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treacherously reveals it to the
Germans: Lāčplēsis' mother was a she-bear, and his superhuman strength resides in his bear ears. The German knights come to Lielvārde offering to make peace. Lāčplēsis organizes a friendly tournament at the castle Lielvārde, during which he is goaded into fighting the Dark Knight. The knight cuts off Lāčplēsis' right ear and Lāčplēsis loses the strength in his right hand. Lāčplēsis becomes angry and with his left hand destroys the armor of the Dark Knight, but his sword is also destroyed. The Dark knight struck back cutting off Lāčplēsis' left ear, leading him to also lose the strength in his left hand. The two wrestle. Lāčplēsis manages to throw the Dark Knight into the river
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524:. Using the mythological narrative it depicted the occupation of Latvia, work of KGB, russification, the destruction of Christianity in Latvia etc. A memorable moment in the rock opera happened on the bewitched island where Lāčplēsis turned people who had turned into rock back into human flesh. Many saw this as a moment where people were wakened up from the Soviet sleep they were placed by the Soviet regime. A big emphasis in the rock opera was put on the ears of Lāčplēsis, in the final Lāčplēsis sings to the Latvians to call for him, he still has language and a word, but call for him even louder.
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320:)). The two fight to a draw. Afterwards, they make peace and decide to join forces to fight their common enemy, the German crusaders, who are led by the priest Dietrich (Dītrihs). Lāčplēsis performs another heroic deed by spending the night in a cursed sunken castle, breaking the curse and allowing the castle to rise into the air again. Laimdota and Lāčplēsis are engaged. In the following episodes, Laimdota reads from the old books about the Creation and ancient Latvian teachings.
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351:. Lāčplēsis begins his dangerous journey home from the Northern Sea. He fights monsters with three, six, and nine heads on the Enchanted Island. Finally, he encounters Spīdala on the island, and frees her from her contract with the Devil. Lāčplēsis is reunited with Laimdota and Koknesis, who escaped from Germany but were then trapped on the Enchanted Island. Koknesis declares his love for Spīdala, and the four friends return to Latvia.
491:). There he focuses on the relationships of Lāčplēsis and Spīdola where Lāčplēsis is the symbol of strength and Spīdola the symbol of wisdom, beauty and change. While Spīdola is in love with Lāčplēsis he decides to stay with Laimdota the symbol of Latvia. Still after Lāčplēsis falls into Daugava during the battle Spīdola promises to follow him and help him in the battle, giving hope for Latvians for a soon freedom.
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great mass of the population remained landless, and lived as hired laborers, occupying a low position in the social scale. This was the situation prevailing at the time of writing – thus, the strongly negative presentation of these German invaders had clear contemporary implications for the writer's own time.
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was owned by nobles descended from the German invaders. In 1863, the
Russian authorities issued laws to enable Latvians, who formed the bulk of the population, to acquire the farms which they held, and special banks were founded to help them. By this means, some occupants bought their farms, but the
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were compared with the battle between Lāčplēsis and the Black knight. The decisive victory of
Latvians happened on November 11 next to the River Daugava where it was promised in the epic and ever since it is called the day of the Bear Slayer. 1930 a movie named Lāčplēsis was made which is called to
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festivities), but the heroes soon set off to fight the German crusaders. After several battles, the
Germans are pushed back, and their leader, Bishop Albert, brings reinforcements from Germany, including the Dark Knight. At Dietrich's bidding, Kangars finds out the secret of Lāčplēsis' strength and
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is taking a walk with his 18-year-old son. Suddenly a bear jumps out to attack them. Undaunted, the son seizes the bear by the jaws and rips it apart as if it had been no more of a threat than a small goat, thus earning himself the name Lāčplēsis - the bear slayer. After this he is sent off to the
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and taken to her underwater crystal castle. There Lāčplēsis meets and falls in love with the maiden
Laimdota. Shortly afterwards, Lāčplēsis becomes friends with another hero, Koknesis ("Wood-bearer"), and they study together at the castle of Burtnieks, Laimdota's father.
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in the sky where the Father of
Destiny declares that Latvians are under threat because Christian crusaders are going to come and conquer the Baltic lands and enslave the Latvian nation. The Gods promise to protect the Latvians. When the meeting comes to an end suddenly
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on 1888. Unlike in the
Finnish and Estonian text no original folk song are used in the Latvian story, but it's heavily based on Latvian folklore. By this time it was already considered to be an anachronism, but still amongst the people it became the National epic.
