A silver brooch

Completing the traditional Estonian regalia of a white peasant shirt or blouse tied at the waist in a woollen belt is a brooch to fasten the collar. The design was originally very basic, a shallow arc like a violin bow – a sõlg - and a straight pin to fasten it to a garment.

Dad used to talk about the sõlg as a way of explaining Estonian traditional dress, and we would come across them in story illustrations, mostly in the national epic. On leaving Estonia from our 2023 trip, I bought several as gifts - they seemed iconic – and began to wonder about their origin.

Once again Wikipedia is informative. The earliest occurrence of the sõlg in Estonian territory was during the Bronze Age (1,700-500 BCE in northern Europe, including in Estonia). Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, and is stronger than copper, and was likely imported into the Baltic region and Scandinavia from central Europe. 

Originally of copper or bronze, sõled were also made of gold, silver, brass (an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc), and, later, of pig iron, as this technology became available to Estonians.

So, the sõlg is a clothing accessory or item of jewellery that Finnic peoples would have come across in their westward wandering out of Siberia and into northern Europe, some 3,000 years ago.

Iidla Antiik

A cultural exchange is implied: Finnic languages arriving into already populated lands that are now Finland and Estonia; the bringing of skis, dugout boat design, the woven woollen belt, and certain styles of ceramics into this region; while taking on existing technologies, such as the sõlg, and probably lots more besides.

Many different sõlg designs proliferated over time, including one commonly found today in Estonian souvenir shops, a simple steel or silver circle, tied with a pin.

The arrival of Danish Vikings in northern Estonia in the early 1200s saw a later wave of brooches, this time shaped like a circular shield, in the same metals as the sõlg, and with the same pin. Their use included fastening the shoulder straps of women’s dresses; this was evident in a museum we visited in Tartu.

In the far southeast of Estonia, in Setomaa, the sõlg of the traditional Viking type was expanded to the size of a breast plate, and worn as chest jewellery, especially by women.

Today if you turn up to a traditional Estonian event, there will always be at least one Esto wearing a sõlg as part of their kit. Note to self: woollen socks, and a peasant shirt to add to the shopping list for the next visit to Estonia.