Ilga Vālodze Ābelkina delivers a lecture at Vilnius University

On 5 November, Ilga Vālodze Ābelkina, Research Assistant at the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia, visited Vilnius University, where she delivered a lecture entitled “Reviving Folklore in Exile: ‘Mičotāji’ at the Münster Latvian Gymnasium” to students of Latvian and other interested attendees.

Based on Latvian wedding traditions, this performance became the first production in the Western Latvian diaspora in the 1970s to tour Latvian communities across Europe, North America, and Australia. In her lecture, Ābelkina explored both the circumstances surrounding the development of the Mičotāji repertoire and the production’s significance in strengthening networks of Latvian exile organisations and the resilience of diaspora communities.

The lecture was also attended by Latvia’s Ambassador to Lithuania, Solveiga Silkalna, who shared her memories of studying at the Münster Latvian Gymnasium. We are grateful to the Ambassador for her thoughtful gift – a poetry collection entitled Ventas vālodzes dziesma by her mother, the poet Karmena Kurzemniece. The collection also includes a poem dedicated to the Münster Mičotāji!

The lecture was held as part of the Latvian Council of Science-funded project No. lzp-2024/1-0522, “Latvian Folkloristics in Exile”. An article by Ābelkina on this topic is forthcoming in the journal Letonica.

Our sincere thanks to Ernesta Kazakėnaitė for organising the event and promoting research topics related to Latvian culture at Vilnius University!