CONFERENCE
The 175th anniversary of the Father of Dainas appears the right time to look back at a hundred-year-long way paved by the Latvian great mind – folklorist, researcher and publicist Krišjānis Barons and see what paths are taken in the folklore studies by the new generation of researchers.
The Archives of Latvian Folklore were founded in 1924, and throughout the years have changed their name, location and institutional membership for several times. Since 1940, the original Cabinet of Folksongs (Dainu skapis) has been preserved there along various other archive materials. The Cabinet of Dainas has seventy drawers, each of them containing twenty sections with 268 815 pages of folksong lines in total. Few people know that K. Barons’ Cabinet of Folksongs has two copies. One is located at Krišjānis Barons Memorial Museum in Riga, but the other – at Stankeviču Estate in Russia, where the Latvian folklorist once started his work on compiling folk songs. The Archives of Latvian Folklore are proud that since September 2001, the Cabinet of Folksongs has become a part of the world culture and has been inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. Human memory is limited. From year to year, events overlay each other; and one piece of information is replaced by another. On the other hand, the virtual memory of humankind can save incredible amounts of information. Modern technologies enable capturing what Latvians would always consider to be important, including folk songs collected by K. Barons. If people could live for a long time, this year he would celebrate his 175th anniversary. The Cabinet of Folksongs has successfully passed the test of time and has obtained its virtual duplicate on the newly-created website www.dainuskapis.lv. It turns out that initially the Latvian folklorist kept the received materials in Russian cigarette boxes, as he was an avid smoker; however later applying his knowledge in Mathematics and Astronomy, the Cabinet of Folksongs was created in Moscow after Baron’s design. „Most likely, if Baron only had a Philology degree, he would not have thought of establishing such original device, which has now become the symbol of the Latvian culture," says Aldis Pūtelis, the Manager of the Cabinet of Folksongs Digitalization Project. The implemented idea of the University of Latvia Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art about an online Cabinet of Folksongs gained the Ministry of Culture’s recognition few years ago, receiving the Three Brothers award in the category The Society of Culture and Knowledge. Aldis Pūtelis, who is one of the Project organisers, believes that Krišjānis Barons would be pleased to hear about the online version of his life-work, which has been transferred to another level by the means of modern technology. A. Pūtelis points out that the acknowledgement of K. Barons as outstanding folk song collector is misleading, because Barons himself did not collect and rewrite all the songs found in the Cabinet of Folksongs. In fact, Barons’ contribution is the Latvian folksong classification system, the creation of song tree and the folksong classification. However, editorial corrections must also be mentioned among his contributions. Barons conducted them directly on the small papers with folksongs, editing the places in text that he considered not as ancient or correct. He also put aside texts which he for various reasons did not consider as authentic Latvian folksongs. At the same time, Barons not only compiled folk songs, but also started introducing foreign words in the Latvian language. Barons introduced in Latvian the names of such Science fields as Mathematics, Biology, Physics, Geography, as well as such foreign words as: admiral, astronomer, attestation, trillion, equator, electricity, ellipse, factory, gas, instruction, interest, piano, crystal, metal, fashion, pole, percentage, second, motor way, etc. He also laid the foundation for the development of the Latvian literary language popular-science style, as well as of the language accuracy. Overall, Barons’ contribution is presented by many archive materials, discoveries, which nowadays serve as the testimony of those times. The Archives of Latvian Folklore are in charge of one of the most voluminous folklore archives in Europe. Consequently, it is visited by foreign researchers, and foreign guests are introduced with the Archive collection as the national pride. The Archives of Latvian Folklore are also extensively visited by the Latvian folklore and traditional culture researchers, university students, local history researchers and others. „With the help of modern technologies and innovative methods the Archives of Latvian Folklore continue to actively work in order to preserve and make the Archive’s materials and texts more available. In recent years, much has been done in this area thanks to Aldis Pūtelis, as well as to the technical staff – the young people at the Archives of Latvian Folklore. Besides the Cabinet of Folksongs, the phonographs‘ rolls collection (in cooperation with Vienna Phonogram Archive) has also been digitalized. Also, the digitalization of pictures – photography and drawings – has taken place, as well as the sound and video recordings transfer to the virtual environment," says Dace Bula, the Director of the Archives of Latvian Folklore and the leading Researcher at the University of Latvia Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art. „Presently, we are working on the input of the entire catalog of the Archive within the framework of the digitalization project. It is important to publish it so that, for instance, regional researchers could go on the website and examine whether the necessary material is available at the Archive and whether it is worth going to Riga to search for it." The annual Krišjānis Barons conferences organised by the Archives of Latvian Folklore have become a tradition. They are dedicated to folklore and traditional cultural matters and gather field specialists from different research centres in Latvia. „We are very lucky because there is a new generation of gifted researchers who develop their doctoral theses that will be also published later," D. Bula adds, confirming that nowadays young researchers are actively focusing on both folklore history topics and the research of classical folklore and modern traditions.
