Estonia and Foreign Occupation
Estonia is the northern most and smallest Baltic country and is bordered by Russia and Latvia and situated on the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic sea. The geographic location made Estonia an important land to control and made them susceptible to occupation. Since German invaders came to Estonia in the thirteenth century in the "Baltic Crusade", Estonia has been under nearly constant foreign control. Sweden controlled Estonia in the seventeenth century, followed by Russia (1710-1918), the Soviet Union (1940-41), Nazi Germany (1941-44) and again the Soviet Union (1944-1991). In August 1991, Estonia declared its independence during the fall of the Soviet empire (Tall, 491).
Swedes and Baltic Germans lived for centuries in Estonia and imparted their way of life including cultural tools and architecture. (Toi, 5). The occupying Germans maintained a higher social status than the Estonians who they repressed. The Estonians were influenced in social and spiritual customs. |
Ethnicity and Language
Estonians are among the world’s oldest peoples. Estonians have continuously lived on their land for between 5,000 and 8,000 years (Singing Revolution). Estonia has a population of 1.5 million and nearly 75 percent are native Estonians (Wolverton, 21). Other ethnic groups include Swedes, Russians, Ukranians Belarusans and Finns. The Estonian language belongs to the Finno-Ugric group (with Finnish and Hungarian). The culture has also assimilated many German customs and words due to many years of German occupation.
History of Estonian Folk DanceFolk dance and music go hand in hand. In Estonia we have learned of the incredibly strong singing tradition. According to Estonica encyclopedia, in the previous century, the average Estonian did not have an affinity for dance. Whether it was the agrarian lifestyle and northern latitude with little daylight, we only know that Estonians much preferred song to dance. In the mid nineteenth century, however, folk dancing entered a more "defined period." Folk societies began to value dance as another means of preserving culture. Helena Ehrenbusch says, "It seems unbelievable, but only a century ago it was thought that Estonians had no national dance" (Ehrenbusch).
In 1930 the Estonian Students' Association under the direction of Oskar Kallas (1868–1946) began a field study of "pure" Estonian dance. (This is the same association that is known for collecting Estonian folk songs.) Ehrenbusch says, "It became apparent that our folk dances are at times very similar to the dances of other nations." (Ehrenbusch) In the model of the Estonian Song Festival, 1934 Estonia saw its first national dance festival. This first festival had 1500 performing dancers. By 1970, the ninth dance festival reached its peak with over 10,000 performers. Now the song festivals are multi-generational with 8,000 performers ranging in age from 4-76. In November 2003, UNESCO declared Estonia's Song and Dance Festival tradition a masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity (Estonia.eu). |
Further Reading
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