed rebellion in 1863, the printing of books in Polish and
Lithuanian was forbidden. Consequently, there was neither an indigenous Lithuanian
press, nor schools necessary for the emergence of a Lithuanian-speaking middle-class
(cf. Baltic States, history of 2010; Bolin Hort 2003).
The situation in Lutheran, Baltic-German dominated provinces was slightly
different. First of all, until the establishment of corresponding independent countries,
the territory was united in administrative terms. Moreover, the same aristocratic
families were split between all three Baltic provinces Estland in the north, Courland in
the south, and Livland, which included parts of contemporary northern Latvia and
southern Estonia, including Yuryev, or Dorpat, contemporary Tartu, as the closest
intellectual centre with a university for Latvians. On the one hand, this prevented the
development of a privileged relationship between the elite and one or other group of
so called Un-Germans ( Giollin, 2000: 78); on the other hand, it resulted in a
never-accomplished Baltic-German nation building project, envisaging the creation of
einer ganz deutschen Heimat and full-scale Germanisation of the peasantry (Bolin Hort

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2003: 34). This possibly separatist idea rouse suspicion of the Imperial administration
and resistance against contesting Estonian and Latvian nationalist projects, the latter
taking advantage of Russophile rhetorics to gain political capital against the elite. In
general, society, within which the interest in folklore and mythology emerged, was so
similar, that the terms Estonian and Latvian can easily replace each other in written
history:
In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Estonian language was mainly spoken by
rural people of the countryside. The landlords, who formed the noble elite of the society
and represented high culture, spoke Baltic German. The population was thus divided by a
clear social and ethnic borderline, which was difficult to cross from either side. The
nobility and the Estonian folk were nonetheless not completely isolated from each other.
They belonged to the same Lutheran church and had daily contact on the manors. The
first peasant schools had been founded in the late seventeenth century, and by the early
nineteenth century, literacy was widespread
(Valk 2009: 153).

A similar class structure and the impact of Enlightenment ideas in the nineteenth
century also resulted in the establishment of similar scientific cum pro-ethnic Baltic
German organisations: Gelehrte Estnische Gesellschaft (petatud Eesti Selts, est. 1838)
in Estonia and Lettisch-Literrische Gesellschaft (Latvieu literar biedrba, referred to
also as Latvieu draugu biedrba, est. 1824), both with the purpose of studying the
corresponding peoples history, archaeology, ethnography, language, folklore, and
kindred subjects. Societies consisted of both Baltic Germans and upwardly mobile
Latvians and Estonians; in addition to the social activities and publication of the
research done by their members, the organisations to some extent cooperated with and
supported later established independent ethnic societies. The very beginnings of
scholarly interest in collecting and publishing folklore and folksongs in particular was
inspired in both countries by the same source: Johann Gottfried Herders edition of
Volkslieder (Stimmen der Vlker in Liedern, 17781779). The idyllic vision of the
Baltic German enlightener Garlieb Merkel served as an inspirational source for the
creation of poetic ethnic histories of both countries, linking the emerging national
aspirations with the imagined golden age of ancient independence that existed before
the German conquest in the thirteenth century (cf. Valk 2009).
While Lithuanians had no national epic, the main text uniting the fictional and
mythological realms with the national romanticist agenda was composed in Estonia by
Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (Kalevipoeg, original version composed in 1853,
published for the first time 18571861) and in Latvia by Andrejs Pumpurs (Lplsis,
composed in Tartu 1888). While the author of Kalevipoeg was informed by Finnish epic
in the form of Lnnrots Kalevala (1835), Pumpurs positioned his work against both
Finnish and Estonian Non-Arian predecessors 134 in Lplsis (Taterka 2010).
Notwithstanding this, the last lines of both epics are the same, telling of the heros
return in the future. Kreutzwald, the author of Kalevipoeg, also presented the first
appeals to Estonian readers to collect folklore, publishing ks ksimine (An Appeal) in
1843 and 1861 (Jaago 2005a: 289). Similar appeals, for the first time addressing the
ethnic majority, were published in Latvia: in 1858 by Georg Buttner (18151883) and
in 1862 by August Bielenstein (cf. Ambainis 1989). Systematic collection of folklore,
134

Referring to Jordan 1876.

