by Jace Jordan, University of Helsinki
A crucial element of resiliency, be it on a state, community, or individual level, is a rooted sense of cultural identity. A cohesive identity provides a state and its citizens an element of ontological security and stability in responding to and evolving through crises. However, creating and maintaining this sense of identity often proves challenging, particularly when neighboring actors threaten that narrative, or even attempt to co-opt it as their own. Such is the identity conflict common between the Baltic states and the modern-day Russian state, as they both seek to rediscover their own, distinct cultural heritage in a post-Soviet world.
A defining battleground upon which these identity wars have been fought has been in the realm of fairytales. Fairytales serve as a primary basis for national identity, providing heroes, value structures, and characteristics that both the nation and the individuals can rally behind. Latvia has a particularly rich fairytale history, as its capital city Riga was a primary port in medieval trading routes and a proud member of the culturally-rich and diverse Hanseatic League.
One fairytale cherished in Latvia was that of the “Bremen Musicians.” The tale tells of a donkey, dog, cat, and rooster, who, having been abused and sentenced to death, all courageously defy this fate and set out to obtain a new life as musicians in Bremen.
To the Hanseatic states, the fairytale demonstrated how courage can lead to freedom and prosperity and foster a cultural will to defy oppressors. Yet, oppressors still came.
With the formation of the Soviet Union, the communist regime’s leaders (heavily influenced by Maxim Gorky) decided that the fairytales of the newly-occupied states were culturally too powerful to destroy, and so they sought to co-opt and “sovietify” them instead. In the case of Latvia, this meant that the fairytale of the “Bremen Musicians” was stolen, repurposed with new values, and made into a state-sponsored animated film that became a staple of Soviet culture and identity. Thus, the struggle to regain this element of identity began.
No sooner had the Soviet Union fallen was a statue of the “Musicians” erected prominently behind Riga’s St. Peter’s Church. The statue significantly shows the animals emerging through a metal divide, representing the future found beyond the Iron Curtain. Latvia had thus regained their fairytale and with it their claim to an identity rooted in courage, prosperity, and freedom.
However, the identity conflict is not yet over. As the Russian Federation attempts to “rehabilitate” its own national narrative, the songs and messages from the Soviet’s version of the tale have resurfaced, most recently in the form of a propagandistic music-video campaign promoting Russia’s nuclear program. Though there may never be a clear victor to this identity tug-of-war, this case makes clear the role fairytales play in fostering resilient identities. Whether it be through the “Bremen Musicians” or other forms, fairytales will continue to be a key tool in fostering resilience in the Baltic states as they navigate the geopolitical complexities of the 21st century.
- This blog is a part of a blog series written by the BAMSE Riga intensive course students. The blog series analyses the concept of resilience from five different viewpoints: democracy in crises, regional responses, social consequences, relevance of history politics and cultural approaches. This blog belongs to the cultural approaches to resilience part of the blog series. Read more about the blog series on Bamse News & Events website.