Klaipėdos universitetas

The purpose of this article is to answer the questions raised in the course of the research on the development of textile pocket of the national costume of Lithuania Minor in relation to the motivation for production and wearing of pockets, the choice in decoration characteristics, the symbolism of ornamentation and colour combinations. The analysis of the accomplished field research reveals the manifestations of the expression of the ethnocultural identity through production and wearing of textile pockets. The analysis of the symbolic meanings traditionally attributed and newly assigned to the chosen decorative elements of pockets reveals the cases of the continuity and change of a symbol. The act of wearing a pocket not only with the national costume of Lithuania Minor demonstrates the expression of one’s identity through wearing the chosen parts of clothing. The growing demand stimulates the production of textile pockets. The research analyses the material collected from the well-informed presenters (makers and wearers of textile pockets) based on the questionnaires compiled by the author of the present article.

Hemp is a very valuable plant because each part of it can be used in many ways. It can be used to produce innovative products for building construction, chemical industry, medicine, textile production, consumption, and agriculture. In the article, the authors have aggregated the information about hemp cultivation and processing sector development in the European Union and Latvia and have described its cultivation possibilities, technological processes, and processing capabilities. The aim of the present article was to reveal the topicalities of hemp industry development in the European Union and Latvia. The tasks of the research were to present an overall description of hemp industry development trends in the European Union and to characterize hemp industry development in Latvia focusing on the national support activities and hemp cultivation and processing opportunities. The authors of the article have performed an extensive secondary data analysis to summarize the most important activities that should be done at the national scale to further enhance the development of hemp industry in Latvia.

The article is devoted to the economic structure of chiefdoms’ socio-political organisation, and the role of the economy in constructing and maintaining social and power relations in Latvia in the middle and late Iron Age.