What are the young scholars researching?
Rita Treija, doctoral thesis The Latvian Folklorists in the International Activities during the 1920s-1940s The doctoral thesis The Latvian Folklorists in the International Activities during the 1920s-1940s is an attempt to find out the connection between Latvian folklorist and field specialists in other European countries on the basis of historical sources that have not been researched previously. The thesis focuses on the 1920s and 1940s – the period when folklore studies strengthened in Latvia. This period of the Latvian folklore studies history has not been researched enough; therefore, its many aspects are studied by the colleagues at the UL Literature, Folklore and Art Institute and at the Archives of the Latvian Folklore. The development of folklore studies in the 1920s-1940s was promoted by several individuals and institutions – the UL Faculty of Philology and Philosophy and the Archives of the Latvian Folklore. Many Latvian folklorists (Anna Bērzkalne, Kārlis Straubergs, Pēteris Šmits, Jānis Alberts Jansons, Alma Medne, etc) privately or institutionally maintained connections with scholars in all the European countries – Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and elsewhere. The correspondence with foreign folklore specialists indicates mutual support and sharing with the newest information and professional experience. It also facilitated the exchange of folklore materials and special literature. A special emphasis should be placed on Anna Bērzkalne (1891–1956) – her extensive correspondence with many representatives of the Historical Geographic Method, for instance, with Kārlis Krons, Valters Andersons, Oskar Lawritz, John Mayer is a striking manifestation of international folklore studies. The archive materials present evidence on the Latvian folklorists’ activities abroad, the reception of foreign researchers in Riga and on the joint research efforts. The Latvian scholars’ role in the European folklore studies context is highlighted by a number of publications in other languages. Sandis Laime, doctoral thesis Witchcraft Traditions in North-Eastern Latvia The aim of the Doctoral thesis Witchcraft Traditions in North-Eastern Latvia is to research by compiling, systematizing and comparatively describing the source material the most ancient mythological conception layer, which until the beginning of the 20th century remained as a uniform notion system in the north-eastern regions of Latvia (North Vidzeme and Zemgale). The main source will be the registered folklore in this territory, as well as linguistic and archaeological sources; thus, promoting the interdisciplinary cooperation of folklore studies and other Humanities in the Latvian mythology research. The hypothesis is based on the assumption that Latvia’s north-eastern part, which nowadays is the periphery inhabited by the Balts, and borders on the Slavs and Finno-Ugrian peoples’ territories, has preserved the most ancient notion complex related to witches that was also wide-spread in the rest of Latvia’s territory. Initially, the dead souls were regarded as witches. Under the influence of demonology in Medieval Times the witch classification functions were transferred to real women which in the large part of Latvia inherited the denomination ‘witch’. The topicality of the doctoral thesis is determined by several reasons. Firstly, the doctoral thesis draws attention to the legend genre as the source of mythology in the Latvian mythology research. The previous mythology research has mainly used folksongs as the source; therefore, such notion as ‘folksong mythology’ has been introduced. Secondly, internationally approved methodological solutions will be applied to legend material for mythological perception research, supplementing them with approaches developed in the course of the research, which will contribute not only to the doctoral thesis’ theme research, but will also provide new conclusions about the legend genre in the Latvian folklore. Thirdly, the applied approaches will foster interdisciplinary cooperation between folklore studies, Linguistics and Archaeology. The doctoral thesis puts emphasis on the link between legends about witches and particular landscape elements – Witch