The national folk costume – a symbol of a homeland lost

Despite everything they had gone through, Latvians maintained active communities in the refugee camps.Folk costumes, either brought from Latvia or made on the spot, were used as both festive and formal clothes with which to represent Latvia. The folk costumes became a symbol of the lost homeland – Latvians wore them to political demonstrations, national commemorations, and visits by politicians. Folk costumes, as well as dolls dressed in folk costumes, were given as gifts to non-Latvians – Latvians in the Memmingen refugee camp made a Nīca folk costume as a wedding gift for Princess Elizabeth, the English Crown Princess, while Latvians living in Sweden presented a wedding present to Queen Silvia – a traditional Bārta shawl made by Dzidra Ciparsone.