The researcher of the State Research Programme project “Navigating the Latvian History of the 20th–21st Century: Social Morphogenesis, Legacy and Challenges” No. VPP-IZM-Vēsture-2023/1-0003 (2023–2026) PhD Maija Grizāne in co-authoring with the senior researcher of Daugavpils University Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dr. philol. Oksana Kovzele presented their paper “Perception of the Neptune Festival in the Soviet Latvia: formation and transformation of festive tradition” at the international academic conference “Human: Language, Society, Culture” which was held online on June 9, 2025. The conference was organised by the DU IHHS Centre of Cultural Research and non-governmental organisation “Kultūras Artefakts”.

Basing on periodicals and archival documents, the study analyses the tradition of celebrating the Neptune Festival and its transformations in the Soviet Latvia, paying special attention to the celebration content and its relevance to a certain time and place. It is concluded, that the festival was not a completely new Soviet tradition, but an adaptation and synthesis of the already existing traditions of the celebration of the sea, sailors and fishermen.

Additional information:
IHHS assistant professor, researcher Maija Grizāne
maija.grizane@du.lv