And Birth Rates Will Rise! The Saeima Allowed Pagans to Register Marriages

The parliament approved the Law on Dievturība, granting its priests the right to officially register marriages. Thus, the neo-pagan movement, invented a hundred years ago, received full official recognition from the state.

Dievturība was presented by its founder as an ancient Latvian religion, but in reality, this is not the case. Just a century ago, in 1926, an unsuccessful artist (he graduated from the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg) named Ernests Brastins invented a new religious movement. While serving as the head of the War Museum in Riga, Brastins had plenty of time, traveled extensively to ancient shrines, and created a doctrine that combined fragments of pre-Christian Baltic beliefs into something he considered coherent and unified. Brastins himself was convinced that he had recreated the ancient Latvian religion and took it upon himself to become its "dijvadoņis" — the supreme leader.

However, since he was associated with the ultra-nationalist organization "Fire Cross" (Ugunskrusts), the leader of the Latvian Republic — Kārlis Ulmanis — did not approve of the Dievturians and banned the newly formed neo-pagan community. Then the Soviet power came to Latvia, and Brastins was executed.

Later, this neo-pagan teaching was preserved only in the emigrant community abroad, and in the early 1990s, it returned to Latvia along with Trimda. Now Dievturians are a community of about five hundred worshippers of ancient gods, with their priests, rituals, and ceremonies. Moreover, in the 21st century, Dievturians finally managed to achieve state recognition.

In 2010, at a meeting of state secretaries, it was decided that Dievturians would be able to nominate representatives to work as chaplains, and now the Saeima has approved a special Law on Dievturība regarding them.

It regulates a multitude of various aspects concerning the activities of this religious organization. Among other things — issues related to marriage: Dievturians will be able to conduct marriages with the blessing of their priests, and they will not have to turn to state institutions. However, for the state to recognize the marriage, the priest must have permission from the leadership of the confession, and he must be included in the list submitted to the Ministry of Justice.

The law also stipulates other legal aspects of the community's activities: its status (in relations with the state, Dievturians are represented by the "dijvadoņis" (supreme leader)), issues regarding property and the organization of education in institutions founded and managed by the community. Incidentally, during Dievturian events, the state will be obliged to provide them with security, medical assistance, electricity, and video broadcasting.