Dievturība was first established in 1925, based on ancient Latvian folklore, old folk songs and stories. It is not identical to the beliefs of the ancient Latvians themselves. For example, there is no evidence that the ancients divided their deities into groups of three; in Dievturība, Dievs, Māra and Laima are a trinity of fate gods and goddesses.
Ernest Brastins (1892-1942) was the person mainly responsible for the early developed of Dievturība. He was an artist, an amateur historian, a folklorist and an archaeologist. He documented many ancient Latvian temples and castles, writing Index of Mythological Notions of Latvju Dainas.
Dievturiba is essentially a monotheistic religion. Other deities are either aspects of the one god, or other types of non-deific spirits. In Dievturiba, several triumvirates of deities and concepts are recognized.
Gods of fate, the primary triumvirate
Dievs (who is the one monotheistic god and emanates the others as aspect of himself)
The difference between dvēsele ("soul") and velis ("astral body") is a fine one. The dvēsele is eternal. It comes from god (Dievs) and will return to him after the death of the miesa. The velis stays near the body, gradually melting and disappearing over time (similar to the concept of a ghost).
External link
Dievturi writings (http://www.ailab.lv/dievturi/d.htm) - mostly in Latvian, but one article in English
The mythological system of dievturiba includes several trinities - the trinity of deities (Dievs - Mara - Laima, three deities of fate), the three-partiality of a human being (consisting of flesh, soul and 'velis' - astral body).
According to dievturiba the human being consists of three parts - miesa, dvesele, velis (the flesh, the soul and - causing the greatest problems in translation - the astral body).
According to dievturiba, the soul is eternal, it comes from the god and goes back to him after the death of the body where it lives according to the experience and deeds during the human lifetime.
Dievturiba in fact is a free arrangement of ideas found in different song texts, freely chosen from the corpus of Latvju Dainas.
To a great extent the idea of the importance of dainas as the only indigenous source as well as their great age was cultivated by Dievturiba, so was also the set of the basic features of a Latvian.
Dievturiba is still known among Latvians, both in Latvia, where it has the rights equal to those of any other religion, and among the Latvians in exile.
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