EVS in Estonia

A very important date in the estonian calendar is the 23rd of June, Jäänipaev (or St John’s day) is a big party here in Estonia and in some other northern countries. This tradition is very old, it dates back even before the arrival of Christianity in Estonia. Jaanipäev is celebrated in the night between 23rd and 24th of June, a few days after the summer solstice, when night seems to be non-existent. Estonian people celebrate at this time the arrival of the summer as well as an important victory for the independance of the country. The lighting of the traditional bonfires became linked with the ideals of independence and freedom. But it is also a good excuse to have fun and meet each other, in family or with friends. All the generations are together to celebrate this day, most of the time in the countryside, rarely in cities.

We saw the official flame coming in Tallinn in the afternoon. Then, we went to Viimsi, on the other side from the bay of Tallinn, on the coast, in a small open-air museum. We had never been there before, so it was a good occasion. It was really nice to participate to this great national event, and to share moments with local inhabitants. In addition to the big fire (as big as a house !), there were some traditionnal games. Jonathan even tried to do some rope pulling, but it was so hard that he was almost dragged on the grass. We also listened to some concerts, with both traditionnal and modern songs.

This nice place, near the sea, and the good mood, helped us to have a very nice evening. Some other volunteers, joined us and it was pleasant to chat with them.

Head Jäänipaeva ! (Happy St John’s day in estonian !)

The 21st of June, it was the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. Our sun set at 10:42 pm, and rose at 04:01 am.

Jonathan took some pictures, but to show you how much it was light outside, here is a picture from a webcam in Tallinn around midnight. Although the public lighting was on, one could still see pretty good.

Last weekend, we spent some time in Tallinn, to discover a new part of town which we didn’t know yet.
The first was Kadriorg the estonian Versailles, a Palace built between 1718 and 1736, by the italian architect Niccolo Michetti, For the Tzar Petter the Great as a summer residence For him and his wife Catherine. We wandered through the gardens and made our way to the sea, to the Pirita district. This area of town is the place where all the inhabitants of Tallinn go to to have a little swim on a sunny day like last saturday. It almost looked, in certain aspects, like the mediterranean sea, with people sunbathing in swimsuits or playing beach soccer. As for us, there was a little too much wind and we prefered to have a dip in a Spa Hotel, with a swimming pool, Sauna, Hammam, everything to put back in shape two tired volunteers… a great restaurant after that helped finish a great day in the city !

For one and a half week, we have been excavating behind the Joelähtme culture house. We have been working there with a professionnal archeologist and some students. Two of them slept upstairs. It is a good way for us to share a meal and to talk with these nice young estonians.

Concerning our work, we first had to take off the first layer of grass, then filter the soil to try to find something interesting. It’s sometimes hard to distinguish a stone, from a bone or a piece of potery. But after a few hours, we quickly progressed. We didn’t dig very deep, only about a foot or so.

As soon as we found something, the archeologist took notes on the place where we discovered it, as well as the height at which it was placed.

For the moment, we have found some small pieces of potery from the Viking Age, several pieces more or less important of ceramics from the 19th century and Jonathan found some nails dating back to the Middle Ages. He also found a fire-striker from the same period. But the most impressive object, was the one I found, but I couldn’t tell you what it is, for even our archeologist didn’t have a clue. If you have any suggestions, they are very welcome (see picture) !

For the music in the video clip, we chose the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the sky with diamonds”, for it gave the name to Lucy the oldest squeleton ever found. The archeologist had listened to this song so much they decided to name the discovery as this song.

During our weekend in Kihnu, we were able to test a wood-heated sauna. It’s a building as big as a house, composed of a large main room, where people can play games, guitar, relax or savour some of estonia-brewed beers.
The second room is a small change-room, before entering the shower-room, last step before getting in the darkest and warmest room : the sauna itself. It was pretty dark inside, with a smell of burnt wood and a light smell of beer, which is added to the water, before it is sprayed on the hot stones. These are heated by a fire in the back of the house (which a lady had to keep adding logs !) and the smoke is captured by a chimney.