Mountains, rocks, marshes etc. The analysis of such location association with areas of archaeological importance (especially ancient burial sites) generates such conclusions about the most ancient layer of witch perception that have been lost in the folklore texts registered until the first half of the 20th century. Sanita Reinsone, doctoral thesis Getting Lost Stories: Notions, Interpretation, Poetics of Narration The thesis focuses on contemporary stories of getting lost. These are stories of experience, testimonies about the actual and imaginary things, about the relationship between human and space, the recreation of personal experience in a narrative form and the correlation of individual creation. The doctoral thesis is a folkloristic view on the getting-lost phenomenon, which in different perspectives has come under the scope of such fields as Pschychology, Architecture and Geography. The doctoral thesis is based on field research that has been conducted for almost ten years by interviewing several tens of people of different generations in Latvia, as well as, abroad. The interviewees were asked to tell about their or others’ experience of getting lost and share their thoughts about being astrayed, about the evil spirit and concepts related to it. Getting lost is a paradox – in the time of general urbanization and technological zeal, when global positioning and satellite navigation systems have been established, mobile phones, maps, street names and house numbers are widely used, it is hard to get lost in the human created environment. In the event of temporary disorientation one is taken over by the feeling of insecurity and even fear, showing how much the orientation in space is related to our feeling of comfort. Getting lost means being in a space without time, place and identity coordinates. The narratives about getting lost reflect the geographical disorientation and loss of area in the area itself and confusion and individual experience. By using story as narrative means of structuring one’s experience, it reveals at the same time both tradition and collective knowledge and individual creativity; thus, the story does not become an iconic event, but rather a recreation of the accident. The aim of the research is to show how by the means of narration people are trying to understand, analyze and interpret their experience of getting lost. Aigars Lielbārdis doctoral thesis The Tradition of the Latvian Charms The topicality and theme choice of the emerging doctoral thesis The Tradition of the Latvian Charms is linked to the activation of researchers of traditional charms in Europe and enduring interest to the magic spells in the Latvian society, as well as to the discussions analyzing these traditions and the lack of extensive research in the Latvian folklore studies. Each year the Committee of European Researchers of Magic Spells The Charms, Charmers and Charming organizes research presentations in various European countries, especially focusing on the historical contacts, text and context relations, as well as on the execution of charms [Roper, J. Introduction: Unity and Diversity in Charms Studies // Charms, Charmer and Charming, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, xvii.]. While the Latvian society’s interest is characterized by the following magic spells practical use [Laube, T. Labie vārdiņi. Zintnieks, 2004; Labie vārdiņi 2. Zintnieks, 2009], and by the topicality of the charming tradition in the mass media (regional newspapers, magazines, TV programs). The research of magic spells in the Latvian folklore studies has not been sufficiently expanded since Kārlis Straubergs published The Latvian Charms (I, II, Vol., 1939-1941). The research topic is the Latvian magic spells – written or verbal formulas, to which unusual, supernatural powers for achieving certain target (to heal, harm, beg, connect, etc.) are attributed. The magic spells tradition is determined by the formula inheritance, the utilization context and the performer, including diachronic and simultaneous perspective. In the doctoral thesis, the framework of tradition foresees the research of the spread, influence and interpretation of charm texts and the analysis of magic spells in the Latvian folklore studies.
