The traditional dress of Estonia is so classy and versatile - Image courtesy "ToBreatheAsOne" (flickr)
Estonia is a European country which is bordered to the west and north by the Baltic Sea, with Lake Peipsi forming a border with Russia to the east. The traditional dress of Estonia is so classy and versatile in its appearance as it was mainly dependent upon the fabrics like wool, linen and sheep skin garment.
Today, we’ll find the Estonians wearing their traditional costumes on festive occasions. Main influences made over the traditional dress of Estonia were by the clothing trends set during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
We must understand that the cultural heritage of Estonia is an inheritance of the Finno-Ugric, Hungarian and Siberian ethnicities who started to dwell in its territories many years ago. In this way, the traditional Estonia was also evolved like a fusion of various cultures and delicacies. Generally, the Estonians are in love with their traditional way of clothing and they are dressed up with their traditional dresses on many festivals, celebrations and national events.
Although Estonia doesn’t have a vast geography or population yet the country has tremendous variations in the folk or traditional costumes. A catalogue kept at the Estonian National Museum called ‘Estonia: Land, People, Culture’, states: –
“Owing to trade contacts between its larger towns, particularly Tallinn and Narva, North Estonia has been receptive to all kinds of innovations. South Estonia has been conspicuously conservative, preserving its cultural traditions, especially in Mulgimaa and Setumaa. On the western Estonian islands (in Kihnu partly even nowadays), as well as in Setumaa, old traditional culture still survived in the first half of the 20th century”.
In the Southern region of Estonia, traditionally the people used to wear old type of the folk costumes having classical designs. Apart from that the people of Northern Estonia adopted the homogeneous type of clothing.
Particularly in the coastal areas of Estonia, Finnish influence was prominent and similarly in the areas near to the Lake Peipsi, the Russian and Votian features were marked on the clothing of the Estonians. The clothing style of the people of the Western Estonia was a blend of Southern and Northern Estonian dresses. The inhabitants of the island zones of Estonia preferred micro climatic clothing in general.
There was a light difference between the clothing of a young woman and an elder woman. A girl did not cover her head in summer and partly even in winter, using only a ribbon or a garland to fix her hair and decorate it. A girl also did not wear an apron in most parts of Estonia. A married woman, on the other hand, had to cover her hair and wear an apron.
Young men and women received a complete set of festive clothes for confirmation, which marked their coming of age. There was no marked difference between the clothes of a bachelor and a married man; but a strict difference was maintained between the clothes of a girl and those of a married woman and also between the garments of a wife and of a widow. A girl did not cover her head in summer and partly even in winter, using only a ribbon or a garland to fix her hair and decorate it. A girl also did not wear an apron in most parts of Estonia. A married woman, on the other hand, had to cover her hair and wear an apron. It was believed that an apronless mistress of the farm would damage the fertility of the fields.A pregnant girl had to wear an apron as well.
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