Some of the estonians with us told us that this intimate room is usually where estonians tell each other secrets or personnal things. It is not rare that during a seminar, a CEO chooses this place to tell about his private life to an employee or to get to ask him about his family (which are things rarely done here).

As for us, it enabled us to spend some good times with our volunteer friends…

The visit of kihnu’s museum really interested us and we thought we’d give a little more info about what we discovered. This is a little article about the traditional costume of Kihnu.

Our guide (left on the picture) explained to us that there were several types of dresses they wear, depending on the occasion, but also on their mood. If one is happy, (as they ussually are) the worn colour is red. Otherwise, it’s a blueish dress or, in case of a funeral black. But Always, whatever dress, there is a thin red galon at the bottom, symbolizing hope which still remains.

The costume is not fixed in time, like in a living museum, but evolves depending on the years and the fashion. for example, in the 60’s, the dress for womens were much shorter, whereas today it goes down almost to the heals. People will recognise, depending on the design, what type dress one is wearing and if so and so is in the fashion or not. This keeps the people sewing all winter and the tradition alive.

We loved these explanations, as well as all the other details our guide gave us about traditional weddings, funerals… and everyday life !

Here is an article to help you discover the small island of Kihnu. About 7km long, 5oo inhabitants. 69 pupils in the local school, as for the orthodox church, the priest comes from the mainland once a month.

It’s a place wich is still deaply immerged into tradition, having escaped the second world war and the soviet occupation, it’s a small natural haven and the people living there still have their own dialect, costume, and for this richeness of local heritage, they received a classification in UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites.

We toured the island with an islander, which showed us some of the nice places such as the lighthouse (brought from England !) and the museum, which gives good information on the island’s history and famous figures, such as Kihnu Jõhn, an estonian sailor originally born on the island, which sailed around the globe and incarnated freedom during the soviet times.

We tasted there a strange fish called Tulle Haug (Tulle means “wind” in estonian) it’s bones are, believe it or not…… GREEN ! bright green yes. At first we wondered if it would taste good, but it was really tasty in fact and the colour of the bones were a great way to find them too !

Last weekend, we went on a three day trip thanks to the association Maailmakodanik which had organized everything for us on Kihnu, a small island off the shore from Parnü. We all slept in a great campsite litteraly on the beach. There were 20 of us : a mixture a volunteers from all over europe and around, plus some estonians who were ex-volunteers and were part of this association. It was a great group with lots of good conversations and common experiences which helped us surpass the language differences.

We also met with some of the people from Haapsalu (Archil and Sario).

We played games, ate good camping-food and took advantage of the nice weather to explore the island with a local inhabitant ( still wearing the traditional costume as many of the people of this island) Some of us even had a little swim in the baltic sea. A good way to cool off !

On the trip back, everyone seemed tired, but happy to have spent some time together. As says the song on the movie clip, “it’s always better when we’re together “!

Last friday, we had a rendez-vous with other volunteers in Parnu, before taking a boat to a small island called Kihnu. But we decided to come a little earlier so as to visit this nice seaside city, on the estonian west coast. The weather was a little chilly and windy, but because of the end of the school year, hords of students were costumed and were having a big water fight in the city center with water guns. probably a good way to chill out (especially with this cold weather !).

We decided to warm up in a small café and received a c&all from one of our volunteer/friend named Sario. (the italian guy from our on-arrival training). He had arrived in Parnu and we decided to have lunch together, which ended up being very refined in decoration and quality of the food, but not expensive at all !

Then we went for a walk around town and entered an orthodox church, where a russian lady tried to talk with us, but we couldn’t make out all she said. Finally, we decided to visit the city museum, wich had a selection of objects from different times in the city’s history and some stuffed animals showing the local fauna. A nice visit, which gave us a good perspective of Parnu’s history.

Coming out of the museum and just before meeting the others, we fell on a small traditional dance show, performed by local schools. A good excuse to lay in the grass and enjoy the sunshine which was starting to come out of the clouds…