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where he has to turn into stone. Pērkons says that he has chosen this man for an important matter and that he will save the man. The council ends with the question, will the Baltic gods ever come back together?
417:. At this time a popular belief around Europe was that a Nation can be defined by the fact that it has a National epic while the Nations East of the Baltic sea were left without one. Finns wrote their epic
514:. Unlike the Soviet propaganda had intended it to show the battle between Latvians and Germans, the Latvian society started to identify the Crusaders with the Soviets. In 1988 the rock opera
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The first heroic deed of Lāčplēsis – Lāčplēsis sets out to
Burtnieki castle – Meeting with Spīdala – In the Devil's pit – In Staburadze's palace – Return and meeting with Koknesis
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The conspiracy of
Kangars and Spīdala – War with the Estonians – The sunken castle – The Creation – The Latvians tricked by the Christians
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It is known to be one of the most influential works of
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1857-1861. There were several attempts create a Latvian National Epic which were finally realized by the poet and military man
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be the first big Latvian movie. It draws parallels between mythical world of Lāčplēsis and the Latvian war of independence.
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Kruks, Sergei (2004). "The Latvian epic Lāčplēsis: Passe-partout ideology, traumatic imagination of community".
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mirrors similar tales of strong men born of animals and who go on adventures. These tales are classified in the
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There follows a flashback of a few days to an occasion upon which the Lord of
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Nollendorfs, Valters (1973). "The Demythologization of Latvian Literature".
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Midsummer festival – Battle begins – Lāčplēsis' wedding – Death of Lāčplēsis
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was performed more than 40 times, becoming one of the turning point of the
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telling the story of the mythical hero Lāčplēsis "the Bear Slayer".
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the battles between Latvian and German troops under the command of
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Latvian postage stamp depicting Lāčplēsis as the protector of Riga
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to continue his studies. On the way, at the castle of Lord
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37:"Spīdola" redirects here. For the transistor radio, see
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Laimdota and Koknesis are kidnapped and imprisoned in
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The council of the gods – Lāčplēsis' destiny revealed
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277:to replace the old gods with
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431:3rd Latvian Song Festival
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43:Spidola (disambiguation)
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82:more precise citations.
732:Full text of Lāčplēsis
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41:. For other uses, see
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818:Argentina
755:Lāčplēsis
631:: 69–70.
517:Lāčplēsis
506:The play
451:Lāčplēsis
383:Canto III
360:Midsummer
315:epic poem
311:kalapoiss
299:Estonians
283:Staburags
275:crusaders
263:Burtnieks
258:Lielvārde
213:Lāčplēsis
194:epic poem
189:Lāčplēsis
1270:Sundiata
1252:Ethiopia
1193:Portugal
1096:Kalevala
1049:Ramakien
1043:Thailand
974:Malaysia
944:Ramayana
900:Cambodia
859:Caramuru
811:Americas
760:LibriVox
528:See also
419:Kalevala
401:Canto VI
389:Canto IV
377:Canto II
333:Livonian
303:Estonian
223:Synopsis
141:Language
1145:Hungary
1139:Odyssey
1114:Germany
1090:Finland
1078:Estonia
1072:Beowulf
1066:England
919:Georgia
913:Reamker
876:Armenia
395:Canto V
371:Canto I
365:Daugava
335:prince
325:Germany
287:Daugava
285:in the
271:Spīdala
250:Daugava
241:Pērkons
202:Latvian
145:Latvian
76:improve
1245:Africa
1217:Russia
1211:Aeneid
1181:Poland
1169:Latvia
1126:Greece
1102:France
1059:Europe
950:Kyrgyz
846:Brazil
481:Rainis
180:Latvia
131:Author
65:, but
1229:Spain
1157:Italy
1132:Iliad
1012:Sumer
931:India
830:Chile
742:from
152:Genre
1264:Mali
1205:Rome
1000:Iran
962:Laos
869:Asia
356:Jāņi
345:Rome
341:Pope
205:poet
200:, a
171:1888
714:doi
693:doi
662:doi
633:doi
343:in
196:by
1288::
710:41
708:.
689:66
687:.
658:47
656:.
627:.
305::
219:.
158:,
838:/
796:e
789:t
782:v
720:.
716::
699:.
695::
668:.
664::
641:.
635::
487:(
358:(
101:)
95:(
90:)
86:(
72:.
45:.
34:.
20:)
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