Jaanipäev

Since the most important Estonian holiday is coming up, its time to educate the world about Estonian traditions :).

Here is a snap shot written by Estonian comedian Rohke Debelak, about what happens around Estonia every year on the night of 23rd of June...

We have two especially significant periods every year. One is Midsummer – St. John’s Day. This is a huge celebration. It is an ancient tradition that any Estonian

who sat at home on St. John’s Day without going anywhere and who did not bother to make a bonfire, or throw a party, had to relinquish his passport the very next day, choose another nationality and start learning another language.

On St. John’s Night, the shortest night of the year, people come together: they lug a staggering amount of firewood to one place and then set fire to it. All over the country. Thousands and thousands of bigger and smaller bonfires are in fact the reason why it never gets dark that particular night. When the fire is blazing, people start leaping over it. At the moment the flames are underneath the leaper, he or she may make a wish and it will be fulfilled. Most people in fact want to simply get across the fire alive, a wish that is mostly granted. A lot of singing goes on – once a year those who normally sing out of tune are allowed to perform in public. There is a lot of dancing too – once a year those who cannot dance are allowed to tread the dance floor. A lot of beer and stronger distillations are quaffed, and those who usually cannot drink are allowed to do so once a year.

This is a party for the entire country. Both young and old must be present, as well as the strong and the frail, and if someone happens to have a visitor from a distant land at the time, this person must certainly join in too. Animals and birds also attend: eternal friendship is sworn with them, and on many occasions man has found a common language with animals when morning is nigh. By that time, quite a few revellers have acquired some beastly aspects themselves.

...So now I just have to find a place to make a fire in Amman, to keep my citizenship still :).