Recordings from the Estonian Folklore Archives 3

Selma Lätt

Selma Lätt writing down fishing practices told by August Truuvert in Kihelkonna parish in 1958. Photo by E. Veskisaar. ERA, Foto 3315.

The folklorist Selma Lätt (1909–1969) is not only one of the collectors of the material in this set but is also one of the performers. When this collection was being prepared she recorded charms and children’s game songs that she had learned as a child from her mother in Halliste. Selma Lätt was born in the village of Morna in the Karksi Parish. Later she lived in various places in the Halliste and Paistu Parishes where her parents rented land. In 1929 she entered the University of Tartu and as of 1933 she worked in the Estonian Folklore Archives (after the war known as the Department of Folklore at the Museum of Literature) where she was known primarily as a researcher of wedding and calender customs. She was the editor of works on a variety of different areas of folklore.