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By ‘folk costume’ we nowadays primarily mean the festive costumes worn by the peasantry during the last century. Such clothes, made according to historic examples, are now worn at song festivals and other national events. The development of Estonian folk costume was, over the centuries, influenced by the fashions of the upper classes and the traditional costumes of neighbouring countries. Most of all, however, the dress of our village society was influenced by well-established native traditions and customs. Although Estonia is small, there were numerous local differences in folk costume. Four major groups can be mentioned here — Southern, Northern, Western Estonia, and the Islands. The condition of serfdom in which the peasantry lived was largely responsible for the way in which local differences were formed and preserved. People moved around mostly within the borders of their home parish. The principal meeting point was the church. Local traditions of dress were strictly maintained. It is known, for example, that a woman in Saaremaa who married into another parish, wore her local clothes until her death, whereas her daughters clothed themselves in garments typical of their father's parish. There was no special difference between the clothes of a bachelor and a married man, but old customs required a marked difference between the clothes of a maiden and a married woman. Young girls wore no headgear for most of the year, even during milder winter periods, using only a hair-band or a chaplet to dress their hair and keep it in place. A married woman had to cover her head and wear an apron; she was not supposed to "cross the road without her cap or the room without her apron". A pregnant girl also had to wear a cap. Related links:
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