IFFF Latvia 2025

Newsletter #1 from Latvia 2025

The International Folklore Festival Baltica, in which the Latvian Mycological Society (LMS) took part with a special programme dedicated to mushroom foraging and usage traditions as a significant part of the intangible cultural heritage.

Mushrooms and Mushroom Foraging — An Ancient and Contemporary Tradition
~ by Diana Meiere

Mushroom foraging is an integral part of the Latvian way of life — more than half of the population regularly collects wild mushrooms. Yet mushrooms are not only food. In Latvia, they have long been used in folk medicine, household practices, and traditional customs. Knowledge of ancient uses — such as preparing tinder, preserving mushrooms, and dyeing fibers with lichens — is now endangered.

The International Folklore Festival Baltica, in which the Latvian Mycological Society (LMS) took part with a special programme dedicated to mushroom foraging and usage traditions as a significant part of the intangible cultural heritage.

The festival tent at the foot of the Freedom Monument became a space of living tradition, where the Sulphur Shelf (Laetiporus sulphureus) growing on a walnut trunk served as a symbol — a reminder that mushroom foraging is a living and contemporary cultural practice. LMS represented Latvia with a mushroom-themed programme that combined ancient and modern narratives of science, craftsmanship, and heritage:

• Yarn dyeing with mushroom and lichen pigments
• Tinder workshop using Fomes fomentarius
• Mushroom paper-making workshop
• Mushroom pigment and ink workshop
• Mini mushroom exhibition with freshly collected specimens (including the first bolete of the season!)
• Traditional mushroom recipes
• Educational materials on Latvia’s fungal world

Visitors to the Mycological Society’s tent came from more than 17 countries — including Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Croatia, Turkey, Finland, Canada, the USA, the UK, Cyprus, Germany, Ukraine, Israel, Spain, Italy, Belarus, and New Zealand — sharing their experiences and cultural stories, confirming that mushrooms connect people across borders and language barriers.

LMS reminds that in 2023 mushroom foraging and use was included in Latvia’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Reviving ancient skills is not only about preserving knowledge but also about contributing to emotional well-being, culture, identity, and survival skills in times of crisis.

Each year, LMS organizes Mushroom Days in various regions, offering free mushroom exhibitions and the workshops mentioned above — an opportunity to refresh knowledge, learn something new, and share mushroom stories with mycologists. Moreover, in August 2027 Latvia will host the International Fungi and Fiber Symposium, giving global resonance to our expertise.

Content creators for this project: Diāna Meiere, Andra Simanova, Evita Veinberga.
Supported by: State Culture Capital Foundation (project Mushroom Tracks), Environmental Protection Fund (project Mushroom Basket — a Tool for Promoting a Sustainable Lifestyle).
Informational support for the Latvian Mycological Society is provided by Radio NABA and the mushroom-themed radio programme Micēlijs (https://naba.lsm.lv/lv/naba/raidjumi/micelijs/).

The Latvian Mycological Society was founded in 2003 with the aim of researching mushrooms, slime moulds, and lichens in Latvia, promoting mycological knowledge to the public, and organising various educational activities.

This summer, the Latvian Mycological Society (LMB) gathered mycologists, mushroom enthusiasts, and creative minds for the annual summer camp “Creative Rogovka”. Over the course of three days, participants immersed themselves in mushroom research and took part in hands-on workshops where fungi and lichens served as dyes, pigments, and raw materials. A dedicated mushroom exhibition showcased species collected in the surrounding area — including several rare and protected finds.

The Green Classroom hosted an exhibition of more than 130 species of fungi, 50 lichens, and 6 slime moulds. Mycologists offered expert advice, while ethnomycologists listened to visitors’ personal stories and traditional knowledge about mushroom gathering and usage. In the Daina’s Gardeners’ School workshops, participants dyed yarn with mushrooms, made paper from polypore pulp, and created artwork using mushroom-based inks.

Several rare and protected species were recorded in preparation for the exhibition, among them:

• Truffle- like fungus Choiromyces meandiformis, discovered by LMB Chair Diāna Meiere’s trained truffle dog Hafren in a site shared by local mushroom expert Ēriks Začs;
• Parrot waxcap Gliophorus psittacinus — the 2025 “Mushroom of the Year”;
• Amanita Eliae, Leucoagaricus nympharum, Volvariella bombycina, Phaeolus schweinitzii, several rare Hydnellum species, Geastrum pectinatum, Otidea onotica, Phellodon niger, and the ascomycete Ascotremella faginea, which has no Latvian common name yet.

Some specimens were added to the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Natural History.

One of the most intriguing finds was the beetle infecting fungus Ophiocordyceps entomorrhiza, which infects its insect host and manipulates its behaviour, ensuring the host selects an optimal site for spore dispersal before dying. While harmless to humans, this so-called “zombie fungus” continues to fascinate both scientists and the public. The rare specimen was collected by Marina Slapakova-Pjankova.

The event was supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation, the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund, Daina’s Gardeners’ School, Nautrēni Secondary School, and others.
Informational support for LMB is provided by Radio NABA and the mushroom-themed radio programme Micēlijs (https://naba.lsm.lv/lv/naba/raidjumi/micelijs/).

Find us online:
Facebook group — https://www.facebook.com/latvijasmikologubiedriba
Mushroom identification group — https://www.facebook.com/groups/692171774191013/
YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/@MikoBiedriba