Requirement for being a Latvian.
by ambersun

1. Speak Latvian.
2. Never vote for SC.
3. Read Bilmanis on Latvian history (there will be a test).
4. Read Rislakki (a bit unusual since Jukka is Finnish).
5. Mandatory attendance of dziesmu svētki. Or that be svetki?
6. Start eating “pirāgi” with “the šasliks”... eeewww.
7. Write for Russian news outlets on Levits mostly.

Anything else?

Aleksejs,
Your grandmother, born in 1933, was born in The Republic of Latvia. Why would she be an “immigrant” of Latvia? 

Also, can you get those Old Believers in Riga, also probably born in the old or new, free-to-choose, independent Latvian country of Latvia, to sell off some of that valuable Riga property and create scholarship funds for “minorities” like do other Latvians like Vitols (but not Kargin)?  Maybe you can also get them to help support the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia like do other minority religious people like the Jewish Professor Edward Anders (born Eduards Alperovics).  Ojars Kalnins would love some contributions to the Latvian Institute since many trimda Latvians are feeling a bit stretched and don’t see the need for LI to explain the “controversy” of the fact of occupation. Besides, old Legionnaires and Lestene need trimda money even more.  Was anyone in your family a Legionnaire who could use some financial support from some Old Believer? 

If we all as Latvians pulled together and fulfilled our “pienaakumi” one “pienaakums” at a time over time, just think where Latvia would be today after twenty years of responsible nation-forging behavior spent taking seriously and diligently one’s “pienaakums piekapties un pievienoties pie pamatautas.”

Your grandmother, born in 1933, was born in The Republic of Latvia. Why would she be an “immigrant” of Latvia?

Isn’t it because she doesn’t speak Latvian?

Why should the Old Believers who culturally are very different from ethnic Latvians do any of that? Isn’t that like asking the Amish to run for the city council? And really, why should anyone sell his or her property? I don’t see the party of millioners ran by two ethnic Latvians, who are decent by your definition, selling or doing anything for this country, do you?

And the museum of the occupation is all fine and dandy, but I’d rather support the War Museum in the Pūlvertornis. It offers history from all angles: from the war of independence to the world war II. Furthermore, I don’t think the diaspora would not appreciate mentioning how Russians lived in the interwar Republic, since, you know, it is the diaspora’s thing to hate all Russians. On the other hand, the War Museum includes many letters by Latvians of all persuasions, including those who served in the Red Army.

What does it mean pievienoties patanacijai in practical terms?

Aleksejs,
Have you made arrangements for that interview with E. Levits that will be in Segodnya and in “Pravda?”  Maybe we’ll see you on Russia Today in the US when they interview you on your interview of Levits.

Ambersun, What? Did you say something? You make it seem like we do live in two different media world that never touch. How silly! Things are being translated back and forth between Russian and Latvian all the time. Have you found your own usefulness for the nation of Hard-Working Latvians, Without Whom Latvia Wouldn’t Exist(tm)?

Requirement for being a Latvian.
by ambersun

1. Speak Latvian.
2. Never vote for SC.
3. Read Bilmanis on Latvian history (there will be a test).
4. Read Rislakki (a bit unusual since Jukka is Finnish).
5. Mandatory attendance of dziesmu svētki. Or that be svetki?
6. Start eating “pirāgi” with “the šasliks”... eeewww.
7. Write for Russian news outlets on Levits mostly.
8. Appear on Russia Today

Anything else?

Requirement for being a Latvian.
by ambersun

1. Speak Latvian.
2. Never vote for SC.
3. Read Bilmanis on Latvian history (there will be a test).
4. Read Rislakki (a bit unusual since Jukka is Finnish).
5. Mandatory attendance of dziesmu svētki. Or that be svetki?
6. Start eating “pirāgi” with “the šasliks”... eeewww.
7. Write for Russian news outlets on Levits mostly.
8. Appear on Russia Today
9. Enjoy all Latvian folk songs and folk dances.

Anything else?

Requirement for being a Latvian.
by ambersun

1. Speak Latvian.
2. Never vote for SC.
3. Read Bilmanis on Latvian history (there will be a test).
4. Read Rislakki (a bit unusual since Jukka is Finnish).
5. Mandatory attendance of dziesmu svētki. Or that be svetki?
6. Start eating “pirāgi” with “the šasliks”... eeewww.
7. Write for Russian news outlets on Levits mostly.
8. Appear on Russia Today
9. Enjoy all Latvian folk songs and folk dances.
10. Sell off some of that valuable Riga property and create scholarship funds
11. Support the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia
12. Donate money to the taxpayer funded Latvian Institute
13. Support Lestene
14. Support Legionnaires.

Anything else?

Aleks said:

I’d rather support the War Museum in the Pūlvertornis. It offers history from all angles: from the war of independence to the world war II.

In July, there was a parade in Vecrīga of military history enthusiasts dressed in period uniforms appropriate to the specific era they were representing. With everything from maces and swords to rifles and machine guns (models only) they marched chronologically, with uniforms from the 10th century or so until the present.
My daughter and I saw 1,000 years of war pass by, thankfully not in the visceral sense as the land and it’s inhabitants did over the centuries. Nevertheless, it was sobering to think about.

I love LOL, I must say. What you guys get up to whilst I dine. I mean gals. Uh, Ambi, I am a native speaker of Latvian, sorry. Latvian is my mother tongue, and my father forbade speaking English in the house. Outside the house, we were discouraged from speaking Latvian. Because speaking foreign tongues gets one called a foreigner. We saw it all the time, after all. When the guy across the street widened his driveway, he got called a filthy Croatian. But I shall spare you scenes from my childhood.

Being a native speaker means a lot, usually, but language has layers. Kind of like onions do. Atrophy is a real possibility—I mean, the average Soviet vocabulary consisted of how many words? On the other hand, it can also be like riding a bicycle—my mother spoke such good Russian that she could pass for a local even upon her return (which, unlike for you, did not take place until the Third Awakening). And only because she picked up Russian from the housekeeper as a child.

I had a lovely dinner just now, planning cultural projects, with a diverse bunch. We had no common language and shifted between them. We are all Dvinskians. It was fine. It was more than fine. It restored my faith in decency on a day where I got the PLL paper in my mailbox. That paper made me want to puke and plan to get out of the country if the result in October is SC + PLL. By puke—I mean puke. I haven’t seen political literature so vile ever in my life, except as a museum exhibit. Extremes are extremes, but seeing “mainstream” Latvian politicians hawk hatred and Mafia ring-kissing and homophobia and religionist fervor and political prostitution (see recent Ir) all in one place vended so glibly was… shocking, simply. And the best part was the Klucis-like front page.

Soviet-deformed? Nah. Then why were my dinner companions not Soviet-deformed?

/P

An interesting article from the NY Times on mother tongues
You are what you speak?

Excellent link—thanks a lot, Int!

“Die Grenzen meiner Sprache bedeuten die Grenzen meiner Welt”.

/P

That was a great link, Int!  Thanks for that.

More posts so that herr courlander could amuse himself:

Watch this, especially when it came to discussing another requirement for being a Latvian - the occupation.

http://www.delfi.lt/news/daily/world/article.php?id=36047839