Puzuris Straw Art

One of the oldest straw Christmas decorations, used long before the Christmas tree. The traditional basic form is the octahedron — built from twelve interlocking straws, symbolising the year's twelve months. The national side of the coin depicts this much-loved straw craft. The issuing state "LATVIJA" and the issue year "2024" complete the design.

Puzuris — often referred to in German as Himmeli — is one of the oldest documented Christmas and winter decorations in Northern Europe. The tradition of weaving straw into geometric hanging ornaments in Latvia and its Baltic neighbours reaches far back into pre-Christian times and was originally closely linked to fertility rites and hopes for a good harvest. Its core form is an octahedron made of twelve interconnected straws — a structure symbolically representing the twelve months of the year. Long before fir trees became a fixture of Christmas celebrations, such straw structures hung above the dining table in farmhouses: the more symmetrical and elaborate the weave, the more auspicious it was considered.

In Latvia, the puzuris still holds a firm place in the country's intangible cultural heritage. The craft knowledge of proportions, joints and straw selection is passed down through folk art schools and within families; at markets and in museums, the hanging ornament is one of the best-known symbols of Latvian folk culture. Internationally, too, the term Himmeli is in common use — introduced via Finnish and Scandinavian design traditions that adopted a related form. With its 2024 2-euro commemorative coin, Latvia brings this centuries-old craft tradition to the attention of a European audience.