199

acquiring the shape of a mass movement by the involvement of multiple informants and
various publicist activities, started in both countries in the second half of the nineteenth
century. Here Lerhis-Pukaitis folktales and Krijnis Barons folksong collections in
Latvia are paralleled with the grand-scale project Monumenta Estoniae Antiquae by
pastor Dr. Jakob Hurt (18391907), from 1872 president of the influential Society of
Estonian Literati (Eesti Kirjameeste Selts, est. 1872). Like Barons, Hurt also both
coordinated collecting and edited the materials gathered. However, publication of
Monumenta, with folklore texts arranged originally according to geographical division
in parishes, started in 1875 and continues today. The total amount collected by Hurt is
more than one hundred and twenty thousand pages. Interestingly, both the greatest
folklore collectors worked for a long time in other parts of the Russian Empire, Hurt in
St. Petersburg and Barons in Moscow (cf. Jaago 2005b: 45), which is characteristic of
the transnational building of cultural nationalism (cf. Leerssen 2006).
Located in the old province of Livland, the University of Tartu has definitely played
one of the central roles in the research into Latvian mythology starting from the early
Latvian intelligentsia studying there and finishing with research done within the
Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics135. The University of Latvia was established in Riga
only after Latvia gained independence in 1919. During the following years of
independent, separated academic circles, formal contacts between Latvian and Estonian
scholars were formed in conferences and seminars. Organising the research according to
the Finnish example, folklore archives were established in both countries in the 1920s.
Not only parallel but close contacts between both institutions were established by Anna
Brzkalne and Oskar Loorits, both students of the eminent promoter of Finnish school
of folkloristics Walter Anderson (18851962), who occupied the chair of folklore at the
University of Tartu (Treija 2008, 2009). Concerning the special role of comparative
linguistics in the formation of the discipline, a Latvian Finno-Ugric minority, the Livs,
has always been a research object of special interest for Estonian scholars, who often
devote much more effort than their Latvian colleagues (cf. Rmmer 2006; uvcne
2003). However, apart from this question, positioning of the scholarly activities pro or
contra the common ruling ideologies shows symmetrical similarities within all periods
of research outlined in the thesis as well as rather similar preferences of theoretical
approach. For example, regarding the early disciplinary developments, the comparison
of life stories and activities demonstrates multiple similarities between Pteris mits
(18691938) and Matthias Johann Eisen (18571934): both worked for decades outside
their homeland in the Russian Empire, still actively publishing on folklore related issues
already at the end of nineteenth century, and both became professors at Universities in
their newly established countries. Eisen was a pastor by vocation, while mits was a
scholar; still, both of them were first to write and publish the first systematic study of
mythology of the corresponding nations (cf. Kuutma 2005), in addition to leaving a rich
heritage as folklore collectors and publishers. Similarly, the interwar period saw both
135

Among the graduates of Tartu University are such notable scholars as the already
mentioned Neo-Latvians Juris Alunns and Krijnis Barons, Professor Jkabs LautenbahsJsmi, scholar and leader of the pro-Latvian Baltic German movement August Bielenstein,
researchers of religion Ludvigs Adamovis and Voldemrs Maldonis, historian and
archaeologist Francis Balodis, researcher of folksongs Ludis Brzi, linguists Jnis
Endzelns and Krlis Mlenbahs, who to a large extent created modern Latvian language and
grammar, head of the Archives of Latvian Folklore Anna Brzkalne, as well as Andrievs
Niedra, Janna Kurste, and other members of the intellectual elite (cf. Stradi 2003).

200

studies of particular themes and preparation for fundamental editions of folklore

