sartorialadventure:Latgallian or Latgaļu fashions from Iron Age Latvia, metalwork by Daumants Kalnin
sartorialadventure:Latgallian or Latgaļu fashions from Iron Age Latvia, metalwork by Daumants KalninsLatgalians (Latin: Lethi, Letthigalli, Low German: Letti, Lethi, modern Latvian: latgaļi, letgaļi, leti; variant translations also include Latgallians, Lettigalls or Lettigallians) were an ancient Baltic tribe.They likely spoke the Latvian language, which probably became the lingua franca in present-day Latvia during the Northern Crusades due to their alliance with the crusaders. Latgalians later assimilated into the neighbouring tribes, forming the core of modern Latvians. So, re: the stuff in the notes: the swastika was an ancient symbol used by the Latvian people and many, many others long before it was appropriated by the Nazis and used as a symbol of hate.“ The oldest example ever found of the swastika, ugunskrusts (“fire-cross”) in Latvian, is 15,000 years old, carved in mammoth tusk, unearthed in Ukraine. … The swastika appears in many versions in Latvian folk costumes and crafts. Indeed, there is no other culture in which it appears more ornately or in more variations. It is inseparably ingrained in Latvian identity. Different incarnations of the swastika cross symbolize different Latvian deities or aspects of life. The right-facing swastika: Pērkons (“Thunder”, thus the “Thunder Cross”), left-facing: Laima (“Good Fortune”), while the multi-pronged Zars (“branch”) denoted happiness; lastly, rounded, with narrowing and curved ends, Ķeksis (“hook”) — similar to a multi-pronged Balto-Slavic sign denoting the sun. In Latvian mythology, the fire-cross ultimately symbolizes the sun’s (Saule) never-ending movement, defeating evil while promoting good health and good fortune. “Hitler stained the reputation of the swastika. Prior to the rise of Nazi Germany, aside from widespread general use of the swastika, both Latvian and Finnish militaries, and units of the American military had adopted swastika insignia.Recognition that there are uses of the swastika which predate and supercede Nazism has been slow to materialize. In 2008 — 88 years after Hitler adopted the swastika as the symbol of Nazism — the second Hindu-Jewish Leadership Summit1 recognized the Hindu use of the swastika as ancient and unrelated to Nazi Germany and Aryanism:“Svastika is an ancient and greatly auspicious symbol of the Hindu tradition. It is inscribed on Hindu temples, ritual altars, entrances, and even account books. A distorted version of this sacred symbol was misappropriated by the Third Reich in Germany, and abused as an emblem under which heinous crimes were perpetrated against humanity, particularly the Jewish people. The participants recognize that this symbol is, and has been sacred to Hindus for millennia, long before its misappropriation.“… Latvian swastikas are no more “Nazi” than those of their Finnish neighbors to the north—or of the world’s billion-plus adherents of Hinduism.” (source)The fire-cross (to give it its correct name in this context) is a very ancient Latvian symbol, and Latvian historical reconstructionists who use it are not celebrating Nazism, but their ancient heritage as Latvians. -- source link