🔥Cemetery Celebration in Latvia. Vistinleja. Prauliena. Madona. July 2022.
Channel: Lidija SKOLNIJA 🔥Sparklet!
Date: 2022-07-30

🇱🇻Why do they hold the Cemetery Celebration in Latvia? And in the evening, after the memorial, they gather for a ball, drink, and dance? Hi friends! 🔥Sparklet! here. Today we are going to a grave feast at the Vistinleja cemetery in the Madona region of Latvia. Vistiņleja Cemetery in Prauliena Parish is the former Lazdona Lutheran Cemetery.

The grave feast is a special festive tradition in Latvian cemeteries in July and August to gather at the cemetery, remember the dead, and meet close and distant relatives and friends.

The pagan tradition of the grave festival, which began in Vidzeme and has been preserved, is firmly rooted in Latvia, and still maintains people's belonging to the local community.

The traditions of the Latvian grave festival are based on the traditions of ancient Latvian mythology. From the archaeological data, it can be concluded that fetishism, totemism, cults of Fire, Sun, Moon, and Thunder, as well as various types of magic played an important role for the ancestors of the tribes living on the territory of Latvia.

It is known that already in 1428 the regional synod of the Riga Church discussed the pagan tradition of the local population "to feed the souls" "mielot dvēseles", it was mentioned that Latvians bury the dead in forest fields and other unconsecrated places where their parents and friends are buried. Back in 1739, a secret burial of the dead took place on the slopes of the Blue Mountain (Zilais Kalns).

The first news about the Christian grave feast has been preserved since 1831 when it was celebrated at the Krimulda cemetery, and since that time the tradition has spread, and now the grave feast is celebrated regularly.

Cemeteries gained great popularity after the suppression of the 1905 revolution. In 1911 Lutheran pastor, writer, and politician Andrievs Niedra held a large funeral in Vietalva parish. As a good preacher, he attracted large crowds to the funeral, and as a writer, he wrote corresponding works on the themes of the cemetery, death, and eternity, which touched the hearts of ordinary listeners. Niedra also very accurately perceived the characteristic feature of Latvians to gather and celebrate holidays in the open air, and the cemetery corresponded very well to this tradition.

After the formation of sovereign Latvia, the tradition of summer cemeteries from Vidzeme spread to other cultural and historical regions of Latvia, where, however, the Lak in Vidzeme never reached such scope and popular support.

Cemetery traditions flourished, especially during World War II and the post-war scarcity. In the 1960s, they took on a new form and so-called secular cemeteries appeared.

In this case, it was not the pastor who addressed the people, but one of the local cultural figures with a good voice and speech, for example, the head of a cultural center, a self-employed actor, or a representative of a new profession - seeing off the last journey.

In the period from the end of June to the beginning of September, Lutheran and Catholic parishes in various regions of Latvia declare funeral feasts on weekends, and announcements are posted in cemeteries and churches. As a rule, the grave feast is held on the same day, only for each denomination at a different hour, and at the end, a secular version is held. But there are cemeteries where Catholic and Lutheran grave holidays are held each on its own day.

Since burials were mixed in Soviet times, and people belonging to different faiths were buried in the same cemetery, both Catholic and Orthodox ceremonies are held in traditional Lutheran cemeteries.

In preparation for the funeral, graves are specially decorated - they put vases with flowers, and candles near the graves, pour fresh sand, transplant flowers, and cut bushes. On the appointed day, relatives, friends, and neighbors of the deceased from different parts of Latvia and from abroad gather at the parish cemetery.

After the ceremony at the cemetery, relatives continue to communicate and commemorate at dinner right at the cemetery or at someone's house, and in the evening everyone gathers for a green ball (Zaļumballe) to have fun and dance. True, the tradition of such balls is slowly dying out, either due to the outflow of the population from the village, or for some other reason.

The current Vistinleja Cemetery was once the burial place of the nobles of Prauliena Manor. In 1782 there was already a chapel here. This 18th-century building is included in the list of architectural monuments due to the building volume, layout, facade, and remains of wooden cornices. The cemetery bell is still in the tower. The building has been recently renovated.

In November 2004, a monument to Latvian freedom fighters who fought for the independence of Latvia in 1918-1920 was unveiled at the Vistinleja cemetery in Praulena parish. years.

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