Posted on by Walker and justice lover

UNDERSTANDING ESTONIA: NATURE, LANDSCAPE & PEOPLE

Authored by Axmed Bahjad!
Understanding Estonia

I love Estonia! I know that’s a heavy statement nevertheless it is the whole truth. Ever since I came across the name: Estonia, in 2006, I have devoted myself to study, observe and understand the country and its beautiful people!

I often get a series of questions—“why does a black male from Somalia love Estonia? How did you find out about it? How on earth did you end up writing books about Estonia? Aren’t the Estonians cold and quiet? And why are you always defending Estonians?

These are among the questions I get asked whenever I promote Estonia. And I will try to answer them at the end of this essay.

In 2012 I was fortunate enough to visit the country on my own. I stayed at Prita Spa Hotel in Prita, Tallinn and I took the coach to Tartu to visit a friend I’d met online who used to teach me Estonian language.

It was then I fell in love with the Estonian nature. I called Estonia—the gorgeous land!

In 2015 I booked tickets for myself and two friends to introduce them to Estonian culture. One was Somali; the other was an Italian.They both hadn’t heard Estonia like my English, Germans and Dutch friends! 

I went back to Estonia in 2016 on my own. I stayed in Tallinn and took notes for my books. The following (2017) year I left my one bedroom flat and my job to live in Estonia. 

I’d lived in a small town called Kohtla-Järve in Ida-Virumaa. I loved it! I wrote during the day and talked to people in the afternoons and at the weekends.

I learnt Estonian and Russian on my own! I documented the Estonian culture which is swiftly changing.

In conclusion, I love Estonia because it is peaceful and natural. Moreover, its people aren’t quiet or cold; they’re reserved and polite generally speaking! 

I met an Estonian guy who was blonde. When I asked him where he was from, I didn’t know anything about it, so I searched it online. 

Initially, I wanted to satisfy my curiosity. And that journey has taken me for 14 years!

It is natural to write books after one reads lots of books. In addition to that, I wanted to document and record about my new culture. 

Finally, I am not defending the Estonians, I am trying to tear apart all the stereotyping against them!

“Understanding Estonia: Nature, Landscape and People” book blows the horn for the Estonians who are reserved. It is my way of the truth about people in northern Europe who are not what the mainstream says they are: quiet, cold and so on. 

It is my first book on Estonia. There are three books coming out in 2021 If God wills. And both of them address the Estonian culture and how Estonia can build a strong business relationship with Africa under peaceful and multi-lingual educated entrepreneurs. 

Axmed Bahjad, the author.

Posted on by Walker and justice lover

Estonian Culture.

This may seem an easy question nevertheless when I’ve tried to answer, I have puzzled by it because the answer lies within religion, history, environment and other factors that shape a culture. Following is my research in the effort of understanding the real Estonians.

Today Estonian culture is reduced to national celebrations. Estonians, the ones who participate in the events, wear the traditional clothes. That is, once in five years. There are few people who dedicate to themselves to their culture whether they teach it, take part in choir or organise events. These are less 1%. 

In today’s Estonia, people are westernised and to huge extent they think of themselves as westerners. And they are when we look at them at outset. After all, their behaviours and public appearances are western. This isn’t the part of Estonians I’m interested in. I am roamer of authentic and indigenous cultures. And Estonia is my first stop because I like the country’s nature, women and peacefulness. 

In this chapter, I will argue that the Estonian culture still exist, at least on the surface. The Estonian culture has refused to go away even though its people no longer want to have anything to do with it. 

It is this area of Estonian life I want to investigate and write about. Accordingly, I will start with the appearances of Estonians because they are different from other Western and Eastern neighbouring countries. I have to clarify what I mean by “Eastern” since the adjective has been used to describe Far Asian countries such as China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea and others. I use it to describe Russia and Eastern Europe. 

Although Estonians are neighbour with Finland, Russia and Latvia, they are different from these nations. There are large number of Russians in Estonia. The population of Tallinn, the capital, 48% is Estonian Russian. Their first language is Russian. They didn’t come to Estonia yesterday. Their forefathers have come here right after the WW2. Most of them were born in Estonia and you’d think they would marry outside of their race and look like each other. 

