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.

For one month an ancient fairy-tale with long-forgotten mythological characters is going to come alive at the Estonian Open Air Museum for a single month Come and take part in an exciting walk to the mystical world. Only in selected evenings, the audience will gain a supernatural power to glance through closed doors and covered windows to find characters invisible to the naked eye bustling around and disappearing when the rooster crows for the third time.

Christmas-related beliefs have changed throughout history – pagan customs have become mixed with Christian ones, old folk traditions with new Western customs. At different times, people have either expected the spirits of their ancestors to return home, performed rites which were believed to bring luck, told the story of the birth of Jesus or, eagerly anticipated the visits of Santa Claus and Christmas elves. In the Christmas Village of the Estonian Open Air Museum, visitors get to know the Christmas beliefs of families from different eras.

Majority of the Slavs and Orthodox Setos celebrate Christmas according to the Old (Julian) Calendar on January 6 and 7. The whole Christmas season – svjatki – lasts until January 19, the Epiphany. During this time people don’t work but rejoice at the birth of the Christ and go announcing this important event to their neighbours as well. Come and join us for the celebrations.