A wimple is a garment worn around the neck and chin covering the head. Its use was widespread among women in early medieval Europe. At many stages of medieval culture it was unseemly for a married woman to show her hair. A wimple might be elaborately starched, and creased and folded in prescribed ways. Geoffrey Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales has the Wife of Bath and also the Prioress depicted wearing them. Italian women have abandoned their headcloths already in the 15th century while in North-Eastern part of Lithuania women were still wearing such headdresses well into the 20th century.
Unlike Muslim hijab which is meant to conceal the beauty of a woman from other mean, the Baltic wimple was meant to decorate, to emphasize the beauty by framing the face and was worn together with tight-fitting vests. It also had a practical use: covering the ears & neck from cold wet Baltic winds in the cold part of the year and protecting from swarming insects in Summer (that was especially important due to swampy landscape).
Gieda Pabiržės folkloro ansamblis ŽEMYNA.
TRANSLATION OF THE LYRICS:
My wreath, judabra
Has been earned with difficulty
[The herbs] have been collected in the pinewood
It has been woven in the forest clearing
My legs were freezing
I have been blowing hot air [to warm up my hands]
PILNI SUTARTINĖS ŽODŽIAI:
Mana vainikas, judabra
Sunkiai pelnytas, judabra
Šilaly rinktas, judabra
Trakely pintas, judabra
Šalau kojelas, judabra
Pučiau rankelas, judabra
Judabrėla, judabra
Judabrėla, tatato
This clip was taken from a Latvian reality TV show about travel in the castle of Biržai, full show can be found here: http://ltv.lsm.lv/lv/raksts/12.11.2014-lielais-pargajiens.id38744/