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Concept
Dievturība
Summary
Dievturība is a modern continuation of the ethnic religion of the Latvians from what it was before Christianization in the 13th century. Adherents call themselves Dievturi (singular: Dievturis), literally "Dievs' keepers", "people who live in harmony with Dievs". The movement is mainly based on Latvian folklore, folk songs and Latvian mythology.
The Dievturi movement was founded in 1925 by Ernests Brastiņš and Kārlis Bregžis. It was forcibly suppressed by Soviets in 1940, but lived on in émigré communities and was re-registered in Latvia in 1990. In 2016, a social media survey found that 20% of Latvians identified their religious affiliation as "Latvian religion." Of those 20%, 81% who declared themselves “dievturis”, 1% “Dievs, Laima, Māra – folk religion”, 9% “latviskā dzīvesziņa (‘Latvian worldview’)”, 6% “a Latvian”, 2% “Latvian ancient belief”, 1% “officially Lutheran but heart-wise Dievturis”).
Dievturība primarily exists in Latvia but there are also congregations of adherents in the United States, including the Wyoming Synod of the Dievturi in rural Wyoming and Dievsēta, a property in rural Wisconsin where Dievturi holidays and celebrations take place.
Dievturība's cultural inheritance can be traced to the New Latvians (jaunlatvieši) movement, which began to collect folklore during the First Latvian National Awakening in the 19th century, and fought for Latvian independence during World War I. The Dievturība movement was initiated in 1925 when Ernests Brastiņš and Kārlis Bregžis published a manifesto, Latviešu dievturības atjaunojums (The Restoration of Latvian Dievturība). In 1926 they founded the organisation Latvju Dievtur̦u Draudze (Community of Latvian Dievturi). The two had different ideas about the movement: Bregžis favoured an intimate practice, limited to the family or a small community, whereas Brastiņš was in favour of political involvement, wanted to attract large numbers of people, was an effective organiser and public speaker and was not shy about making categorical statements.
Official source
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