Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Latvian Folk Dance: Sustaining Cultural Heritage In The Context Of Christianity And Communism, Emilija Karina Grinvalds

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

In times of chaos and violence, brutality and oppression, one would not think of the arts as a guiding light for maintaining cultural identity and establishing peace and independence. However, the small country of Latvia serves as a prime example of how the arts, specifically folk dance, helped to maintain Latvian culture through centuries of oppression and war. As Swedish and German missionaries sought to spread Christianity throughout the pagan tribes in the 11th century, dance helped to sustain the cultural and religious beliefs of the ancient Latvians. Folk dance created a sense of unity within their communities, and the …