Lāčupes cemetery is a serene wooded oasis just north of the industrial neighborhood of Iļģuciems in Riga, located in the Kleistu Forest. The cemetery was opened in the late 19th century and grew quickly as the population of Riga rapidly increased. Prior to the Soviet-era it was known as St. Lazarus (Lācara) Cemetery, but the Soviet regime was eager to change all names with religious connotations to secular names. The name ‘Lāčupes’, meaning ‘bear’s paw’ refers to a farm that was located nearby.
The cemetery became a popular place for the members of St. Martin’s Lutheran Church to be laid to rest, as the small cemetery just adjacent to the church was quite small. Lāčupes cemetery is the final resting place for people from all walks of life, including notable figures, war dead, country peasants and native-born Rigans. The first of my husband’s family to be buried here was Anna Rozenvalds, who passed away in 1914.
It is part of Latvian tradition for families to maintain and care for their loved ones’ graves, just like cultivating and caring for a garden. This includes both a summer and an autumn ceremony to visit and clean up graves at cemeteries around the country. During the autumn ceremony friends and family light candles in little jars all throughout the forest that act as a beautiful vigil to remember those who have passed on.
If no one is left to take care of a grave, it will eventually be resold to someone else. Today new burials are not even allowed at Lāčupes cemetery due to boundary constraints, so reuse of graves is the only way to include new burials. A site needs to have been abandoned for 20 years or more to be resold and the cost of appropriate removal of previous grave items and the restoration of the site is paid for by the new patron. This is what must have happened to Anna Rozenvalds’s grave because today there is someone else in that space.
The next of the family to be buried here were my husband’s great-grandparents, Žanis Zekants (died 1915) and Emilija Rozentals (died 1917). It has been quite hard to locate their graves exactly due to how much time has passed, but there is a chance that no one else has taken that spot. I don’t know if Žanis or Emilija ever had grave markers but I suspect if they did, they were made of wood since it was war time when they were buried. All wooden crosses and grave markers were stolen and used for firewood during those harsh times during WWI. The location of their graves in the old record style is “24-4” according to the cemetery records.
The last of the family, that I know of, to be buried here was the daughter of Andrejs Zekants and her husband, Emilija and Haralds Abiks, in the 1980s. I don’t know why Kristaps and Anna Rozenvalds (the parents of Emilija Rozentals Zekants) were not buried here as well, but the cemetery has no record of any burials under those names.
In general, Latvian cemeteries, especially large ones like Lāčupes, are spaces of quiet reflection and serenity, with an atmosphere dominated by towering trees, plants and dirt paths. Grave markers are usually roughly hewn to replicate natural rocks which means they sit well in the natural surroundings rather than trying to stand out. It is as if the ones who have passed on are being looked after and protected by nature herself.
If you would like more information about this cemetery or would like to search online burials, over 70,000 graves at Lāčupes cemetery have been added to the online database: https://www.cemety.lv/public/cemeteries/35
Beautiful cemetery. I like the tradition of families and friends taking care of their loved one’s grave. I am not sure how I feel about reusing abandoned graves. Twenty years is not very long for an abandonment. I came back to my hometown after a 50 year absence.