Tag: Riina Kindlam

A definitive slice of life in Eesti in late summer is picking apples, but not so much from trees, as from crates left by people’s gates, baskets left in school cafeterias and bowlfuls left in workplace kitchens. If you love your colleagues, you bring them apples. Or, you simply need ...

  That’s what all the folk dancers, young and old, who have gathered from all over Estonia and the world, to practice throughout this past week for the upcoming tantsu/pidu or 3 performances of the Dance Celebration are hoping: that the cool, rainy conditions endured for many days (and all ...

How movie titles are interpreted worldwide is always interesting. This movie just starting showing in Estonian kinod (cinemas), so a lot of people in the west must be at least somewhat familiar with these karva/näod (furry faces) and punn/põsed (chubby cheeks) belonging to the star oravad (squirrels). The original title ...

April 1st is Let the Herd Out Day (karja/laske/päev) in Estonia and that's no joke. Laskma = to allow and to shoot. But please don't shoot the herd. The lamba/kari or herd of sheep featured here belong to textile artist Anu Raud and live in Kääriku talu (farm) in Heimtali, ...

The eestlaste muistne vabadus/võitlus aka 13th century Northern Crusades era look became so popular, these two cubs-in-training or mini-hundud Suvi Mari (4)and Tuuli (5), wore them to their kindergarten class.   This sparked their teacher Aire and soon the whole class was making and wearing the historic and stylish headgear. ...

The annual FIRE AND ICE party in Tallinn, known for its fire sculptures, burning of Christmas trees (note the nifty tree recycling symbol) and ice sculptures, could also be interpreted as the COME AND STAY party. Such is the beauty of homonüümid or homonyms, words that share the same spelling ...

Graphic warnings on packages of sigaretid aka suitsud ("smokes") are nothing new, but most likely the texts in Estonian are... The sticker on the top is proof that these are not sala/sigaretid or "secret cigarettes", i.e. have not been illegally smuggled, (a major problem at the Russian border) and are ...

  Not just any old wooden chair, but a gingerbread replica of a famed late 19th century Lutheri tool or plywood (vineerist) chair made in Tallinn's A. M. Lutheri Mehaanilise Puidu/töötlemise Vabrik / Luther Woodworking Company.   From 1880 to 1940, the Luther factory was one of the world's leading ...

Making traditional jõulu/kroonid (Christmas crowns) is easy, at least the basic octahedron or eight-faceted shape. You don't wear them, you hang them from the ceiling. Traditionally they're made from straw (õle/kõrred) or reeds (pilli/roog), but these cubs and scouts in the Nõmme suburb of Tallinn artfully mastered the kaheksa/tahukas (octahedron) ...

This is an exerpt from an Estonian grade 1 nature (loodus/teadus) workbook. The assignment, part of the chapter marked sügis (fall), was to cut out the names of the various seened (mushrooms) and match them with the correct picture. If 7 year-old first graders in Eesti can identify them, so ...