First steps in sex. The 19^th century.

A volume of Latvian folk songs was included in that list with a note that the book may be handed to scientists in large libraries. The same also happened to a volume of folk jokes. Both books comprised the folklore items that openly touched sexual relations, and their publishers printed all less-frequently-used words in full spelling.

It seems that the scientists did not seize this unique opportunity. I have never heard of any serious (and even not so serious) investigation of Latvian folk nighttime sexual behavior, customs, traditions and moral, at least they were not published here after the WW2. Neither I have any intention to fill the gap with the ROOTS=SAKNES.

I just wanted to give some information how the people began to be involved in sexual matters when no Internet sites with XXX information were available, and even brochures on sexual relations were not yet printed, which happened in the 1890s, as far as I know.

I imagine that in the region of Latvia of the 19^th century the people in farms got some initial hints at sexual relations rather soon just by listening what is going on in nights in the great room, where all the farm people including the married couples were sleeping; later the theoretical background was taught by the folklore items now gathered in the above mentioned volumes, but the best place, where the real know-how of love making was acquired, was the barn.

The barn

H.Spaull in her book wrote the following about barns:

The farm house is usually surrounded by a number of outhouses. One of these is the barn or "Klets," as the Latvians call it. This is not only used to store the corn and salt meat for the winter, but it contains numerous heavy chests, usually brightly painted, filled with the Sunday clothes and other valuables of the family.

But the "Klets" is not only a place in which to store things. It serves as a bedroom for occasional guests, and when a wedding takes place at the farm the bridal pair spend the night there before leaving for their new home. It is in the Klets, too, that the farmer—or any member of his household — when he dies, is placed, under a roof of straw, before being laid to rest in the churchyard.

I have found nothing to argue with in this quotation, though I should say that the informants of H.Spaull did not tell her that Latvians quite frequently used the diminutive klētiņa for klēts, and, what is much more important for this Page, she was not explained what else was klētiņa good for.

It was rather uncomfortable to sleep inside a farmhouse in summer time. Firstly, some 15 or more persons were to sleep in one room, so the air was not very fresh, secondly, the stove for preparing the meals was heated every day, and the great oven in the room was heated regularly, I think once a week, because the bread had to be baked, so it was warm in the room. Normally in summer time the young ladies of a farm went to sleep in klētiņa. Why mainly the young ladies? Because the young men during night time slept in pasture where they guarded the herding horses. The horses had not so much time to eat during day time, and they were herd in nights and were obligatory guarded. The horse thefts were not rare, and, if a horse was stolen, the loss was very great - the owner was in fact ruined. When hay was made and stored in a shed, then the people slept in the hayloft also.

I hope it is clear I have described only the general scheme that could deviate in any direction rather considerably. For example, a retired soldier, who lived in a small house on a small piece of land, had no barn and no horse, thus all these problems were quite far of him. And the people, who had horses and herded them, cooperated, so it was not obligatory to go to pasture every night. And farm hosts frequently had a separate room for themselves, so their daughters had less reasons for going to sleep somewhere else. And in many farmhouses the second room without any heating existed and was used for sleeping in summer time. And nobody prohibited men from sleeping in a barn, especially if several buildings of this type existed in the farm.

Now, when young ladies slept in a klētiņa and young men in a pasture, it happened that the thoughts of not the highest moral standards visited them, and some young men left the pasture in order to went back to their own farm or to a neighboring farm and to enter the klētiņa there. Of course, if the doors were unlocked, and they were allowed to get in. What happened now in the klētiņa? Usually the young people were chaste and just chattered about some problems interesting for them though not about the most interesting one. It is easy to realize, however, that nobody took the effort to go a good way in night to meet a girl he did not like at all. And, vice versa, if somebody was let in a klētiņa, it meant that he was of some interest for somebody sleeping there.

Whatever were the initial intention of the young people, who came together in the darkness of a klētiņa, it is quite clear that the situation was rather slippy, and the initially chaste behavior could change after some visits, and some experiments of sexual nature could be started. According to the public moral, the extramarital sexual relations were not blamed seriously, if the young man had declared that he was going to marry the girl. From the legal point of view such declaration was an equivalent of the betrothal. (See more about the marital legislation in another page.) Strictly speaking, no sexual intercourse of a betrothed couple was also permitted, but everybody understood that this was just a formal requirement, if the marriage had followed. So, if a young man had promised to marry a lady, both could start to investigate in a klētiņa what the life of married people would be looking like.

