Pieguļa (; in
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 ...
) or naktigonė (in
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
) was an ancient tradition of grazing common types of
horses
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...
during night, that existed about until the early 20th century. After winter, the grazing horses were released on their own for the first time, while under the shepherds (pieguļnieki) supervision. Several
khutor guys often rode to pieguļa together, who stayed overnight at grazing along with their horses. This was necessary because horses were threatened by
wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...
and thieves. Pieguļnieki lit and fueled bonfires and sang a lot. They slept right beside the bonfire on needles, twigs, or brought their own straw sacks. During rainy periods they often brought twig huts. In Latvia first pieguļa usually coincidences with
Ūsiņš
Ūsiņš () is a deity in Latvian mythology, the god of light and spring, symbol of fertility, guardian of horses and bees.
It is one of few Latvian deities whose historical sources can be derived to be more or less genuine testimony. With Ūsi ...
Day and people ate a special food called
Pantāga
Pantāga (pantāgs, pentogs) is a traditional Latvian dish, containing eggs and spices. It symbolically represents the sun as is prepared during Ūsiņš Day, and often at Easter. Occasionally pantāgs was also used for sacrifice rituals and holy ...
(Pantāgs) by the bonfire, but people could ride to pieguļa until
Mārtiņi.
In Latvia pieguļa started to disappear in the second half of the 19th century, starting with
Courland
Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...
and
Vidzeme
Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', liv, Vidūmō) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the southwestern part of the region. Literally meaning "the Middle Land", it is situated in n ...
, but in
Latgale
Latgale ( ltg, Latgola; ; ger, Lettgallen; be, Латгалія, Łathalija; pl, Łatgalia; la, Lettgallia), also known as Latgalia is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region and is north of the Daugava River. While m ...
this tradition was maintained until the 1930s.
Pieguļa riding was also linked with a wide range of
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
layers, innumerable
folk songs and beliefs. The passage of pieguļa period was surrounded with a peculiar, romantic aura. Different periods were entirely described poetically and imaginatively by many Latvian writers (e.g.
J. Jaunsudrabiņš ''White Book'').
References
* Dumpe L. Latvian animal husbandry in 19th and early 20th century. Ethnographic essay. – R., Science, 1985
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Horse management
Animal husbandry