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Unlike the summer solstice, the Song and Dance festival does not have such a long history of tradition. This celebration was first held in 1873. In order to carry out the celebration,
“Latvian amateur groups from all over the world travel to Riga once every five years to join together in a giant mixed choir or to perform folk dances.”
Moreover, foreigners say that
“those who haven’t seen the Song and Dance Celebration haven’t seen everything there is to see of the amazing heart and soul of Latvia”.
Perhaps, this could be a reason why the Song and Dance Festival has been included in the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity UNESCO.
“The festivities bring together more than 30 000 participants – singers, dancers, wind orchestra musicians, folklore groups, amateur theatres, studios of applied and fine arts, and others.”
References:
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One of the most unique aspects of Latvian folklore is dainas:
“lyrical, witty and philosophical four-line verses that are similar to aphorisms.”
During the “centuries of foreign rule”, Latvians were not able to “record their history and traditions in written form”; therefore, “Latvian culture was instead preserved and manifested in folklore that displayed the collective wisdom and beliefs of the Latvians’ ancient tribal ancestors.”
The most famous folklorist who is nowadays completely associated with dainas is Krisjanis Barons. At the end of the 19th century, “he put a great amount of work into collecting and codifying dainas by writing each one down and filing them away in a large cupboard; now the Cabinet of Folk songs contains over two million dainas.”
Dainas are considered to be
“Latvia’s national treasure – NATO’s science and culture organization UNESCO has also included them in its list of Man’s Spoken and Non-material Culture.”
References:
According to the Latvian Institute,
“the Latvian national identity has developed over a 3,000 year period and has always been closely tied to the Northern European land and nature.”
Although the emergence of Latvian language and culture can be traced back thousands of years,
“the 13th century marked the beginning of a series of foreign invasions and influences: German, Swedish and Polish warriors and traders brought European culture to Latvia, at times threatening the existence of the Latvian culture, at times strengthening it through adversity.”
References:
Latvian culture 