Songs, sermons and stories

Herrnhutian texts were largely designed to help readers or listeners develop their understanding and practice of Christianity. At meetings, hymns and music helped to provide a sense of ritual, and communal singing and the playing of musical instruments were encouraged.

Symbolic communal meals and sermons were always accompanied by song, and singing lessons were organised. The songs were translated or composed by the German brethren. Over time, Latvian Herrnhutians also began to write lyrics and perhaps also some melodies. Their songs are characterised by a powerful upsurge of emotion, with emphasis placed on a closeness to Jesus, and especially the suffering of Jesus – 'the poetics of blood and wounds'. Many songs were improvised for the needs of specific situations and rituals. With their focus on inner experience and mysticism, baroque religious cultural traits also feature in these songs.

Another type of Herrnhutian text was the homily or sermon. These were designed to move listeners and enable them to identify themselves in specific life situations through the mirror of Christian ethics. They were mainly intended to be read in public or recited from memory. The sermons were specifically addressed to groups of Herrnhutians, such as girls, boys, married couples and children. For example, sermons for children talked about Jesus’s childhood, so that children could identify with Jesus as a person. Sermon reciters were known as sacītāju tētiņi (speaker fathers). They interpreted the Bible and often enjoyed more popularity than local pastors. Not all pastors were happy with this.

Devotional literature was not intended for ritual needs, but was intended to be read by individuals, looking after Christians’ spiritual growth and the reinforcement of their piety. It was precisely under the influence of this literature that the first generations of Latvian writers evolved, who then continued to narrate incidents from life around them in secular contexts. The concept of 'devotional' literature was originally formed from the idea of building the church as a congregation, gradually moving to individual Christians’ inner experience and the strengthening of faith. In German-speaking countries, from which the Vidzeme Unity of Brethren writers also drew their literary samples, devotional literature was the most read literature until the middle of the 18th century.

One example of devotional literature is Those stories of those days the son of man was on earth – a Latvian translation of the retelling of the life of Jesus written by Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf. This retelling of the events depicted in the New Testament was translated by the Dean of Cēsis, Heinrich Baumann. It begins with the story of the miraculous conception of John the Baptist and ends with the ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven after the events of Pentecost,. The version held by the National Library of Latvia - a manuscript book bound in brown leather covers - is a copy made in 1801. The handwriting of the unknown transcriber is very similar to that of Baumann, suggesting that the writer copied Baumann’s translation intentionally and with great care.

Over time, religious boundaries were extended, and secular works were also written – for example, Ķikuļa Jēkabs wrote the protest letter in verse and J. Pulans and Jānis Ruģens wrote historical treatises on Latvian past. Writing marked out the path to Latvians' cultural emancipation.