materials in the newly founded archives, published at the end of the period, like Krlis
Straubergs Latvian folk beliefs (1944) or even later on, Loorits Grundzge des
estnischen Volksglaubens (19491957). Very active involvement in the fields of social
and cultural politics, the international scale of interaction, leading positions in research
institutions, suspension of practice during the German occupation and exile to Sweden
in 1944 are common facts of the life histories not only of Straubergs and Loorits, but
also several other leading Latvian and Estonian folklorists.
The general and disciplinary histories of both countries were also shared also after
World War II: the Soviet occupation brought re-organisation of research and teaching
institutions, while the range of interpretations was decreased to a single correct version
that of Marxism-Leninism , knowledge production was strictly controlled by
political instances, and many celebrated scholars had suffered during the war or
repressions, or went into exile. Consequently, the research into folklore developed
parallel in Soviet and exile settings for both countries. A comparison with research
into Estonian mythology in the corresponding period is provided to highlight the
centralisation of institutional dynamics in the Soviet Union as well as subordination of
the national research object to more general developments of the discipline, as
characterised below by parallels between the equally influential fields of Indo-European
and Finno-Ugric studies. The year 1944 saw the exile of the head of the Estonian
Folklore Archives Oskar Loorits. Fate brought him together with his Latvian colleague,
head of the corresponding institution, and also a controversial scholar, Krlis Straubergs
in Sweden. Both continued working in archival institutions, Loorits in Uppsala Dialect
and Folklore Archives (Vstrik 2005: 2004). By both continuing their previous
research, their publications show close parallels regarding the exploration of chthonic
phenomena, death, and the underworld. Thus, the more comparative perspective of
Straubergs, developed in a book (1949) and series of articles (1956, 1957, 1962),
illustrates the same dimension that is analysed by Loorits in light of cultural history in
his monumental work Grundzge des estnischen Volksglaubens IIII (The Main
Features of Estonian Folk Beliefs, 1949, 1951 and 1957) and Eesti Rahvausundi
Maailmavaade (The World of Estonian Folk Religion, 2nd rev. edn., Stockholm 1948).
While more general description of ancient Latvian religion according to the methods
of phenomenology of religion and comparative-historical studies was developed in
several books by another exile scholar Haralds Biezais, the most significant works on
corresponding Estonian subject matter belong to Ivar Paulson (19221966). His studies
in Tartu were interrupted by World War II; Paulson then went to exile and finished
them at the University of Hamburg, receiving the Dr. Phil. degree in 1946 with a
dissertation in ethnology. After emigration to Sweden, Paulson, similarly to Biezais,
received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in the field of the history and psychology of
religion at the University of Stockholm in 1958. Just a year later he was appointed to
the position of lecturer (docent) of the history of religion at Stockholm University,
where he remained until his death. Paulsons Vana eesti rahvausk (The Old Estonian
Folk Religion: Stockholm, 1966; reworked version in English: Bloomington, post
mortem, 1971) is a cross-section of Estonian folk religion against the background of the
general history of religion. Due to lack of comprehensive written sources from the more
distant past, Paulson like Biezais based his work on folklore materials, adjusting the
religious-historical method and, to a large extent, also avoiding linguistic analyses
since these are quite unreliable and vague, and require a more competent philological
and linguistic study (Paulson 1971: 208), but taking into account the archaeological

51

201

data. As Biezais positions his work against the previous research and introduces the
new and complete analysis of the subject matter, Paulson similarly comes with a brand
new approach and evaluates previous research regarding the subject matter:
Such an ecological point of view is new in the treatment of Estonian folk religion; in the
past this subject has been treated in terms of cultural history, an approach which
dominates Loorits works, for example. The latter have been a valuable source of
materials for the present work because they are on the whole based on data and
information available only from the archives in Estonia, a source to which the author of
the present survey has had no access
(Paulson 1971: 8, cf. also 208).

Paulsons ecological approach corresponds to the international trend of ecology of

