Headdresses of young women
In the olden days, Latvian women were familiar with a wide
range of headdresses and special attention was paid to decorating the head, as
it was unacceptable to leave the house without a headdress. Headdresses had not
only a functional, but also a symbolic meaning. Their wearing is related to the
wearer's age, the specific occasion, as well as the wearer's family status. The
headdresses of maidens and wives were different, and their wearing was
determined by the existing traditions. The headdresses worn by maidens were a
symbol of honour. Presumably, according to centuries-old traditions, the right
to wear a crown was given to a girl upon reaching a certain age. Younger girls
were not allowed to wear a crown until they reached this age.
The crown was made and kept as a sacred thing, it was not an
everyday jewellery. Wreaths were kept as a special memory and handed down to a
daughter or sister, from generation to generation. Young women
made their own crowns, inherited them, and the wealthy women also purchased them. The more luxurious headdresses were worn only for traditional rites and when going out, simple
self-woven scarves were worn at home and at work.
The crown was placed straight on the middle of the head, and
it was not lowered below the hairline. The wearer of an angled crown was
considered unworthy. Hair style was also important when wearing a crown. The
hair was braided in one or two braids - parted in the middle and smoothly twisted and braided on each side. Colorful
ribbons were woven into the ends of the braids. When wearing a hairpin or
ribbon, the hair was arranged in a special way. Folkloric materials emphasize
that long, thick braids were one of the indicators of a maiden's beauty.
When a young woman got married, she lost the right to wear a
crown and had to wear the headdress of wives. In some regions, there were also
special bridal crowns. These crowns were borrowed for the wedding, because they
were decorated with glass pearls, beads and various other decorations, all of
which were very expensive.
Removing the crown was a special wedding tradition - mičošana,
which we still know and occasionally participate in today. When the bride got
married, the crown was removed and the wife's hat was put on her. This marked the
end of her youth and the beginning of a married wife's journey.
Archaeological headdresses
By examining the antiques and fabric fragments found in the burial sites, it is possible to reconstruct the clothes, jewelry, as well as headpieces worn in the 7th-13th centuries. Young women wore crowns and hairbands, and
married wives wore headdresses. The oldest material of women's headdresses that
has survived to this day is metal. Ancient crowns were made of bronze spirals.
As evidenced by archaeological excavations, bronze spiral
crowns were worn in all three of the Baltic states. In 12th and 13th century the
women of Latgale and Augšzeme wore crowns of glass beads attached to a brown-reddish
fabric base. Liv women wore decorated hair ribbons around their heads, which remained as a type of headdress in Northern and Western Vidzeme’s folk costumes
until the 19th century.
Ethnographic headdresses
The ethnographic costumes date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, the materials for which were collected during expeditions. The main source of research and reconstruction of ethnographic costumes is the Latvian National Museum of History, which has the largest and most complete collection of folk costumes (about 15,600 items). Although Latvia is a small country, the ethnographic material available to us is very diverse and extensive.
The most common and characteristic type of headdress of
maidens in the Latvian folk costume of the 18th and 19th centuries were acorn wreaths. According to the way they are made, they are divided into soft and hard wreaths. Soft crowns are characteristic of Vidzeme, Latgale and Augšzeme
counties, while hard ones are characteristic of Kurzeme. The oldest crowns have
a geometric ornament, while the younger ones usually have a flower ornament.
The oldest type of wreaths are made of metal. The ancient
Zemgale wreaths of the 16th century were worn in the 19th century along with an
ethnographic dress. In Kurzeme, the spangu wreath was worn up until the
beggining of 20th century.
Hay wreaths and ribbons were also often worn as headdresses. The wreaths can be divided into metal, acorn and horsehair wreaths according to their material and type of decoration. The function of a crown was also fulfilled by tied wreaths, kaspīnes, and ribbons.
Vidzeme
Ribbons and crowns were worn in North Vidzeme. In the
eastern part of the region, red crowns embroidered with gold brocade and beads
were worn, but the further west, the less common crowns were. The most
popular headdress of young women in Northern Vidzeme was mataukla,
which was a long, self-woven or purchased red ribbon with flower patterns sewn
into the ends. The ribbon was wrapped around the head so that the front edge on
the forehead was up to the hairline or slightly above it, and tied in a bow at
the back of the head, letting the ends hang down on the back. The lower the
ends hung, the better the women looked, but only rarely did they drop below the
knees.
In Rūjiena, women braided their hair in two sections,
wrapped each one along its side around the head and tied it under the back of
the head. In this hairstyle, the ends of the mataukla did not extend below the
waist. The peculiar decoration of mataukla - stylized floral motifs
- could be borrowed from the neighbors - Estonians. Young women in North
Vidzeme also wore crowns of glass beads, which were usually made of red broadcloth fabric about 6 cm wide.
In West Vidzeme, maidens wore purchased, factory-made silk or
woolen matauklas - usually red or sometimes green - around their heads. The ends
of the red hairpins were embroidered with colored woolen threads, sometimes
with glass beads. The maidens in this region also wore silk scarves and
colorful silk ribbons on their heads.
