Spring holidays in Estonia
This past weekend was a long one here in Estonia. April 30th is Volbriöö, or Walpurgis Night in English, which in pre-Christian times was thought to be a night when witches gathered together. Now it’s pretty much just a night for partying, particularly for student organizations like sororities and fraternities. May 1st is a holiday– Kevadpüha– but it doesn’t have the working-class holiday connotation like it does in some other countries. It seems more like a day to recover from a hangover and welcome the (hopefully warm) spring weather.
J and I headed down to the university town of Tartu to see friends and also observe the Tudengipäevad, or Student Days, which is a spring festival intended to allow university students to refresh their spirits before they have to hunker down to study for final exams. Events during Student Days range from the culturally fulfilling– concerts and film nights– to the utterly ridiculous– students building “flying machines” and attempting to fly over the Emajõgi river, although the real point is that the spectators get to watch all the participants fall, along with their elaborate contraptions, into the incredibly cold river. Now that’s entertainment.
We had a cookout along the river with a bunch of friends. The weather was incredible, perfect for the season’s inaugural cookout. I didn’t photograph most of the food, but we had typical grill stuff– sausages, marinated chicken, and, of course beer. (I wish I’d taken some pix of the different designs A.Le Coq Premium cans are sporting these days).
J made this lovely bacon-wrapped mushroom and cooked it over the fire we had going.
Unfortunately, the bacon didn’t crisp up very well, so it wasn’t great. However, the mushrooms that we tossed into a foil packet with some blue cheese and then set on the embers for a while came out amazing.
Disposing of any leftover food from the cookout wasn’t a problem, seeing as these two were in attendance:
Granted, they’re chewing on wood in the photo, but they got plenty of goodies that day, believe me. This weekend was something of a breakthrough for me, because the last few times I’ve seen these dogs, the male has had some kind of problem with me– keeping his distance, eying me suspiciously, even growling sometimes. It sucked, because I had no idea what I’d done to upset him, and he made me nervous. But this weekend I tried to act normal and not anxious, and he acted normal too! Yay. Now he’s fine with plopping his 95-pound self on my foot so that I can scratch his back. 
In the evenings when it got too cold to be outside, we sat in bars with our friends, catching up and watching World Championship hockey games. My alcohol consumption was kept reasonable, but I did take my first ever flaming shot, a B-52. It was OK, very sweet. I prefer Hot Shots, which are incredibly popular here, but perhaps I’ll discuss those in a later post.
Although I’m not a student facing finals, my spirit was refreshed by our weekend in Tartu.
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter! We boiled a few eggs (which were already a beautiful brown) with some onion skins and carrot peels, which gave them a more intense, reddish color. Here’s the prettiest egg nestled in our home-grown bowl of Easter grass (we weren’t sure whether the grass could grow on paper towels and water alone, but as it turns out, it can ).
We’ve moved– Time for a salt and bread party
The reason I haven’t posted in weeks is because we moved. Not far– we’re still in Tallinn, just a few blocks from our last apartment. The new place didn’t have internet until today, and since I don’t post at work my blogging opportunities were nonexistent. But now I’m back.
Since we have a new home now, we soon need to have a housewarming party, or as it’s called in Estonian, a soolaleivapidu, which translates to “salt and bread party”. I couldn’t find once concise explanation for why it’s called a salt and bread party. Traditionally people actually do bring salt and bread in some form to the new home. Bread is a staple food in Estonia (as elsewhere) and also a symbol for food in general, so bringing bread could represent the wish that the home will always have plenty of food. I read somewhere that it is meant to bring luck as well. Salt can also represent food since it is an essential component of cooking, and I found some information about using salt to banish evil spirits, so perhaps bringing salt is also meant to keep bad spirits away from the happy home.
Our housewarming party should be in a few weeks, so bring on the salt and bread!
Head Vabariigi aastapäeva!
Today we’re wishing the Republic of Estonia a happy 91st anniversary.
Elagu Eesti Vabariik!
