From December 13 to 18, the young people of South Latgale, along with their peers from Finland, Lithuania and Estonia, participated in the camp “singing United” (“United by singing”) at the Hiveriles (Hyvärilä) Youth Centre in Finland.
The National Centre for Culture of Latvia, together with partners of Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, has engaged in a new European cultural Road “singing Heritage route” (https://singingroute.com) in creation.
The main theme of the initiative is singing as the intangible cultural heritage in the area covered by the emerging cultural pathway: from rune songs (runolaul) Finland, Seth plurality (Leelo) in the eastern part of southern Estonia, until the multi-voiced singing with the so-called “half-bolsa” included in the national intangible cultural Heritage List of Latvia (https://nematerialakultura.lv/Elementi/dziedasana-ar-pusbalsu-2017/) Latgale and sutartines in Lithuania.
The future European cultural route will lead from the municipality of Salla in northern Finland through the eastern regions of Finland (via Karelia), East Estonia (Narva, so-called “Onion Road”, Tartu, Setu Land), East Latvia (Latgale, River cultural space and Daugavpils), throwing a side step also up to the capital Riga and eventually leading through the northeastern region of Lithuania (Birji) all the way to the capital Vilnius. The length of the road from one end of the road to the other is approximately 2250 km and, together with side roads, approximately 3000 km. The new European cultural Road aims to establish networking between communities living along Europe's eastern border, highlighting still-living traditions and today's cultural activities.
THE PARTNERS of THE LNKC on this route are the “Academy of rune singing/Runolaulu-Akatemia” in Finland, the Estonian Museum of literature, the Estonian State Museum, the association “Onion Road/Sibulatee”, the tourism cluster of South Estonia and the foundation “Setu Institute/Seto lnstitute” in Estonia, the Vilnius ethnic cultural Centre and the Exchange Tourism Centre in Lithuania, as well as the Latgale Tourism Association “Ezerzeme”, the association “Namaterialutura kulmontojuma Centre of Nupita” and the CENTRE of Latvia”.
Photo: ANU SAARELAINEN