tradition, a specific research methodology for the comparison of popular traditions, later
developed by Finnish scholar Lauri Honko during the 1970s and 1980s (Anttonnen V.
Online, 2007). Moreover, the Finnish scholarship, due to the origins and construction of
the discipline according to the similarities and differences of languages discovered by
comparative linguistics, plays a rather similar role in research into Estonian mythology
as Lithuanian studies do regarding the Latvian. In respect of the dynamics of knowledge
production, research conceptualising Baltic mythology with its integral element of
Latvian material might be paralleled with the research conceptualising the Finno-Ugric
worldview. The latter, however, is attributed to temporally and geographically more
distant people than the neighbouring Latvians, Lithuanians, and Prussians. On a more
general level of comparison, two parallel fields of research concerning the subject
matter in the views of corresponding nations are Indo-European scholarship on the
Latvian side and Uralic or North-Europe-Asian studies on the Estonian side136.
At the same time, the Soviet era brought simultaneous re-organisation of the
research and teaching institutions in both Soviet Estonia and Soviet Latvia. According
to the general plans of centralisation and institutional domination of literature studies,
folklore research and archival centres were renamed and incorporated in other
institutions. Thus, the Estonian Folklore Archives became a department within the Fr.
R. Kreutzwald Literary Museum while folklore studies at the University of Tartu were
incorporated into the literature program. Overall, the changes in both countries followed
the standardised Soviet system of higher education. In 1945, the Institute of Folklore
was established at the Faculty of Philology of State University of Latvia, also including
the former Archives of Latvian Folklore. The institute in 1946 was incorporated into the
newly established Academy of Sciences of the LSSR. Six years later it became the
Institute of Ethnography and Folklore, but after five more years the folkloristics section
was subjected to other organisation, the Zintu Akadmijas A. Upa Valodas un
literatras institts (the Academy of Sciences Institute of Language and literature of
Andrejs Uptis) (Ambainis 1989: 91). In 1947 the Estonian Language and Literature
Institute was founded as part of the Soviet Estonian Academy of Sciences in Tallinn,
mirroring the same process in Latvia and other Soviet republics. Consequently, the
Department of Folklore at this institution became the third folklore research centre in
136
These contexts have also been illustrated by other publications by Paulson, for example:
Die Religionen der finnischen Vlker, in I. Paulson, . Hultkrantz, and K. Jettmar (eds), Die
Religionen Nordeurasiens und der amerikanischen Arktis (1962), and Die primitiven
Seelenvorstellungen der nordeurasischen Vlker (1958).

202

Estonia (Valk 2007: 288). Institutions in both countries actively conducted fieldwork,
documenting the remains of previous forms of consciousness as well as the new lore
of the working people, the new research object called Soviet folklore. With folklore
treated as mainly oral poetry and a historical prelude to written literature, textual studies
of archival materials and subsequent publications remained the dominant form of
scholarship in both countries. Scholars who were not arrested or did not go into exile
maintained relative continuity in the field of folkloristics in both countries; for example,
former students of Walter Anderson (he had left for Germany) Anna Brzkalne in
Latvia and Eduard Laugaste (19091994, Professor of folkloristics at The University of
Tartu 19741991) in Estonia (cf. Valk 2007: 288). At the Estonian Language and
Literature Institute outstanding scholar lo Tedre spent nearly all of his working years,
a member of its folklore section ever since 1949, first as a student assistant and later as
a researcher. During the period of 19621990, in total for almost 30 years, he was head
of the Folklore section of the Institute; afterwards working as a senior researcher in the
department of folkloristics. Similarly to Arturs Ozols in Latvia, Estonian scholar lo
Tedre was remarkably versatile as a folklorist; both of them also participated in
preparation of the most recent academic edition of folksongs (cf. Saukas 2003; Leete et
al. 2008). Interestingly, while Latvian folkloristics is a discipline still influenced by the
Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics, the latters mythopoetic studies did not acquire
much interest from Estonian folklorists. As an exception only the works of Aino Laagus
(19442004) might be mentioned: in the early 1970s Laagus worked out situation
analysis and applied a structural-semiotic approach to several themes 137 of Estonian
folklore (Jaago 2009).

137

The situation analysis was applied both to folklore and recent oral history texts. Other
works of this author also deal with mythological subject matters, e.g. Eksimise motiiv eesti
mtoloogias (The motive of going astray in Estonian mythology, 1976) and hest vanast
kihistusest eesti metshaldjauskumustes (On an old substratum of Estonian forest-spirit folk
beliefs, 1976), or Eesti metshaldjas (The Estonian forest spirit, 1976), and Eesti metshaldjatekstide struktuur ja semantika (The structure and semantics of texts on the Estonian forest
spirit, 1990).

203

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Anonymous articles from newspapers

Romas gjiena 14. gadskaitlis, Rts, 29.10.1935: 10.
Aizrdjumi: Latvieu un itlieu biedrbas, Latvijas kareivis, 24.10.1937: 6.
Daiamatniecbas izstde, Jaunks Zias, 8.03.1937: 5.
Dr. phil. K. Straubergs, Students, 7.02.1929: 1.
Dzimtais pagasts godina Valsts prezidentu, Jaunks Zias, 13.09.1937: 3.
Galvas pilsta, Latvijas kareivis, 31.01.1932: 3.
Galvas pilsta: Darbba iet plaum, Rts, 28.01.1936: 7.

218

Italieu ekskursanti apbrno, Rts, 16.06.1935: 16.

