Gallery
This foldout features illustrations of a full women's folk costume and various details: shirt (blouse), shoulder and cuff embroidery, jacket, brooch, headdress, and shawl, and descriptive overviews in French, English, Russian, and Latvian.
Russia's false claim to Abrene aka Pytalovo
Ironically, the white folk costumes of the Abrene region testify to their being historically the oldest and most Latvian.
A substantial portion of the pre-WWII Abrene region—2% of Latvia's then territory1—was annexed to the Russian SFSR during the USSR's occupation of Latvia. This was a sore point of contention between Russia and Latvia upon dissolution of the Soviet Union. Eventually, in view of that territory having been largely Russified during a half century of Soviet occupation and facing mounting external pressure to settle European Union border disputes, the Latvian parliament approved permanently ceding the territory to Russia in order to bring closure to the Latvia-Russia border treaty. The Soviet account is that the territory was "joined" to the Russian SFSR at the behest of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic in August, 1944.2 Although Soviet documents planning the occupation of Latvia describe the Abrene region border territory as Latvian and use all Latvian place names, the post-Soviet contention is that the Abrene region has always been—and will always be—Russian3 (Latvian "pie Tālavas," meaning nearby Tālava, an ancient Latvian kingdom, becoming Пыталово "Pytalovo" in Russian).
Historical accounts describe the area's inhabitants as Russified—in language—Latgalians, that is, Latvians. Hence the Latvian name given to the area upon independence: Jaunlatgale (New Latgale). (Jaunlatgale was subsequently renamed to Abrene in 1938.) There are numerous accounts of Abrene's pre-WWII inhabitants still being closely connected to their Latvian roots—such as the principal of a Russian-language school relating how there were tears of joy among the audience upon hearing Latvian folk song in performance. Historian Carl Stern wrote of a cultural awakening amongst the Pskov4 Latvians in the 1930's; and as 2,000 area inhabitants gathered and proclaimed in September, 1934: "We are not Russian, but, indeed, Latvians. We are returning to our Latvian heritage. Latvians, lend us your helping hand, to assist us in our return." Their Jaunlatgale song of awakening:
Vēl vecie ozoli nav lūzuši,
Vēl zinām mēs, ka esam latvieši.Still, the old oaks have not yet splintered,
Still, we know, that we are Latvians.5
White dress was once used in both daily and festive life. Only in the Abrene folk costume—with its ancient Latgalian roots—is the oldest tradition of white national dress still preserved—in a region and people the Russian Federation historically and culturally now utterly falsely claims has always been its own.
The Пыталово article in Russian Wikipedia promulgates the "history" that the Abrene region has always been Russian, and that its Russian name "Pytalovo" is best explained by its being named for a Russian lieutenant who receieved a land grant in the area.
Below, changes to Latvia's borders after 1944, adapted slightly from its original at zagarins.net6. At top, territory around the twin cities of Valga (Estonia) and Valka (Latvia) annexed to Estonia; at right, the Abrene territory annexed to the Russian SFSR. The Abrene boundary was made permanent by treaty between Russia and Latvia in 2007 by the Latvian parliament after ruling out a plebiscite, which would have been required under Latvia's original 1922 Constitution.
| 1 | Proportionally to the U.S., larger than historically part of Russia Alaska, or larger than Texas, California, Montana, and New Mexico combined. |
| 2 | Pitalova, article from the Concise Encyclopedia of the Latvian SSR, v. 3, p. 37 |
| 3 | viz., Vladimir Putin's comment at the prospect of Latvia pressing demands to have Abrene returned, that Latvia would get "not the Pytalovo district but a dead donkey's ears." |
| 4 | The Pskov, or (ancient) Pleskov, region lies along the western Estonian and Latvian border. The city of Pskov is situated about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Estonian border. |
| 5 | V. Krasnais, "Latviskā Jaunlatgale, Apgabala Vēsturiskie Likteņi." 1937., available at latvji.narod.ru in Latvian and Russian |
| 6 | Original at Latvijas territoriālie zaudējumi—Latvijas republikas robežas pēc 1944. gada., Latvia's territorial losses—borders of the Latvian republic after 1944. |