Face

Estonian women have the most beautiful face features in the world. Even the average looking females still will captivate my imagination and make me wonder — how can a nation be so beautiful? And then I admire their Creator—The Creator of the world.

They don’t look like each other. Russians and Estonian faces are two distinct looks. Estonians have youthful and shiny faces. Their face features are more narrower and thinner. Russian women tend to have big cheeks and longer noises. Estonian women, I think this is also true for men, have the most beautiful eyes in the world. Some of these women have cat-like eyes. I have rarely seen their eyes elsewhere. That is why they remind me of cats’ eyes which I admire. 

Human Body

Estonians have beautiful body structure. Having said that, it is the Russians who beat them in structure. Estonian Russians have gorgeous body structure. It is their diet which is different from the diet Estonians consume. Most Russians eat homemade foods. Most Estonians hit the supermarket and buy readymade meals. That is why obesity is affecting among Estonians. 

Estonians are tall people. Compare to Russians, Latvians, Lithuanians and Finnish. I am not implying that ALL Russians are short. They aren’t. On the other hand, it doesn’t mean all Estonians are tall. There are short Estonian people while there are Russians who are tall. What I am saying is that most Estonians are tall when I compare to the most Russians. 

Estonians are beautiful people. Russians are attractive. If I wanted a pretty face and wonderful eyes, I’d go for Estonian females. If I wanted beautiful and youthful body, then it would be the Russians. 

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Ulve Kangro.

“I have had the store for 20 years now. When the lace orders came, I had to sell them somewhere. Therefore, I opened my own shop here in Tallinn’s Old Town. I have another store in Räpina. It is 270 km South from here. My real home is there. Setomaa is also there- where I have collected old laces and drawn up their patterns. These are the inspiration for my work. I have actually done handicrafts since my childhood. At home my mother and grandmother- everybody did handicrafts. It was totally normal that handicraft was done daily. I am used to doing it every day. 

“This is the 50-year-old original made out of colourful crocheted laces. It was pühaserätt also known as icon scarf. This was put on top of the icon. A Seto woman inherited it from her great grandparents. They have kept it. These are the old patterns that I draw up and based on which I create contemporary products, which can be used in the present day. The latest book was made based on these patterns. When I take a motive from here, I make contemporary clothes out of it.  Here it can be seen that only a single flower motive has been taken and it has been used for decorating. The clothes are colourful – there always has to be red in it. In Seto textiles the colour red resembles life. It is always included, be it light red or dark red, it is always there. I make a lot of clothes so that I take a single motive and play with that. There you can see again a pillow. Here also an original lace has been taken. The original was made about 150 years ago. Here it has been put onto a yellow pillow. The aim is to bring the old lace into contemporary textiles and clothes, so that we would not forget the quaint lace technique.

 

Marju Kurg. A lovely lady!

“I am a handicraftswoman. I found my way to handicrafts when I worked in South Estonia, Värska as a handicraft teacher. There I was introduced to colourful lace. It is an old ethnographic lace that has been made for 150 years. The lace was included in the school’s study programme. Very few people knew how to make it. Thanks to being in the middle of the Seto culture I had a lot of old textiles. From there I started researching and from there I continued drawing up old laces’ patterns and making contemporary objects. The old laces were used only for folk costumes and therefore the laces were not well known. Folk costumes were worn only for festive occasions. Day-to-day, Estonians were unaware of the fact that these old, colourful laces are our own ethnic laces. When I had accumulated a sufficient amount of old laces I published a book on them. When I already had a book, I started to make even more and more things. Then came exhibitions, which led to orders. That is how my own little school developed. I started to teach the lace to adults and travel the world. I have had exhibitions in several European and Nordic countries. I have had my work in Australia and the United States. The Japanese have a special interest in my work. That is how I am continuously active. Now I have published four books.  Since I also teach textile handicrafts to adults in South Estonia I am able to pass on my knowledge in school.”