Latvian Mythology and Folklore

The dainas are short folk verses, usually four lines long, about nature, work, love and the events of a life. They were passed down by word of mouth for generations, and in the 19th century Krisjanis Barons collected and organised them. The total runs past a million variants, one of the largest folk-song collections in the world.

Latvian mythology has its gods - Dievs, the sun goddess Saule, the thunder god Perkons and Laima, who sets fate - figures it shares with the wider Baltic mythology of Lithuania and old Prussia. But in the dainas the Latvian gods appear quietly, beside the farm work and the seasons. The verses are small, precise and often beautiful in their plainness.

At Turaida Castle near Sigulda lives the story of Maija, the Rose of Turaida. According to the legend, in the 17th century she chose death over betraying the man she loved, tricking her attacker. Her grave, marked by a lime tree, is still on the grounds of the museum reserve, and wedding couples often visit it.

The historical core of the story appears in court records from the 1620s, which makes it one of the few Latvian legends with a real basis.

Gutman's Cave in the Gauja Valley is the largest cave in the Baltics, and its walls are covered in inscriptions, some from the 17th century. It has its own love legend, and the spring water inside was credited with healing powers in folklore.

The great Latvian hero epic is Lacplesis, about a half-man, half-bear who fights for his people. Andrejs Pumpurs assembled it in 1888 from folk motifs. Lacplesis became a symbol of national endurance, and the remembrance day on 11 November bears his name.