Pieguļa (; in

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

) or naktigonė (in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

) 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 milli ...

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 A khutor ( ; rus, хутор, p=ˈxutər) or khutir (, ) is a type of rural locality in some countries of Eastern Europe; in the past the term mostly referred to a single- homestead settlement.wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

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 (Pantāgs) by the bonfire, but people could ride to pieguļa until

Mārtiņi Mārtiņi () or Mārtiņdiena is an ancient Latvians, Latvian winter welcoming holiday, when the time of pieguļa and shepherding came to an end. According to a solar calendar, Mārtiņdiena marks the midpoint between the autumnal equinox (Miķe� ...

. In Latvia pieguļa started to disappear in the second half of the 19th century, starting with

Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. Courland's largest city is Liepāja, which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were ...

and

Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', ) 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 north-centra ...

, but in

Latgale Latgale (; ; ; ; ; ; Belarusian Latin alphabet, Belarusian Latin: ''Łathalija''; ), also known as Latgalia or Latgallia, is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region of the country and lies north of the Daugava River. Wh ...

this tradition was maintained until the 1930s. Pieguļa riding was also linked with a wide range of

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

layers, innumerable

folk songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Piegula Horse management Animal husbandry