Stamp SET of LATVIA 1993 - 2005 - Latvian folk costumes and traditional mittens

Description

STAMP SET OF LATVIA
1993 - 2005 - Latvian folk costumes and traditional mittens
(14 stamps)
There are many variations of Latvian folk costume. In every cultural-historic or ethnographic region, be it Vidzeme, Latgale, Augšzeme, Zemgale or Kurzeme, it is quite peculiar and unique. The complexity of the traditional costume is striking, especially if we bear in mind that in the old times the costumes were entirely hand-made.
How long did it take one to create a new festive costume? If we follow the entire process from the very beginning, it would take at least a year to complete. The materials used were mainly flax and wool. To get wool, one had to shear sheep, wash the sheep’s wool, dry it, comb it and then gently spin it by hand. Processing flax involved an even greater effort: in order to get fiber and yarn out of the long rigid stalk, linen had to be mercilessly soaked, crushed, and hackled – it took about ten operations altogether to make flax suitable for weaving. A natural linen canvas is grayish in colour, so the canvases had to be bleached by the sun, a process which took a long time.
Until the mid-19th century, the only dyes used in Latvia were natural plant dyes. They mostly dyed wool, and not flax, because flax does not absorb dye well. Some seamstresses today still know the secrets of getting bright, strong colours from plants collected in the meadows, forests, and orchards. The variety of colours and tones is remarkable – colours from black and blue to all shades of yellow, red, green, and brown. In order to obtain the desired result, the timing of picking the plants is just as important as the timing in the dying method. For example, to achieve a bright orange colour you need to collect lichen Parmelia saxatilis in the spring, allow the wool to soak in the dye for forty minutes, and then rinse and dry the soaked wool in the shade.
Traditional Latvian patterns can still be found today on knitted scarves and mittens. In the old days, a bride’s dowry would contain at least few hundred mittens that the bride had knitted herself. The reason for this large quantity was because during the wedding party, the bride was supposed to gift mittens to all of the bridegroom’s relatives and guests, as well as musicians; even the horns of cows that were part of the dowry had to be decorated with mittens.
The best time to behold the beauty and diversity of the national costume is during the Song and Dance Festival, with its traditional grand procession. The tradition dates back to the 19th century. In 2013, over 40 thousand singers and dancers from several hundred choirs and dance ensembles participated in the Festival. Quite impressive, isn’t it? No wonder the Baltic Song and Dance Celebration made the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Latvian mittens are a timeless classic—they also tell the history of Latvia because they have been used in battle by Latvian Riflemen, have travelled to Siberia in exile, and are still used here in Latvia. The patterns and colour combinations of Latvian mittens are endless, but each region of Latvia has its characteristic colours: in Kurzeme—white, grey, red and violet; in Latgale—red, yellow, green and white; in Vidzeme—white, grey, and light brown or green; and, in Zemgale—variations of green and brown tones.
Rich traditions of knitting, wearing, and giving the gift of mittens has developed in Latvia over the course of many centuries. The mitten is not only a common household item, but also a ritual object Latvians give to one another in celebration of life’s most meaningful events—baptisms, weddings, and funerals; as a show of good will; and to symbolise that an agreement has been made. For centuries, master-knitters have encoded the ancient knowledge of our ancestors into their mittens by knitting symbols of power—the Sun, one of the many Latvian Cross symbols, the Morning Star, the Serpent. Mittens not only provided the wearer with warmth and beauty, but also gave protection. Many other symbols, such as “pigs’ eyes”, “nut clusters”, “bees’ wings”, “crows’ feet”, and “hawks’ claws”, were also knitted into these patterns.
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