Veli

Basics Latvian culture, along with Lithuanian, is among the oldest surviving Indo-European culture. Much of its symbolism (for example, the "fire cross" or swastika) is ancient. Its seasons, festivals, and numerous deities reflect the essential agrarian nature of Latvian tribal life. These seasons and festivals are still noted, if not also celebrated today—for example, Jāņi is a national holiday.
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v. veil, cover, mist, cloud, dim, conceal, shroud

n. veil, film, shroud, cover, gauze, velum

n. conservator, curator, custodian, guardian, patron

[Latvian] The dead souls, no adequate translation available. The Veli are sometimes connected with the appearance of rolling grey clouds, although some scholars tend to connect it with velns - "the devil". They are the living dead, continuing their lives in the realm of Velu mate - some kind of a parallel world, an underworld. Sometimes differentiated from the souls (dveseles), sometimes not, they mingle with the living at important events. There is a period in autumn, when Veli are expected to revisit their homes. Ritual meals are prepared for them then. In dievturiba there is a theory of a trinity within a human being, consisting of miesa ("the flesh"), dvesele ("the soul") and velis ("the astral body"). Still, there is no text mentioning all these three together, velis and dvesele mutually substitute each other. Velis and Vels are sometimes mixed, allowing again the explanation of Velns as a form of Veli, or a deity of the dead (Stenders 1783).

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