The Latvian Flag, Hidden in a Maiden’s Headdress

This folk costume was created as Marija Zapāns’ graduation project at the women’s vocational school of the Latgale Roman Catholic cultural promotion society “Saule” in Daugavpils. The threads from which the skirt was woven were spun and dyed by Marija’s mother using plant dyes. It is said that when Latvia was first occupied during WWII, Marija sewed the colours of the Latvian flag into the maiden’s headdress as a way of protesting against what was happening. When she fled Latvia in 1944, Marija took the folk costume with her. After several years in refugee camps in Germany, Marija and her family emigrated to Australia, where she died relatively young. The folk costume with the family legend of the Latvian colours sewn into the headdress was inherited by Marija’s brother, Jānis Vanags.