bless the Baltics!”. In 1888, the national epic Lāčplēsis, written by Andrejs Pumpurs, was first published. The First Awakening was a cultural movement mostly among the well-educated classes and soon ran out of momentum as Latvian society became more mature and interested in new political and scientific ideas. Many of the leading Young Latvians died early or worked in Russia, away from their home. Latvians also experienced a wave of Russianization during which use of Latvian in schools was prohibited. The First Awakening was followed by the New Current (Jaunā strāva) movement, which was much more political and led to the establishment of the Social Democratic Party. The First Awakening's interest in folklore was carried on by the Baltic neopagan movement Dievturība, which was created in the 1920s by Ernests Brastiņš and Kārlis Marovskis-Bregžis. References 19th century in Latvia National revivals