Where all is as in days of yore - plans and results from the field-work in Kolka and Sventaja

Folklore since it was defined has been considered heritage of some kind, to be found in places and communities less influenced by the modern culture. The first interest in culture of the previous times can be seen in the attempts of James McPherson and Thomas Percy to present some finds of ancient poetry in form of an equally ancient manuscript. Though McPherson was the first to spark a discussion on authenticity and Percy established a vivid image of endangered heritage, they both dealt with manuscripts, not a live performance by some folk-poet. The early authors describing the Latvians just mention the songs the latter sing, but obviously consider those inferior to the contemporary educated poetry and even try to replace them by some more decent compositions of their own making. Collection and even publishing of these texts, which were considered primitive and rude previously, was a significant step towards actual preservation of the heritage. The question of the true authentic folklore as a heritage of a nation and fakelore as a specific form of imitation for particular purposes not only sets the inherited tradition apart from the recently created imitation, but also to some extent limits the possibility of folklore variation. This is related to the basic postulate of the researcher — whether he or she accepts the existence of modern folklore. Kolka (north-western tip of Latvia) apparently is a location where tradition should abound. Earlier field-work and resulting collections seem to justify this assumption. Still, in 2000 and 2003 it was rather difficult to find much of the traditional lore, the researchers had to concentrate on life-stories mostly. The course of time had brought quite a few changes that had distorted the original situation in this region, and with it the traditional folklore had gone. Sventaja is now part of Lithuania. Latvians are now a minority there, and probably this has increased their will to preserve their own heritage as opposed to that of the surrounding majority. Traditional singing can still be found there without institutional support (no Latvian folklore groups), though life-stories are abundant there as well - compared to any more classical genres