Pagan Latvian Deities  Note: CE = in the Common Era; it has
replaced A.D. (Anno Domini) in most scholarly texts.  The
conversion of the Latvians to Catholic Christianity began in the
900's (CE) &mdash by the Danes in western Latvia, and by the
Russians (to the Greek Orthodox version of Christianity) in
eastern and north-eastern Latvia. Thus, we find that the Latvian
word for "church" (baznīca) is derived from a Russian word of
the same meaning.  German missionaries and crusaders made a
concerted effort to covert the inhabitants of Latvia (then
called "Livland") beginning in the late 1100's. However, it
seems that there was always a lack of clergymen willing to serve
in rural parishes (i.e. outside of the capital city of Rīga).
Furthermore, the Latvians were always a different social class
than the Germans: the Latvians were almost all serfs. As a
result, it seems, that Christianity had a very weak impact on
the Latvians, and that most were practically, if not,
officially, pagans until well into the second mi