TheFirst Latvian National Awakening or theFirst Awakening (Latvian:Pirmā atmoda) was a cultural and national revival movement between 1850 and 1880 among theYoung Latvians, a group of well-educatedLatvians, who, opposed to theBaltic German dominance inLivonia andCourland Governorates, created the basis for the modern Latvian nation state. It was influenced by the Europeanromantic nationalism movements ofYoung Germans andCzech National Revival. Most of their efforts were spent on educating Latvians, criticizing Germans and removing the stigma from Latvian language, traditions and culture.
The movement started after 1850 in theUniversity of Tartu, which then was the highest place of education in Livonian Governorate and was attended by around 30 ethnic Latvian students.Krišjānis Valdemārs, a student from Courland, posted in his dorm room a note identifying himself as a Latvian, which was unheard of at the time. Very soon a group of 10-13 students grew around him; they organized “Latvian evenings”, during which they debated about the condition of German-oppressed Latvians.Juris Alunāns andKrišjānis Barons soon became leading members.[1]
They established the newspapersMājas Viesis andPēterburgas Avīzes. The movement initially was supported by Russian authorities, who saw it as a tool against the German-dominated Baltic provinces.
In 1868, Young LatvianFricis Brīvzemnieks began gatheringLatvian folk songs known asdainas. His work was continued byKrišjānis Barons, who in 1894 published the first book of dainas and eventually become known as the Father of Dainas (Dainutēvs).
Another literary activist was teacherAtis Kronvalds, who discovered mention of a red-white-red flag in the 13th-centuryLivonian Rhymed Chronicle. These colors eventually became theflag of Latvia. Kronvalds worked tirelessly on promoting education among Latvians, and modernized the Latvian language by creating many new words.
In 1868, initially, as a charity organization for helping victims of Estonian crop failure, theRiga Latvian Society was established, which organized Latvian cultural life in Riga and regions.[2] The first Latvian theatre troupe led byĀdolfs Alunāns was established here, which led to the birth of playwriting in Latvian.
In 1873, thefirst Latvian singing festival was held in Riga, during which most of the songs were Latvian folk songs. Of the new songs performed there, one of them, composed byBaumaņu Kārlis, later became thenational anthem of Latvia. Fearing the growth of nationalism, its original name of “God, bless Latvia!” was changed by Russian censors to “God, bless the Baltics!”.
In 1888, the national epicLāčplēsis, written byAndrejs Pumpurs, was first published.
The First Awakening was a cultural movement mostly among the well-educated classes and soon ran out of momentum as Latvian society became more mature and interested in new political and scientific ideas. Many of the leading Young Latvians died early or worked in Russia, away from their home. Latvians also experienced a wave ofRussianization during which use of Latvian in schools was prohibited.
The First Awakening was followed by theNew Current (Jaunā strāva) movement, which was much more political and led to the establishment of the Social Democratic Party.
The First Awakening's interest in folklore was carried on by theBaltic neopagan movementDievturība, which was created in the 1920s byErnests Brastiņš and Kārlis Marovskis-Bregžis.[3]