Eastern Vidzeme women also wore acorn wreaths; they were made on the basis of a red, less often blue or gray fabric.
They varied in size and layout pattern. In some places, the wreaths were
supplemented with bronze or brass leaves sewn along the upper edge. The women
of Lielvārde region wore crowns embroidered with very fine beads on red fabric.
It is the most magnificent and complete creation, artistically high in
composition. They are the tallest crowns without a lining in Latvia (up to 12
cm), when you put them on your head, the top edge falls towards the middle. The
maidens of Krustpils region wore acorn crowns of different widths, but narrower
crowns than elsewhere in Vidzeme are the most characteristic of the region.
Additional wreaths were sewn on a black or dark blue background. They were the
width of the palm, and the crown's only decoration was a row of colored beads
in the middle of the crown.
Latgale
The crowns of Latgale women were made of red fabric, were
decorated with colored glass beads and were worn up until the first half of
the 19th century. The crowns of the Southern Latgale region are wider and the
pearls are coarser than in Eastern Vidzeme. The head ornaments of the women of
North Latgale region were red crowns decorated with small beads. Bead
embroidery in the crown is associated with flower motifs.
Augšzeme
Both narrower and wider crowns of red fabric, decorated with
acorn patterns, can be found in Augšzeme. Wreaths were made in the 18th and
19th century and worn until the middle of the 19th century. The use of coarse
straw makes the wreaths a bit heavy, but very decorative. The most
characteristic feature of flat crowns is a conical shape with a slightly
narrowed top. Ilūkste's crown is unique, with a blue silk ribbon sewn on top of
the beaded pattern, to which small roses of pink fabric are sewn.
In the collection of the Latvian History Museum, there is an
interesting item called a "hair braid". It has been said that in the past they were worn around the head like a tied wreath, letting the
ends hang beautifully over the back. It is not possible to demonstrate its
wearing, but it is believed to have been tied around the head in the same way
as in 7th-13th century Selonia’s wreath. Such crowns were made by weaving
bronze spirals on threads of wool yarn and arranging them in several parallel
rows.
Zemgale
Zemgale was the first region to be affected by urban
culture, so the traditions of wearing folk costumes were the fastest disappearing there. Already in the 19th century, silk scarves were worn with the ceremonial attire in Zemgale. Information about the wearing of wreaths embroidered with
beads has been preserved through spoken word, but the Tērvete crown in the
Latvian National History Museum was acquired in 1930.
Rich reference materials about the 16th century decorated
bronze wreaths and their fragments are stored in the Department of Archeology of
the Latvian National History Museum. Wreaths were made from a strip of bronze,
decorated in the cizelēšanas technique, where the ornament is
pressed into the bronze from the left side. On the right side, it appears in
the form of ridges. The pattern of the wreath decorations is geometric,
and their width is from 2.5 to 10.7 cm. For the narrowest wreaths, the decorations
were arranged in a row. The pattern of the widest wreaths is usually
three-part, with the pattern of the middle part being dominant. 16th century
imitation wreaths are worn today with ethnographic costumes from the 19th
century.
Kurzeme
In Kurzeme, the traditions of wearing folk costumes and the
oldest headdresses of maidens - metal wreaths - were preserved up until the
beginning of the 20th century. They have undergone a significant development -
from the crown of bronze spirals to the spangu wreath, which were worn up
until the 19th century.
The wreaths were worn by young women of Ventspils, Kuldīga
and Alsunga regions. Round perforated metal discs were called spangas and were
lined up along the edges of the metal hoop and sewn to the base of the crown.
In the past, tree bark was used for the base, but later it was cardboard, which
was covered with red or green woolen fabric.
In Southern Kurzeme, young women wore luxurious, tall, upright
wreaths. They were stuck on a rigid poplar or birch bark, and were
decorated with brocade ribbons. The wreaths of Nīca and Bārta were made with a
strongly widened upper edge and the wreath formed a cone that ends with large
faceted glass beads on top. A silver ribbon was sewn on the lower edge of the wreath, and a gilded zigzag ribbon on the upper edge. When wearing the wreath,
hair had to be braided. Carrying the wreath required skill as it was heavy and
could easily fall. In Rucava, which is a neighboring parish of Nīca and Bārta,
no crowns are worn, but a special braid of hair is decorated with a ribbon.
These ribbons presumably came from Lithuanian folk costumes and were the most
common head ornaments of young women in this region. Most often they were red
silk ribbons decorated with floral motifs and ornaments.
The oldest headdress of young Northern Kurzeme women was a wreath, which was made by embroidering a red wool fabric with glass straws and beads. The pattern of the crown decoration consisted of a round sun, which was
very common in folk costumes of Talsi. Up until the middle of the 19th century,
the headdresses in East Kurzeme region were a wide wreath of red cloth sewn on a poplar or birch base, richly decorated with glass straws and beads. It seems that
the spread of acorn wreaths in this area was connected with the access to glass
furnaces.