Translated by students of the professional study programme Translator of the University of Latvia.
The Archives of Latvian Folklore were founded in 1924, and throughout the years have changed their name, location and institutional membership for several times. Since 1940, the original Cabinet of Folksongs (Dainu skapis) has been preserved there along various other archive materials. The Cabinet of Dainas has seventy drawers, each of them containing twenty sections with 268 815 pages of folksong lines in total. Few people know that K. Barons’ Cabinet of Folksongs has two copies. One is located at Krišjānis Barons Memorial Museum in Riga, but the other – at Stankeviču Estate in Russia, where the Latvian folklorist once started his work on compiling folk songs. The Archives of Latvian Folklore are proud that since September 2001, the Cabinet of Folksongs has become a part of the world culture and has been inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. Human memory is limited. From year to year, events overlay each other; and one piece of information is replaced by another. On the other hand, the virtual memory of humankind can save incredible amounts of information. Modern technologies enable capturing what Latvians would always consider to be important, including folk songs collected by K. Barons. If people could live for a long time, this year he would celebrate his 175th anniversary. The Cabinet of Folksongs has successfully passed the test of time and has obtained its virtual duplicate on the newly-created website www.dainuskapis.lv. It turns out that initially the Latvian folklorist kept the received materials in Russian cigarette boxes, as he was an avid smoker; however later applying his knowledge in Mathematics and Astronomy, the Cabinet of Folksongs was created in Moscow after Baron’s design. „Most likely, if Baron only had a Philology degree, he would not have thought of establishing such original device, which has now become the symbol of the Latvian culture," says Aldis Pūtelis, the Manager of the Cabinet of Folksongs Digitalization Project. The implemented idea of the University of Latvia Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art about an online Cabinet of Folksongs gained the Ministry of Culture’s recognition few years ago, receiving the Three Brothers award in the category The Society of Culture and Knowledge. Aldis Pūtelis, who is one of the Project organisers, believes that Krišjānis Barons would be pleased to hear about the online version of his life-work, which has been transferred to another level by the means of modern technology. A. Pūtelis points out that the acknowledgement of K. Barons as outstanding folk song collector is misleading, because Barons himself did not collect and rewrite all the songs found in the Cabinet of Folksongs. In fact, Barons’ contribution is the Latvian folksong classification system, the creation of song tree and the folksong classification. However, editorial corrections must also be mentioned among his contributions. Barons conducted them directly on the small papers with folksongs, editing the places in text that he considered not as ancient or correct. He also put aside texts which he for various reasons did not consider as authentic Latvian folksongs. At the same time, Barons not only compiled folk songs, but also started introducing foreign words in the Latvian language. Barons introduced in Latvian the names of such Science fields as Mathematics, Biology, Physics, Geography, as well as such foreign words as: admiral, astronomer, attestation, trillion, equator, electricity, ellipse, factory, gas, instruction, interest, piano, crystal, metal, fashion, pole, percentage, second, motor way, etc. He also laid the foundation for the development of the Latvian literary language popular-science style, as well as of the language accuracy. Overall, Barons’ contribution is presented by many archive materials, discoveries, which nowadays serve as the testimony of those times. The Archives of Latvian Folklore are in charge of one of the most voluminous folklore archives in Europe. Consequently, it is visited by foreign researchers, and foreign guests are introduced with the Archive collection as the national pride. The Archives of Latvian Folklore are also extensively visited by the Latvian folklore and traditional culture researchers, university students, local history researchers and others. „With the help of modern technologies and innovative methods the Archives of Latvian Folklore continue to actively work in order to preserve and make the Archive’s materials and texts more available. In recent years, much has been done in this area thanks to Aldis Pūtelis, as well as to the technical staff – the young people at the Archives of Latvian Folklore. Besides the Cabinet of Folksongs, the phonographs‘ rolls collection (in cooperation with Vienna Phonogram Archive) has also been digitalized. Also, the digitalization of pictures – photography and drawings – has taken place, as well as the sound and video recordings transfer to the virtual environment," says Dace Bula, the Director of the Archives of Latvian Folklore and the leading Researcher at the University of Latvia Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art. „Presently, we are working on the input of the entire catalog of the Archive within the framework of the digitalization project. It is important to publish it so that, for instance, regional researchers could go on the website and examine whether the necessary material is available at the Archive and whether it is worth going to Riga to search for it." The annual Krišjānis Barons conferences organised by the Archives of Latvian Folklore have become a tradition. They are dedicated to folklore and traditional cultural matters and gather field specialists from different research centres in Latvia. „We are very lucky because there is a new generation of gifted researchers who develop their doctoral theses that will be also published later," D. Bula adds, confirming that nowadays young researchers are actively focusing on both folklore history topics and the research of classical folklore and modern traditions.
