#552 Latvia...Thanks Juris!

#544 Latvia...Thanks Juris!

#526 Latvia...Thanks Oleg!

#523 Latvia...Thanks Juris!

#500 Latvia...Thanks Juris!

#489 Latvia...Thanks Juris!

This special cover was issued on 2010 commeorating 175 years of birth of Krišjānim Baronam (1832-1923) ,who was a folklorist of Latvia.

#473 Latvia...Thanks Jelizaweta!

The 4.5Ls stamp is from 2007 Latvia-Germany joint issue:UNESCO Cultural Heritage illustrating Hanseatic cites Stralsund and Wismar.

The medieval towns of Wismar and Stralsund, on the Baltic coast of northern Germany, were major trading centres of the Hanseatic League in the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 17th and 18th centuries they became Swedish administrative and defensive centres for the German territories. They contributed to the development of the characteristic building types and techniques of Brick Gothic in the Baltic region, as exemplified in several important brick cathedrals, the Town Hall of Stralsund, and the series of houses for residential, commercial and crafts use, representing its evolution over several centuries.

#469 Latvia...Thanks Juris!

#463 Latvia...Thanks Juris!

Title:History of Latvia Railway.

Date of issue:05.08.2010

#441 Latvia...Thanks Juris!

This FDC is from Latvian Timber Resources issue illustrating Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) which is a species native to Europe and northern Asia.

#364 Latvia...Thanks Oleg!

The 0.35 Ls stamp was issued in 2010 to celebrate 20 years of Declaration of May 4th, 1990.

In the second half of 1980s Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev started to introduce political and economic reforms in the Soviet Union, called glasnost and Perestroika. In the summer of 1987 the first large demonstrations were held in Riga at the Freedom Monument- a symbol of independence. In the summer of 1988 a national movement, coalescing in the Popular Front of Latvia, was opposed by the Interfront. The Latvian SSR, along with the other Baltic Republics was allowed greater autonomy, and in 1988 the old pre-war Flag of Latvia was allowed to be used, replacing the Soviet Latvian flag as the official flag in 1990.

In 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a resolution on the "Occupation of the Baltic states", in which it declared that the occupation was "not in accordance with law," and not the "will of the Soviet people". Pro-independence Popular Front of Latvia candidates gained a two-thirds majority in the Supreme Council in the March 1990 democratic elections. On May 4, 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR adopted the Declaration On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia, Latvian SSR was renamed Republic of Latvia.

#123 Latvia...Thanks Oleg!

The 55c stamp is from 2009 Christmas issue depicting House of Blackheads in Riga.

House of Blackheads is an important centre for public life and one of the main sights in Riga.It was first mentioned by sources in 1334 as the New House of the Large Guild and it is located near the Town Hall Square (Rātslaukums). The building was erected by the city itself, and originally it was rented to the merchants of the Large Guild and the unmarried merchants, the Brotherhood of Blackheads, who later, in 1713, purchased the building and became its proprietors.

The Blackheads was characteristically a common union of young, unmarried merchants and ship captains in the Hansa cities, which chose St. Maurice to be their patron. St. Mauritius was an imaginary African black moor (from this the name of the brotherhood “the Blackheads” comes). Due to their exceptional status the Blackheads played an important role in the society life and traditions; many VIPs of that time (including Russian tsars) took part in events organized by the Blackheads. As a German merchant club the Brotherhood of Blackheads existed in Riga until 1939.

ps: I sent a cover to you today,Oleg :)

#108 Latvia...Thanks Janis!

The 4 stamps on the top of the cover are from Traditional Costume series issued between 1993-1998.

Traditional costumes reflect specific ethnic preferences and tastes expressed in the forms, colours and ornaments that people wear. Latvians tend to use dark grey, brown and green shades embroidered with colourful symbols and patterns influenced by ancient pagan beliefs, although some regions favour brighter colours than others. Over the centuries the people have lived an agrarian lifestyle, most of their time spent tending their crops and animals. They kept sheep for wool to weave and made linen from flax. Much of the wool was woven in the natural colours of black, brown and creamy white but wool was also dyed using leaves, bark, flowers and roots, before manufactured dyes were introduced. For festive occasions white was the predominant colour, being associated with purity, goodness and enlightenment. Red, a colour associated with fire, blood and life, has been used to decorate linen garments, such as aprons, head-coverings and shirts. Black, on the other hand, has always been regarded as the colour of the gentry and so was not used in national costumes or any farmers’ garments until the second half of the nineteenth century, but still not as a dominant colour.

National costumes worn on festive occasions in Latvia have survived because they have been handed down from generation to generation as colourful adornments and treasured heirlooms. While preserving and continuing the traditions of a region, each woman created a distinctive costume for herself or her man. Apparently Latvia falls into five ethnographic regions: Kurzeme, Vidzeme, Zemgale, Latgale, Augszeme, their distinctions reaching as far back as the XVII and XIX centuries. Regional borders were not strictly marked and a certain cultural interchange did exist as well as the effect of wars, invasions and foreign occupations.

The 0.22Ls stamp was issued in 2008 honoring Museum Foudations.

The stamps in the middle show the provincial municipal arms of Kurzeme.

Basketball Festival Riga '94 FDC

This cover is also from my old collection. Basketball has been my favorite sport since I was in school. :0)