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Dievturība
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Dievturība

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Also known as Dievturiba, Dievs' keepers, Dievturiba's church

Dievturība is a contemporary 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". Dievturība is mainly rooted in Latvian folklore, folk songs and Latvian mythology.

Key facts

Religion.image
Krustu-krusts.svg
Religion.imagewidth
150px
Religion.members
600–800 (2018)
Religion.founded_date
1925
Religion.founder
Ernests BrastiņšKārlis Bregžis

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Country
Latvia
Show 2 more facts
inception
1925-00-00
Commons category
Dievturība
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~10 min read

Encyclopedic overview

11 sections
Contents
  • History
  • The era of Ernests Brastiņš
  • Suppression and émigré activities
  • Revival
  • Beliefs
  • See also
  • References
  • Notes
  • Sources
  • Further reading
  • External links

Dievturība is a contemporary 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". Dievturība is mainly rooted in Latvian folklore, folk songs and Latvian mythology.

Dievturība was systematized 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% 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”.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Dievturība” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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