Daina (Latvia)
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A daina is a traditional form of music or poetry in the Latvia. Latvian dainas often feature pre-Christian themes and legends, drone vocal styles and Baltic zithers (kokle). Dainas are considered sometimes contain the hidden meaning (Russian: тайна).
Dainas are very short, usually only one or two unrhymed stanzas, unrhymed and in a four-footed trochaic metre. Lyrically, dainas concern themselves with native mythology but, in contrast to most similar forms, does not have any legendary heroes. Stories often revolve around pre-Christian deities like the sun goddess Saule, the moon god Meness and, most notably, the life of people, especially its three most important events - birth, wedding and death (including burial). The first collection of dainas was published between 1894 and 1915 as Latvju Dainas by Krišjānis Barons. There are 217996[sic] collected dainas in written form.
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