The literature of the 19^th century in Latvia (and in other European countries) created a huge number of novels and stories about the tragedies of girls who were promised to be married, then were seduced and became pregnant and were not married afterwards. These really were tragedies, but I do not think, however, that the promises of this kind were never kept. At the contrary, I am sure, that if something happened, the young people, as a rule, got married in next autumn or winter, but I have no statistics, of course. I just think that the dull regular cases were not discussed and described in fiction stories. And, please, be sure, in most cases no premarital sexual relations were exercised.

I suppose it is important to say once more that only the general scheme is described. The klētiņa was not the only place where such things could occur, and it is known that in rare regions the visiting of girls in klētiņa did not become a custom.

The klētiņa system is widely covered by numerous folklore items and is also described by the written literature. To tell the truth, I thought for all my life that these sources poetically exaggerated the importance of the klētiņa in the sexual experience of Latvian peasants. The real court protocols I have studied and have published here (see below) changed my understanding of the processes. But first I propose to read the story about Made and Kaspars told by J.Stūlis in his book of childhood memories.

Made and Kaspars

At the beginning the translation of a short fragment from this book is given. It deals with the situation in the 1830s.

When my mother was a small girl, a young active maid Made, who lived in the village, felt in love with a young fisherman Kaspars. At that time and also in my teenager time a custom still existed - the visiting of girls during summer nights; those who were known, of course. A guy went to a girl, sat at the side of the bed, chattered a while, sometimes even laying down aside the girl, of course, not undressing. It happened sometimes that one climbed up the attic of a farmhouse, a barn or a cattleshed, if girls slept there in hay. It may also happen that a girl climbed up and pulled the ladder with her, but a fit guy could get up using a pole. In some cases a guy brought a small ladder with him. Kaspars also once visited Made and, while chattering with her, laid down aside her in hay. They talked a while, and Kaspars said farewell. Made, talking with other girls, began to boast that she would soon marry Kaspars. The other girls told Kaspars about the intention of Made, but he said he would not be going to marry anybody.

Made did not give up. She arranged her clothes so that she looked like a pregnant woman and paid a visit to the Pastor of the parish. She claimed that Kaspars had promised to marry her, seduced her, now she was pregnant, but Kaspars did not wish anymore to marry her. The Pastor was Georg Christian Schmidt born in 1781 in Mecklenburg. He was a German by ethnicity and spoke Latvian, though his knowledge of the language was not excellent. Additionally he was a lover of strong drinks and not always came into the depth of the problems he was dealing with, at least this was the information of J.Stūlis.

In Made's case the Pastor did the following. He informed the parish on the next Sunday that Kaspars should pay a call to him in his manor. When Kaspars arrived, the Pastor was not very kind to him and asked at once why he did not marry Made. Kaspars tried to explain that he was never intended to, but the Pastor asked whether he had slept with her. Kaspars confessed he had. Here it should be explained that identical words are used in the Latvian language for to sleep and to lay, what the Pastor evidently did not pay much attention to. And this was the trap for Kaspars - he thought he told Pastor he had been laid aside Made, but the Pastor thought that Kaspars had a sexual event with Made, and, as he knew the maid was pregnant, he made the evident conclusion, informed Kaspars about it and insisted he should marry the girl. Kaspars was not sure that merely laying near a maid could make her pregnant, but he was not a fellow who might have an argument with the Pastor. Thus Kaspars and Made were joined in matrimony, two years later the first child came in the world, and they lived happily many years.

Documents of Trikāta perish

Trikāta is situated a long way from Bigauņciems, where J.Stūlis lived. Nevertheless, it is clear from the documents I have published here that the people in Trikāta were also active in the special lifestyle of klētiņa. The documents of Trikata parish that present premarital relations are gathered in the special Page, two of these documents directly speak about the events occurred in a klētiņa:

The condoms had already been invented then, but, I am afraid, hardly anybody in Trikāta have heard of them. The woman's natural cycle of fertility was not well understood up to the 1930s, so the counting of days of the menstrual cycle in order to find days, when one should abstain from intercourse, was not known at all. And perhaps it would be a too complicated calculation for a women of country side, as it is possible to conclude from the incident with Z.Ērmanis who went to a doctor for a gynecological investigation, but, when she arrived there, it was discovered that the bleeding began. If even she knew the secret how to calculate the next menstruation, she did not think it was very important to predict the bleeding. The last method of birth-control that might be used in Trikata and maybe even really was used is douching, but I know nothing about the real practice.