Latvia(Note not written by me but my good friend)
Lands of Kurši, Zemgaļi, Sēļi, Līvi and Latgaļi
Pre-Christian territory of modern Latvia was split between Baltic (Kurši, Zemgaļi, Sēļi, Latgaļi) and Finno-Ugric people (Lībieši or Līvi). Religiously, the majority of Baltic people followed Pagan faith, even when their nobles accepted various forms of Christianity (Orthodox in Latgallian kingdoms and Catholic in Curonian/Semgallian ones). In current day, most of historical and folk sources, about Baltic religion (also called Dievturība), that have been saved through the Christian times are mostly peasant in nature, focusing on fertility, earth and wealth deities, rather than fighting ones or philospohical ones.
Just like in other types of Indo-European Paganism, big focus lies on the nature and human place within it. For example, there are hundreds of deities called “mātes” or mothers in English, each of them responsible for some kind of sphere on her own. For example, “Jūras māte” meaning “Sea mother” is responsible for Sea and fishing, while “veļu māte” or “mother of the gone souls” is responsible for taking people into afterlife. This was a big part of Baltic native faith, especially for the peasantry. Each of these mothers weren’t a separate deity, but a form of “Māra” - one of the big deities, responsible for everything material, also an archetype of a perfect mother, similar to one laid out by Jung. As such, Māra was both responsible for bringing human life into this world, and taking it from it. Another important deity was Laima, meaning either “luck” or “fate”. Laima was responsible for the fate of each human. “Ūsiņš” is another important deity for peasantry and landowners. He was the patron of horses, good harvest, spring and summer, and festival for him was celebrated in early May. Another specific form of him was “Jumis”, who was the deity responsible solely for harvest and fertility.
In final, about deities concerning peasantry and land-owners, it’s clear, that pre-Christian Baltic people celebrated fertility, light, summer, good harvest, and Earth on it’s own.
Now, to the more warrior-like Gods, the most important of them is Pērkons – similar to Thor in Nordic faith, Indra or Vishnu in Vedic traditions, Perun in Slavic and the good spirit in Zoroastrianism. Pērkons wasn’t celebrated by peasantry as much, as he was the God of war, thunder and lighting, the power aiming to destroy the forces of chaos. He was however, the patron of warrior caste, frequently portrayed with an double-edged axe or sword. Wolf is usually seen as his animal, and they are called “Dieva suņi” or “dogs of God” in Latvian folklore. His direct adversary was “Velns”, the God of Underworld, stealing and trading. Velns isn’t comparable to Christian concept of evil, as he was just perceived as the chaotic part of this Universe, while Pērkons was the guard of order, with Dievs being the creator of it. In a sense, while Christianity employs unrelated dualism, here this dualism is contained with in one system or order (think of it as a Yin-Yang symbol, where both the dark and white exist within one circle, not being separate while still being opposites). Velns has been portrayed as both smart and witty, and not that bright, usually being won over by a hero far smarter than him. This most likely symbolizes the victory of the light over the dark power. Velns is not seen as the universal evil, as he is also affiliated with common magic and more earthly things like trading and outplaying your opponents.
Dievs is the creator of the Universe, symbolizing the over-wordly knowledge and light. In older mythos, he created the world together with Velns, who later started to work against him. Another interesting thing, symbolizing the duality within confined system, is a myth, telling about creation of human, in which God creates only the half of human, and the other half is done by Velns, thus bringing humans, as we know them into the existence.
Now, to the political and societal structure of the Northern Baltic lands. It is a common misconception that the Germanic Orders brought civilization to Baltic lands, when in fact, there was pretty much a feudal structure already in place, with around 4-5 bigger Pagan Kingdoms.
Baltic Kingdoms were well organized to the smallest cells of it, with the basic foundations being “saime”, which could be roughly translated to “large family”. It was usually around 15-30 people in size, and was made, when multiple generations of children continued their lives close to their parents (for example, many sons build their houses next to their family house, something that frequently is seen in location names around Latvia up to this day). Saime was led by a father or grand-father, similar to other patriarchal pre-Christian societies (Rome immediately comes to mind). People who belonged to “saime” were called “labie ļaudis” or “labieši”, which is pretty much the word used to describe both Old Latvian nobility and free people in these societies, something akin to Roman patricians – after all, “labieši” directly translates to “good people”. Something also important, the souls of the ancestors were believed to continue their lives as part of saime even after their death, but Old Baltic beliefs on afterlife and soul is another topic, that is too large for this post. “Labieši” were able to receive land from their fathers after their death, freely move, build houses and work on their land themselves. They were above slaves and various forms of societal outcasts, who also worked in saimes, but were called “neļaudis” - “unpeople”.
Many saimes together made up one kin - “dzimts”, that was responsible for their village county - “ciemnovads”, which was usually populated by around 25 saimes.
Many such kins together made up the most stable form of Baltic political entities - “pilsnovads”, which could be roughly translated to “castlehill county” (the Scandinavian name used for them was “Borchsokung”), because it was an entity, centred around one castle, in which the elder (“vecais” or “labietis”) of it lived together with his warrior group (“kara draudze” in Latvian, meaning “brotherhood of war”). In Curonia during 1200s, there were 148 such entities. Next to each castle, was also the sacred place of worship, called “Svētkalns” or sacred hill, in which the free elders of dzimtas held meetings and talked about political matters.
The leader of the pilsnovads was chosen out of all the local nobles and elders, who had achieved high status and standing. Very important was the family history of the potential leader, called “labdzimtība” or “good birth status” in English.
When pilsnovadi banded together, either through military or diplomatic means, they created unions of pilsnovadi, in older sources called “Zemes” or “The Lands”. In 1253. there were 9 such entities in Curonia – Ventava, Bandava, Piemare, Duvzare, Megava, Pilsāts, Ceklis and a sparsely populated land between Skrunda and Zemgale, with another of these lands being mostly Livonian populated, called Vanema. In Latgale, such there were such Zemes as Asote, Alene, Autine, Cesvaine, Gerden, Lepene, Mārciena, Negeste, Varka and many more. In Zemgale – Upmale, Žagare, Mežotne, Plāne, Tērvetene, Saulene, Spārnene, and many more. The map posted by Samogitian(me, check first post for it) is pretty great in portarying these borders accuractly.
Zemes together created Baltic Kingdoms – Such as Jersika, Latigola, Kursa, Zemgale and Sēlija. It was led by a council of nobles from each Zeme with their king being at the top of it. He had political power in all his holdings, however, it was kept in check by the council.
These kingdoms could be split in three castes + undesirables and slaves. The bottom one, peasantry or “zemnieki” made up the majority of each land, harvesting crops and providing the base for each state. Then, came the warriors or “kārēviji”, “karavīri”, which was the caste responsible for safety and protection, while being directly in service of their lord. The highest one, was the spiritual one, called “bramaņi”, “zintnieki” or by their most popular name “krīvi”. They were responsible for religious matters of the realm, keeping the knowledge and practicing Baltic rites. It is believed, that Baltic kings weren’t under their control, but rather a step above them.
That’s it for today, next time, I will be writing about all of the kingdoms separately.
