The story of the Sigulda walking stick
Walking sticks have been made around Sigulda for more than 200 years. A 19th century guidebook already advised travellers to buy a stick for their walk through the Sigulda ravines, and you could get one from a local boy. The first sticks were simple: a hazel or buckthorn branch with one end peeled and bent into a handle.
In the early 20th century, when Sigulda became a popular resort and summer retreat, selling sticks turned into an important source of income for local farmers. In the 1930s more craftsmen joined in and the sticks became decorated: the wood was softened, bent around a form, dried, and then patterns were burned in, painted and varnished. After the Second World War the sticks grew even more colourful, with red, green and black Latvian ethnographic patterns, and the skill was handed down from one generation to the next.
Sigulda walking stick making is on Latvia’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage list. In October 2026 the Latvian Patent Office approved the application to register "Siguldas spieķis" as a geographical indication, the first Latvian craft product to get this far.