What are the young scholars researching?
Rita Treija, doctoral thesis The Latvian Folklorists in the International Activities during the 1920s-1940s The doctoral thesis The Latvian Folklorists in the International Activities during the 1920s-1940s is an attempt to find out the connection between Latvian folklorist and field specialists in other European countries on the basis of historical sources that have not been researched previously. The thesis focuses on the 1920s and 1940s – the period when folklore studies strengthened in Latvia. This period of the Latvian folklore studies history has not been researched enough; therefore, its many aspects are studied by the colleagues at the UL Literature, Folklore and Art Institute and at the Archives of the Latvian Folklore. The development of folklore studies in the 1920s-1940s was promoted by several individuals and institutions – the UL Faculty of Philology and Philosophy and the Archives of the Latvian Folklore. Many Latvian folklorists (Anna Bērzkalne, Kārlis Straubergs, Pēteris Šmits, Jānis Alberts Jansons, Alma Medne, etc) privately or institutionally maintained connections with scholars in all the European countries – Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and elsewhere. The correspondence with foreign folklore specialists indicates mutual support and sharing with the newest information and professional experience. It also facilitated the exchange of folklore materials and special literature. A special emphasis should be placed on Anna Bērzkalne (1891–1956) – her extensive correspondence with many representatives of the Historical Geographic Method, for instance, with Kārlis Krons, Valters Andersons, Oskar Lawritz, John Mayer is a striking manifestation of international folklore studies. The archive materials present evidence on the Latvian folklorists’ activities abroad, the reception of foreign researchers in Riga and on the joint research efforts. The Latvian scholars’ role in the European folklore studies context is highlighted by a number of publications in other languages. Sandis Laime, doctoral thesis Witchcraft Traditions in North-Eastern Latvia The aim of the Doctoral thesis Witchcraft Traditions in North-Eastern Latvia is to research by compiling, systematizing and comparatively describing the source material the most ancient mythological conception layer, which until the beginning of the 20th century remained as a uniform notion system in the north-eastern regions of Latvia (North Vidzeme and Zemgale). The main source will be the registered folklore in this territory, as well as linguistic and archaeological sources; thus, promoting the interdisciplinary cooperation of folklore studies and other Humanities in the Latvian mythology research. The hypothesis is based on the assumption that Latvia’s north-eastern part, which nowadays is the periphery inhabited by the Balts, and borders on the Slavs and Finno-Ugrian peoples’ territories, has preserved the most ancient notion complex related to witches that was also wide-spread in the rest of Latvia’s territory. Initially, the dead souls were regarded as witches. Under the influence of demonology in Medieval Times the witch classification functions were transferred to real women which in the large part of Latvia inherited the denomination ‘witch’. The topicality of the doctoral thesis is determined by several reasons. Firstly, the doctoral thesis draws attention to the legend genre as the source of mythology in the Latvian mythology research. The previous mythology research has mainly used folksongs as the source; therefore, such notion as ‘folksong mythology’ has been introduced. Secondly, internationally approved methodological solutions will be applied to legend material for mythological perception research, supplementing them with approaches developed in the course of the research, which will contribute not only to the doctoral thesis’ theme research, but will also provide new conclusions about the legend genre in the Latvian folklore. Thirdly, the applied approaches will foster interdisciplinary cooperation between folklore studies, Linguistics and Archaeology. The doctoral thesis puts emphasis on the link between legends about witches and particular landscape elements – Witch Mountains, rocks, marshes etc. The analysis of such