Italijas grafisks mkslas izstdes atklana, Latvijas kareivis, 09.04.1935: 3.
Italijas jaunais stnis Rg, Jaunks Zias, 07.10.1936: 10.
Jauni karogi Rgas mazpulkiem, Jaunks Zias, 18.10.1937: 4.
Kaimiu draudzbai un saticbai, Brv Zeme, 04.05.1938: 4.
Kaa ministra gdba par kaavru gargo dzvi, Brv Zeme, 5.01.1938: 15.
Ko profesori dara brvaj laik, Brv Zeme, 20.08.1937: 7.
Kultras fonda lietpratju komisijas, Latvijas Kareivis, 28.10.1934: 2.
Latvieu un zviedru biedrbas, Jaunks Zias, 10.03.1937: 12.
Latvijas mazpulka karogs uz Italiju, Rts, 18.06.1935: 8.
Latvijas Republikas Saeimas vlanu 1928. gada kandidtu saraksti, Valdbas
Vstnesis, 21.08.1928: 1.
Latvijas un Polijas draudzbai, Brv Zeme, 04.05.1937: 6.
Latvju un igauu kopdarba meti tautas atmod, Brv Zeme, 29.04.1938: 12.
Marala J. Pilsudska piemias akts Melngalvju zl, Latvijas Kareivis, 22.05.1935: 1.
Ministrs A. Brzi lektoru sanksm, Rts, 19.12.1935: 8.
Nodibinta latvieu-itu biedrba, Rts, 24.11.1934: 8.
Polijas konstitcijas svtki Rg, Jaunks Zias, 04.05.1937: 3.
Prezidenta pateicba mksliniekiem, Rts, 17.01.1937: 1.
Prieklasjums kaavriem, Latvijas kareivis, 8.01.1938: 3.
Svinbas par godu Zviedrijas karalim, Jaunks Zias, 17.06.1938: 16.
Zem vienbas zmes, Rts, 6.05.1937: 9.

219

CURRICULUM VITAE
Name:
Place and date of birth:
Citizenship:
Address:
GSM:
E-mail:

Education:
20072012
2003 2005
1999 2003
1986 1999

Toms encis
Riga, 8th November, 1980
Latvia
Latvieu Folkloras Krtuve,
Akadmijas laukums 1-1506, LV-1050, Rga, Latvija
+371 67228632
toms.kencis@lulfmi.lv

Doctoral studies, University of Tartu, Estonia,

Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Estonian and
Comparative Folklore
Humanitys masters degree in philosophy, University
of Latvia, Faculty of History and Philosophy
Humanitys bachelors degree in philosophy,
University of Latvia, Faculty of History and
Philosophy
Agenskalns State Gymnasium.

Professional employment:
Since 2008
Research assistant at Archives of Latvian Folklore
20052009
Copywriter at advertising agency Taivas Ogilvy
20042008
Talk-show Remisija moderator at radio NABA
20032004
Scriptwriter at film-studio Lokomotve
20022003
Copywriter at advertising agency DDB Latvia

220

ELULOOKIRJEDUS
Nimi:
Snniaeg- ja koht:
Kodakondsus:
Aadress:
Telefon:
e-post:
Haridus:
20072012

56

Toms encis
8. november 1980, Riia
Lti
Latvieu Folkloras Krtuve,
Akadmijas laukums 1-1506, LV-1050, Rga, Latvija
+371 67228632
toms.kencis@lulfmi.lv

20032005
19992003
19861999

Tartu likool, eesti ja vrdleva rahvaluule

doktorantuur
Lti likool, MA (filosoofia)
Lti likool, BA (filosoofia)
Agenskalni Gmnaasium

Teenistuskik:
2008
20052009
20042008
20032004
20022003

assistent Lti Rahvaluule Arhiivis

ajakirjanik reklaamiagentuuris Taivas Ogilvy
moderaator raadios NABA
stsenarist filmistuudios Lokomotive
ajakirjanik reklaamiagentuuris DDB Latvia

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DISSERTATIONES FOLKLORISTICAE
UNIVERSITATIS TARTUENSIS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
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13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.

Anzori Barkalaja. Sketches towards a Theory of Shamanism: Associating

the Belief System of the Pim River Khanties with the Western World
View. Tartu, 2002. 184 p.
. : C. . . Tartu, 2003. 258 p.
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180 lk.
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