Liven

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The Liven (more rarely Livonen or Livonier ) are about 230 members of a nearly extinct people in Latvia . They live on the coast of Northern Courland , mainly in Kolka . Livonia bears its name after the eastern Livs ( Gauja Livs), which died out in the Middle Ages . Today's Livs speak Latvian . Their original language, Livic , has died out.

designation

In the period before the Second World War, the self-designation of the Livs was characterized by two different names. While the western Livs , settled in the coastal area of ​​today's Talsi and Ventspils districts , called themselves rāndalizt (German: coastal inhabitants ), the Livs settled in the Riga and Limbaži districts called themselves kalmied (German: fishermen ). After the Second World War, however, the names līvõd and līvlizt , which were presumably influenced by foreign influences, also appeared. The etymology of the name used today as Liven is therefore probably due to the foreign rule that began in the 12th and 13th centuries.

history

The spread of the Livs in a historical context

The Livonians in were first mentioned by name Nestor Chronicle (12th century) and also in the Livonian Chronicle of Henry of Latvia (13th century). First of all, settlements on the coastal areas of the eastern and western Riga Bay are mentioned here . Livonian settlements in northern Courland were first reported in the 14th century. Their number is estimated at 15,000 to 28,000 at this time. According to science, the occurrence of Livian tribes goes back to the 3rd millennium BC. BC back.

Between the 12th and 16th centuries, Livonia was an important nation, without whose wood and hemp England would not have quickly become a sea power. Livonia was eventually divided between Estonia and Latvia. Until 1561, the Knights' State was the core of the Livonian Federation. One of the four professional associations of Baltic nobles still bears the name Livonian Knighthood .

One of the first to describe the culture of the Livs was Carl Johann Wilhelm Julius Hillner (1813-1868), who was a pastor in Rinda (between Ventspils and Dundaga) from 1836 to 1849. In 1847 his book The Lives on the North Coast of Courland was published .

In 2006 there were only 14 Livestock villages and settlements. Fewer than 200 Latvian residents are statistically recorded and designated as Lives in their passports . It is estimated that there are still around 1,000 lives living in Latvia.

In Mazirbe there is a Livisches Kulturhaus with the green-white-blue flag. Since 1989, on the first Sunday in August, the Livs have been celebrating the end of the oppression and compulsion to assimilate national minorities in the former Soviet Union .

language

The language of the Livs is called Livish and is considered extinct.

literature

The Livonian language has only been passed on in writing to a very limited extent since its inception. In addition to word lists from the 17th century, the first written products were translations of biblical texts. The first tangible translation dates back to 1789: a Livonian Our Father . A translation of the Gospel of Matthew has survived from the second half of the 19th century .

Longer texts in epic performance, as well as longer practical prose, are limited to a small number of random occurrences. Lyrical texts, although also only available in small numbers, represent the largest part of literary literature. It is speculated that the reasons for this lie in the lower expenditure of time and the possibility of musical implementation. Efforts to collect these texts can be traced back to the middle of the 20th century. After initially unsuccessful attempts, an anthology was published in Riga in 1998 under the title Ma akūb sīnda vizzõ, tūrska .

The number of Liv poems is estimated at 300.

Symbols

The symbolism, which is represented by the flag and anthem, is far more than an expression of national or regional awareness in relation to the Livs. The flag tells a story that everyone can identify with live (or at least once could), the hymn speaks of a love that is reflected in every single word.

Livonian flag

Livonian flag

The Livonian flag consists of the colors green , white and blue , which have a ratio of 2: 1: 2. Blue stands for the sea, white for the beach and green for the forests. It is said that the flag describes the view from the sea to the mainland: the fisherman first sees the blue sea, while the view then leads to the white beaches with the green forests behind.

The Anthem of the Livs

The text of the Liv hymn, Min izāmō , was written by the Courland poet Körli Stalte . It represents the symbiosis of the Livs with the sea. The melody from Fredrik Pacius is also the basis of the Finnish and Estonian national anthems.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mara Scratch, Michael Gallmeister, Gedimins Trulevics: Carl Johann Wilhelm Julius Hillner - the patron of Liven in Rinda (1813-1868) . In: Ilze Krokša, Aina Balaško (ed.): Vācu kultūra Latvijā. Ieskats vācu-latviešu novadu kultūras un vācu biedrību vēsturē = German culture in Latvia. Insight into the history of the German-Latvian regional cultures and the German club history . Latvijas Vācu Savienība, Riga 2009, ISBN 978-9984-39-832-7 , p. 67.