location association with areas of archaeological importance (especially ancient burial sites) generates such conclusions about the most ancient layer of witch perception that have been lost in the folklore texts registered until the first half of the 20th century. Sanita Reinsone, doctoral thesis Getting Lost Stories: Notions, Interpretation, Poetics of Narration The thesis focuses on contemporary stories of getting lost. These are stories of experience, testimonies about the actual and imaginary things, about the relationship between human and space, the recreation of personal experience in a narrative form and the correlation of individual creation. The doctoral thesis is a folkloristic view on the getting-lost phenomenon, which in different perspectives has come under the scope of such fields as Pschychology, Architecture and Geography. The doctoral thesis is based on field research that has been conducted for almost ten years by interviewing several tens of people of different generations in Latvia, as well as, abroad. The interviewees were asked to tell about their or others’ experience of getting lost and share their thoughts about being astrayed, about the evil spirit and concepts related to it. Getting lost is a paradox – in the time of general urbanization and technological zeal, when global positioning and satellite navigation systems have been established, mobile phones, maps, street names and house numbers are widely used, it is hard to get lost in the human created environment. In the event of temporary disorientation one is taken over by the feeling of insecurity and even fear, showing how much the orientation in space is related to our feeling of comfort. Getting lost means being in a space without time, place and identity coordinates. The narratives about getting lost reflect the geographical disorientation and loss of area in the area itself and confusion and individual experience. By using story as narrative means of structuring one’s experience, it reveals at the same time both tradition and collective knowledge and individual creativity; thus, the story does not become an iconic event, but rather a recreation of the accident. The aim of the research is to show how by the means of narration people are trying to understand, analyze and interpret their experience of getting lost. Aigars Lielbārdis doctoral thesis The Tradition of the Latvian Charms The topicality and theme choice of the emerging doctoral thesis The Tradition of the Latvian Charms is linked to the activation of researchers of traditional charms in Europe and enduring interest to the magic spells in the Latvian society, as well as to the discussions analyzing these traditions and the lack of extensive research in the Latvian folklore studies. Each year the Committee of European Researchers of Magic Spells The Charms, Charmers and Charming organizes research presentations in various European countries, especially focusing on the historical contacts, text and context relations, as well as on the execution of charms [Roper, J. Introduction: Unity and Diversity in Charms Studies // Charms, Charmer and Charming, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, xvii.]. While the Latvian society’s interest is characterized by the following magic spells practical use [Laube, T. Labie vārdiņi. Zintnieks, 2004; Labie vārdiņi 2. Zintnieks, 2009], and by the topicality of the charming tradition in the mass media (regional newspapers, magazines, TV programs). The research of magic spells in the Latvian folklore studies has not been sufficiently expanded since Kārlis Straubergs published The Latvian Charms (I, II, Vol., 1939-1941). The research topic is the Latvian magic spells – written or verbal formulas, to which unusual, supernatural powers for achieving certain target (to heal, harm, beg, connect, etc.) are attributed. The magic spells tradition is determined by the formula inheritance, the utilization context and the performer, including diachronic and simultaneous perspective. In the doctoral thesis, the framework of tradition foresees the research of the spread, influence and interpretation of charm texts and the analysis of magic spells in the Latvian folklore studies.
Translated by students of the professional study programme Translator of the University of Latvia.
