Ilmalikud laulud infoallikate ja haridusvahenditena talurahvavalgustuse ajal

The written and oral culture of the Baltic indigenous peoples underwent gradual changes in the late 18th and 19th centuries. According to Wolfgang Welsch, vision is linked with knowledge and science, while hearing relates to faith and religion (Welsch 1996: 248) – this distinction shaped the interaction between oral and written culture. Among Baltic peasants, oral culture remained dominant until the mid-19th century, with the German clergy continuing to control the information space despite ongoing social change. During the Enlightenment, secular Latvian literature began to emerge. Gotthard Friedrich Stender (1714–1796), a German pastor from Kurzeme, laid the foundation for Latvian secular prose, poetry, and popular science literature. However, his songs, the so-called ziņģes, proved more influential than his prose. The songs combine entertainment with moral instruction on drinking, social harmony, and education. Around the turn of the 19th century, major transformations occurred: the territory of present-day Latvia was incorporated into the Russian Empire, Napoleon’s campaigns threatened the region, serfdom was abolished, and a Latvian school network was created. The public demanded information, which was shared through church sermons and, from the 1820s onward, through Latvian newspapers. Supported by Baltic German pastors, the first generation of Latvian intellectuals emerged. By the 1830s, they actively sought to merge oral and written traditions, adapting elements of the Baltic Germans’ peasant Enlightenment project for the purposes of the Latvian national awakening. This paper examines how three key events of the early 19th century – Napoleon’s campaigns and Latvian recruitment into the Russian army, the abolition of serfdom, and the rise of Latvian schools – were reflected in Latvian songs. It analyzes songs published in Latvian newspapers, in books, and on flyers, and it explores the differing perspectives of Baltic Germans and Latvians.