Wow! Quite a long weekend in Saaremaa, Estonia for probably the biggest holiday for the Baltic states. The midsummer holiday or
Janipaeva which is a celebration of the solstice from their pagan past. Bonfires, jumping over bonfires, symbols of fertility, drinking vodka and beer and shashliki-grilled meat are the fare throughout the region on the longest day of the year and its eve. This time, I celebrated the holiday in Latvia in 2000, we were lucky enough to be invited to stay at a country home on Saaremaa (see map-the large island off the western coast of Estonia) which interestingly was an important strategic point during WWII and now a vacation spot for Finns, Swedes and Estonians and a bird sanctuary. The place we stayed at, owned by a pair of German Lutheran ministers-Anna and Mattias, who have a wonderful bass toned (his laugh was hilarious) child, Karl Otto, was an old farm house which had a bunker in the back yard which saw lots of action as the Russians re-took the island in 1944. The stories abound about the Russians and Germans given the occupation after the war. Wherever we went there were artifacts of the war including artillery casings, old helmets, spent bullet casings, etc...
Since my last post from St. Petersburg we have traveled a lot and met some incredible, talented and generous people. I can't describe them all here but for posterities sake I would just like to mention Kairi, Dirk and their son Samuel; who picked us up in Tallinn after our long and hot bus ride from St. Petersburg. Who also let us stay at their place in Tallinn, showed us the town every night we were there, engaged us with wonderful conversation of political economy, German driving techniques, film-Dirk is a film maker (insert link for his new movie here), comedic timing, football!-and I ain't talking Green Bay here, the conquest of the Americas, Estonian conversational technique-they are known for their long silent "conversations," US political economy and the meaning of stupor and torpor and lots more. As well as being great hosts they drove us all the way to Saaremaa, made arrangements for our buses and ferries and were so welcoming when they left it felt like I had known them for years. I really am re-learning and re-appreciating that there are some truly humanistic people out there and the cynicism that pervades lots of the conversation of some of my circle needs some checking at times. If Dirk and Kairi read this I just want to say again how much we appreciated all you did for us, it was a remarkable weekend.
Another special word also needs to go out to Anna and Mattias, the German "Preacher Man" that let us stay at their home, showed us the beach, took us to the Latvian naval parade, took us to the Janepaeva celebration at the village museum, engaged us in high level discussions of the history and culture of Saaremaa, Estonia, the wartime experience of the island, German football, the Lutheran church, drying fish, Karl Otto's leadership abilities and a whole lot more. Again, this family never thought twice, except maybe when they heard our very loud snoring, about opening up their home to us and made us feel so welcome we stayed an extra day on the island.
Theis (sounds like Tice) and Jenni, Germans also, went out of their way to welcome us to Northern Europe and help us out as they hung out with us and drove Jeff and I from here to there on the island and then as we left the island drove us, via ferry, to Ventspils, Latvia, then to the coast to see Theis's new small farm house on the coast and then into Riga at about 10 last night. This ride saved us an awful lot of time and comfort given his luxurious Mercedes wagon as opposed to the bus that we may have had to have taken. The ride gave us a chance to see some of the small towns of the Latvian countryside, a concentration camp site, a German Baron's manor and almost run over Bambi. We also were able to learn a bunch about the WHO and their projects in Eastern Europe given that Jenni works for the UN's health organization in Copenhagen. Theis is also a really interesting guy, practicing law in Latvia but serving other parts of the Baltic states and Belorus. He also has an interesting family history having one great uncle fighting on the Soviet side and another fighting on the German side during the war. He also makes a mean Cuba libre.
Phillip, Mattias' cousin, the used East German Toy Monger, boat owner and "swinger"-he really liked this massive swing that they had at the village museum where we celebrated the holiday on the second, was also a treat to hang out with. He and I were the swimmers in the group making the trek to the Baltic sea a couple times a day even though the temperature hovered in the June chilliness of Lake Michigan. I think I will be visiting him in Berlin later in the trip.
The Estonians were also very welcoming to us in the island. I remeber Christi-she is studting Estonian attitudes towards the Soviets- and Ohmert (spelling?) her husband/boyfriend who shocked me by telling me the Miami Heat won the finals and also was about to put pillows over our heads because of our loud snoring. Can't remeber the other Estonians names but they were VERY tall.
Most of the time at the country house we were barbecueing, going to the beach, sitting around the massive bonfire and kibbitzing, but on the last day we went to an event at the local village museum that featured a choir, a number of traditional houses, this massive swing I mentioned before and a competition we dubbed "the feats of strength." Given this is a pagan festival and all the fertility rituals are front and center thus lifting heavy objects, presumably a women (in a sack?), throwing an object through one's legs (in this case an old suitcase), and showing one's manliness are central to this competition. By the way we were asked to compete (pictures forthcoming). The only "problem" with the feats of strength being held at the late hour of around ten-it's very bright out by the way-is that the average Estonian male has a mortality rate 10 years younger than the women and you guessed why, vodka and cigarettes! So the feat of strength #2, lifting the heavy sack (over 100 lbs!) off of the large rock then running with said heavy sack around the nearest tree and then returning at high speed at a slight decline while hammered on Saaremaa's finest grain alchol seemed like at least part of the reason for the high male mortality rates as Jenni, the official from the WHO, quipped. One of the participants had been in Iraq for two years by the way.
Kidding aside it was an interesting event and we stayed for hours.
Tommorow I leave Riga for Berlin and a town near Cologne to meet Mary and Paul at Johannes and Julia's house (Paul's brother-in-law and sister). I am writing this post on the sixth floor of a 19th century building owned at least partly by the Stochholm School of Economics for which Jeff works. They have a number of apartments that they house visiting scholars in. It's quite POSH and has the added benefit of having some sort of music school on the second floor or so and while I have been posting the most wonderful Jazz band has been playing, classical yesterday! It also is the block on which
Isaiah Berlin lived as a child. Quite a city. I am off to the old city and the art museum.
