A Folk Costume Inherited From an Aunt

Making the Bārta folk costume was Anna Trops’ graduation project at the Višķi State School of Horticulture and Home Economics in the 1930s. The Trops family took it with them when fleeing Latvia at the end of WWII. Anna Trops wore her self-made folk costume while singing in the refugee camp choir in Neuötting, Germany, and later, in the US, in the Detroit Latvian Choir. After Anna’s death in 1958, the folk costume was inherited by her brother’s daughter Valentīna Pradenas (née Trops). The folk costume was often worn when performing with the Latvian choir in Detroit, later with the choir led by Bruno Skulte in New York, as well as with the kokle ensemble led by Andrejs Jansons. Valentīna also wore the national costume to political demonstrations demanding the restoration of Latvia’s independence. As the shirt had become very threadbare over the years, Valentīna made a new shirt by copying the old one. Valentīna bought the brooches in America.