Mazirbe ( liv, Irē or '', german: Klein-Irben'') is a village place in

Kolka Parish Kolka parish ( lv, Kolkas pagasts, liv, Kūolka pagāst) is an administrative unit of Talsi Municipality in the Courland region of Latvia. Villages of Kolka parish * Kolka - parish administrative center * Košrags * Mazirbe * Pitrags * S ...

Talsi Municipality Talsi Municipality ( lv, Talsu novads) is a municipality in Courland, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2009 by merging Abava parish, Balgale parish, Ģibuļi parish, Īve parish, Ķūļciems parish, Laidze parish, Lauciene parish, L� ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

18 km southwest of Kolka. It is one of twelve Livonian villages on ' - the

Livonian Coast Livonian Coast ( liv, Līvõd Rānda, italic=no; lv, Lībiešu krasts, italic=no) is a territory of Latvia historically inhabited by Livonian people. It is located in Northern Courland and encompasses twelve Livonian villages. The protected are ...

. Mazirbe is the cultural capital of the

Livonians The Livonians, or Livs ( Livonian: ''līvlizt''; Estonian: ''liivlased''; Latvian: ''līvi'', ''lībieši''), are a Balto-Finnic people indigenous to northern and northwestern Latvia. Livonians historically spoke Livonian, a Uralic language c ...

. The modern Livonian flag (introduced in the 1920s) is green for the forests, white for the sandy beaches of the coast, and blue for the sea. Since the cultural awakening known as the

Atmoda ''Atmoda'' ('Awakening' in Latvian) was a weekly newspaper in Latvian SSR and Latvia issued from December 1988 to April 1992. It was published by the Popular Front of Latvia (PFL) and was the first independent, opposition paper in the Latvian ...

, it has flown over the Livonian House of the People ( lv, Lībiešu tautas nams or ', liv, Līvõd rovkuodā), a cultural centre dating from 1938 built in the heart of the village with the support of linguistic cousins in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. Inside is a small museum showing photos of past generations of Livonians. On the first Sunday of August there is a Livonian gathering here, culminating in a procession to the beach where a wreath is cast into the sea in remembrance of fishermen who have met watery deaths. A camp for young people where only Livonian is spoken is held for a week beforehand. The Mazirbe plague stone is a unique feature of the village.

References

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* Towns and villages in Latvia Talsi Municipality Courland {{Courland-geo-stub

See also

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External links