Men's festive costume. Courland Province, Kuldiga District

Latvians

late 19th - early 20th century

Traditionally, men's festive attire was reserved for young men of marriageable age. Characteristic features of the masculine attire among the peoples of the Eastern Baltic (Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, and Finns) included a wide-brimmed hat, a cloth caftan or semi-caftan, a scarf, and a fibula—a decorative fastening for the shirt collar. The distinctiveness of the festive and ritual attire of older people (men and women) lay in the archaic nature of the costumes, as, according to folk tradition, clothing was prepared during adolescence—to last a lifetime. It was not customary to sew new clothes for the elderly, so on church or family occasions, the elderly wore the "old-fashioned" costumes they had worn in their youth.

Costume