Events

St. Martin’s Day is one of the merriest and most colourful holidays in the Estonian folk calendar. On this day children and adults dress in old shabby coats, smear their faces with soot and go door to door singing songs, asking riddles and wishing good luck and happiness to the families.

In the Estonian folk calendar St. Catherine’s Day marks the beginning of indoor activities. Women as well as men dressed in beautiful white clothes, with their cheeks painted red with beetroot go trick-or-treating, i.e. collecting gifts in return for songs and blessings.

Christmas is the most beloved holiday for the Estonians, eagerly awaited both by children and adults. However not everyone is celebrating Christmas in the same way. For many officials Christmas is a busy working time. The schoolmaster has to teach children the Christmas message and holiday songs, the pastor’s wife has to set the church ready for the sermon, the shop lady has to keep an eye on that everybody gets their goods and the parish elder’s family has to take care of the poorest in the village so that they as well could enjoy a Christmas meal. Come and be part of the centuries-old Christmas bustle of different village officials.

Majority of the Slavs and Orthodox Setos celebrate Christmas according to the Old (Julian) Calendar on January 6 and 7.

Candlemas divides the winter in half and starts a cycle of women’s spring holidays. It was believed that candles cast on that day burn with the brightest flame.

February 2019 marks the 101st anniversary of the Republic of Estonia. We celebrate the birthday of our country with a festive concert, festively laid anniversary table from the 1930s and exciting activities introducing the history of Estonian peasantry.

On Shrove Tuesday, also known as ‘sledging day’, we will be saying good-bye to the winter and having a blast at the winter celebration which marks the beginning of the Lenten period. This means enjoying hearty and fatty food, taking part in winter amusements, making a bone spinner and partying! Do join us and have a good long slide down the slope to make sure that the new year brings health and luck!

Maslenitsa marks a holiday celebrated during the last week before the Lent. It is accompanied by dancing and merrymaking, hearty meals and having fun in the snow.

The Lent that had lasted since Shrove Tuesday would end at Easter, which in Estonian has several other names that stand for “Egg Holiday”, “Resurrection Day”, “Swing Holiday” or “Spring Holiday”. This is when the folk could enjoy food again and rejoice over the awakening of the nature and the Resurrection of Jesus.