Estonians are a Finnic people and have strong ties to the Nordic countries, stemming from important cultural and religious influences gained over centuries during Scandinavian and German rule and settlement. Even so, Estonian traditional costumes have a lot in common with the ones of Latvians and Lithuanians, and are divided into four main groups, which have their origins to the ancient tribal differences: Southern, Northern, Western Estonia, and the Islands. On the other hand, as in many other ethnic groups, both everyday and festive clothing constitute a complicated system of signs, referring to the wearer’s national belonging, social status, age and marital status. Actually today each parish has its own traditional clothing, developed between 17th and 19th centuries.
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