Estonia, A Land of spirit. Research Publication, 2018 (excerpt)

51° 26 ’ 23 N 5° 28 ’ 29 E

N 58˚ 35’ 42.979’’ O 25˚ 0’ 48.985’’

Estonia

A LAND OF SPIRIT Estonia’s land is covered with high forests, many shades of green, with glimpses of white, brown and blue. Birch, pine, spruce trees, the sky, the lakes, mud on the shores. Water has a transitional aspect in folk culture. Nature is in the centre of the culture, because nature is never far away.

The landscape is as pure as the air you breath in Estonia. This is also thanks to the relatively sparce population which creates spacious and light landscapes. Picture for yourself: the cities are dotted with wooden houses of different pastel colors, and the atmosphere has a unique rhythm within space and daylight.

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Traditional Woodworking and Building Craft, through space and social relations.

With more than half of the landscapes covered by forests, wood is largely exported. As a raw material, it is a centre point of the economy. Conifers are everywhere, 40% pine trees (scots pines, that are inexpensive and fit all types of woodworking), 40% spruce (Norway spruce) and 10% birch.

These are the three main important trees, they are hard woods. From the forest a gigantic industry is now in action. It goes, timber-logs-timber-logs, but also pulpwood in order to make paper.

From the forest to the material The preferred period to cut the trees is late fall or winter because the wood is stronger.

Logs should be cut, then pealed. Use the lime tool to remove the bark.

All tools have to be perfectly sharpened.

Logs should be laid on skids well above the ground for at least 6 months before using them for building.

To avoid crackles in the wood while drying for months, you can apply bee wax on the extremities.

V

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N 58˚ 35’ 42.979’’ O 25˚ 0’ 48.985’’

Eesti suitsusaun - the smoke sauna in Southern Estonia.

The heritage of smoke sauna is still well represented today, from Viljandimaa to Vorumaa and Setomaa. An Estonian traditional smoke sauna is a sauna without a chimney. Two activities can be distinguished: sweating-whistling and washing. Therefore the main interest of sauna is its therapeutic effect; but it has also a medical and magical goal.

In Setomaa (Seto County) the typical sauna is a smoke sauna. Mainly found in two parts: the lightweight forehead sauna room and the heated sauna room made of logs, it is equipped with a large stove and heating stones. It takes several hours to heat. In the process, smoke goes into the room to give more heat and then the remaining smoke is let out and the room ventilated so people can come in. If it is done the right way, the air is easy to breath and the steam is not scorching. Traditional seto saunas are quite low: the room height is less than 2 meters.

«A cultural heritage is perceived as such through membership in the community that regards and values it as such. (…) Heritage is a political selection from the past. » In Viljandi County we can find the Culture University of Estonia which aims to preserve and develop inherited craft. Head of department, Eva Matsin, explains that they teach their students the old traditional way of working with hand tools (without electricity) and also the modern, industrial ways. ‘‘Both are needed’’, she said. Indeed the University realized that traditional techniques with hand tools have better quality results than electric modern tools. The construction will last longer because working with hand tools implies that you have to understand the nature and the material coming from it. The natural qualities of the wood have to be mastered if you do not 36

have the power of an electric tool. In this way you can not force the material and you develop a real relation and understanding of nature. Therefore and because you are not working ‘against’ the material, the construction building will last longer. Her conclusion was that it is important to know what you can or can not do naturally without «sur-natural» power.

Also this conclusion is giving us a clue for understanding the Estonian folk beliefs and traditions related to paganism. It is not a sur-natural approach and the rituals are not meant for this. On the contrary, it is important for nature that they cherish and pass on the knowledge of the power of nature itself to future generations.

Analog photography of Eve Ellermae, Valentina and Rein Raudsepj in front of their family smoke sauna.

Obinitsa, Seto County, Estonia. (on the left) Illustration of different floor plan of traditional smoke sauna.

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N 58˚ 35’ 42.979’’ O 25˚ 0’ 48.985’’

A Land Of Affinities, or the private heritage of rituals.

‘‘Tere-tere saunakene, tere, sauna leilikene.’’ ‘‘Hello sauna, hello spirit of the sauna.’’

I met Aigi Young and her daughter due to a turn of events. I want to share one of our conversations that explains my interest in the cultural and social dynamics in Estonia.

‘‘After a wedding the couple was going into the sauna, they were supposed to make a baby in there.

But still nowadays? No, with the Soviet Union we were forced to forget all about it. When the Soviets came, then there were no gods because there was Lenin, no customs because there was Lenin, so we were not allowed to believe or do anything so people forgot.

Spiritual things were not allowed. Now it is coming back, people are realising that they know things but they don’t know why they know…

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‘‘We also have burial traditions

ground spirit; you went into the forest and you picked berries, then you always chucked the first berries to the forest spirits.

You do it because your mum did it, it is all to stay alive. And it is a family learning it is not something you learn at school, it is social. It comes from the mum, or dad, or grandma. It’s been passed on like this for generations.

But for your research there is no one that comes and tell you because we don’t know why we do this. It is quite private, not everyone wants to talk about this with strangers.’’

for example. We have cross trees. We do it, but we don’t know why we do it.

But when you find out why, there is a ‘wow ‘ (sound). We do it to keep the spirits coming back home. So it comes from old times when you were still burying people from the houses. We place the branches of spruce tree on the road, the direction of the needles is significant, so it stops the spirits coming back. We have a lot of these customs.

‘‘You know, people in Tallinn for example they are forgeting these things, they don’t know why we do them.

When my mum had cows, you would never milk the first milk, you had to milk it first onto the floor for the

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