Our written language is relatively young. All the ancient histories, fairytales, neighbour's stories, songs and charms were memorized. The preservers of unrecorded events were mostly women. Tellers pass on the living folklore from generation to generation. Things that actually have taken place in the history of the nation is any story’s essence that in the mind of the teller has added on all kinds of fantastic details  obscuring the rational.

Legends narrated by tellers may be long forgotten memories of a harsh reality. Interestingly, the best tellers of fairytales and riddles tend to be men; women are usually better at folk songs and dainas. Any Latvian can tell you a heroic tale or a ghost story. Folksongs or dainas are like short lyrical poems, rhythmical quatrains impossible to translate accurately into other languages. Dainas have been created and recited while doing the chores, celebrating and feasting. Krišjānis Barons was the first  to collect and systemise them, originally by arranging the quatrains written on small leaflets in a specially made cabinet. The Folk Song Cabinet is literally our national treasure ― more than two million dainas are stored inside, which means that each and every Latvian can claim at least one as his or her own. UNESCO has listed the Cabinet among the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Our scientists, students and researchers still go on field trips to record the testimonies to the spiritual riches of the past. The narrators are still around.