Latvia is not and has never been one monoethnic entity. Certainly, Latvians – and Luteran Latvians, at that – have made up the majority, but they are not the only ones living in Latvia. Throughout the years, there have been
Happy Halloween!
No new puzzle today, Aila is taking the day off for every Goth’s favourite holiday – Halloween! Now, Latvia doesn’t strictly speaking celebrate Halloween, but there are a number of Latvian pagan traditions that do mimic this holiday – most
Dates Before 1834
If you’ve spent any time in the Latvian church records on Raduraksti, you’ll have probably noticed that in most cases, the earliest records of births, marriages and deaths you’ll find is 1834 or 1835 (for ethnic Latvians, records for Germans
Wordless Wednesday – Abandoned Estonian Church in Lincoln County, Wisconsin
I know this is a blog about Latvian genealogy, but I’ve decided to make this post about our friends and neighbours, the Estonians. At the end of April and beginning of May, I was in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Lincoln County,
Latvis – January 17, 1923
This is part of my series of interesting newspaper articles that I find in the old Latvian newspapers available through Periodika. Most of the articles I post are in some way related to migration, wars or other events that are
Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus from Discovering Latvian Roots!
Merry Christmas, or, as you would say in Latvian, PriecÄ«gus ZiemassvÄ“tkus! Hope you and yours have a good holiday! And what would be a Latvian Christmas without pÄ«rÄgi (bacon buns)? Here is my dad, making pÄ«rÄgi yesterday… And here is
Where Could They Be From?
What do you do if you have little to go on when it comes to researching your Latvian ancestors? What if they emigrated in the late 1800s or early 1900s, and the only information that passenger lists or naturalization records
Ē is for Ērģeles
So what does the third Latvian letter of the Family History Through the Alphabet challenge get us? Ä’rÄ£eles! I’ll admit, this one is a bit of a stretch. But there aren’t many Latvian words that start with Ä’ (a long
B is for Baptists and Brazil
Now up on the Family History through the Alphabet challenge… B is for Baptists and Brazil Now, you may be wondering what Baptists have to do with Brazil, and what either have to do with Latvia. Quite a lot actually!
“Who Do You Think You Are?” – Rashida Jones Episode Review
I never thought that this was something I’d end up doing on this blog – reviewing a Who Do You Think You Are? episode. But it has happened – last weekend’s episode took place partially in Latvia! The celebrity in