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EESTI ELU reedel, 12. märtsil 2021 — Friday, March 12, 2021
Growing up in the Canadian Estonian community in the 1980’s, children were taught to revere the often mythical heroes who defended the Esto n ian people against foreign powers who sought to destroy our culture and language. Kalevipoeg, our deeply flawed national hero, was prime among them. His arm cast in stone at the gates of Hell, Kalevipoeg was forced to re main there, standing guard until Estonia was free from foreign occupation. Estonian youth were urged to draw inspiration from Kalevipoeg’s strength and learn from his poor choices and many mistakes. Estonia’s first President, Konstantin Päts, embodied Estonia’s independence, and his photo hanging in every Esto nian school classroom – with his stern glare – motivated Estonian Canadian youth to actively advocate for the in dependence he represented. Beside every photo was General Laidoner, who was revered as the champion of Estonian in dependence. In our Canadian community, we had our own local heroes – often church pastors, leading journalists and elected commu nity leaders – including Endel
Photo: Taavi Tamtik
Thank you to a Canadian-Estonian Hero
Ruberg, Heino Jõe, Edgar Marten and Ilmar Heinsoo. For me and my peers in the 1980’s, Laas Leivat, was, and continues to be one of those heroes. Our community has benefitted from his principled commitment to defending our values, his wisdom, warmth, humor and genuine caring for our commu nity. He is our collective voice of reason and a stabilizing force in a community that can often be polarized by politics. We often associate him with politics and his leadership of EKN during the fight for inde pendence in the 1970’s and 80’s, and indeed, he has been our community’s most success ful advocate and is deeply re spected among his counterparts in other communities, Canadian
3 Estonian things that all young (and young at heart) people should try Vincent Teetsov Youth is a time of thrills. It’s a time of blooming. It’s a time of sweetness. No matter how many years one has been on planet Earth, though, we all deserve to stay in touch with our younger selves, and here are a few ways to do that, Estonian-style. 1) Kiiking: When kiiking, sometimes known as extreme swinging, was invented by Ado Kosk in 1993, not only was he channeling a much older Esto nian custom of village swings in public areas of communities across Estonia; he was maxi mizing the dreams of thrillseeking kids the world over. Who hasn’t gone to great lengths to make the seat of a playground swing go all the way up, so your back is parallel to the ground below? Even more reckless (and fun) if you leap off at the top and make a smooth landing in the mulch. On the classic Estonian swing, you won’t get moving by sitting down. Instead, the aim is to stand up, hold onto the wooden side shafts, and push, to gradually build mo mentum and get higher and higher up. These swings, like the one at Jõekääru Estonian Children’s Camp, can hold multiple people. Now that will really get you moving. Another famous Estonian swing is by
the castle on the hill in Viljandi. There’s a wonderful view of the lake in store for you if you push extra hard. However, contemporary kii king swings are different. They’re made of metal. The shafts are adjustable (the longest of all is eight metres), with a greater challenge pre sented to those who extend the distance between the bottom and the “spindle” at the top of the swing. Finally, you’ll be strapped in where your feet are because – get ready for it – you can do a lot better than a mere 90 degree angle. With pro-level squatting techniques, you can swing all the way around the middle of the swing, once, maybe even twice! To find places where you can swing (even as far from Estonia as California and the northern coast of New Zealand) and learn about the latest kiiking competitions, visit the Estonian Kiiking Federation site at kiiking.ee. 2) Weaving flower crowns: Flower crowns seem to be just about everywhere these days. Weddings, music festivals, and all kinds of summer celebra tions. The act of piecing flowers together as a decoration to wear on your head is ancient, going back at least to the Ancient Greeks, who gave crowns made of bay laurel leaves to soldiers
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political leaders, media, and of course within the Estonian government itself. Laas’ service to our commu nity has not come without sig nificant personal sacrifice. Laas set aside a successful career in media and PR in order to serve our community and Estonia on a full time basis, during Estonia’s transition from Soviet occupation to indepen dence in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. He did so without any compensation or personal gain, but for the good of our community and Estonia. It is no surprise that Canada was the first Western govern ment to formally recognize the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Laas’ unique ability to weave advocacy, me dia and community together, disproportionally raised the pro file of Baltic communities into one of the most influential in Ottawa and beyond. In 2008, Laas’ efforts were acknowledged by the Putin regime, when a nationalist pro-Putin youth movement, Nashi, included his name among other prominent Esto nians, demanding that he be banned from entering Russian territory – dashing Laas’ dream of a vacation in sunny Vladi vostok.
When a new generation of Canadian Estonians committed itself to joining the Estonian Central Council in Canada in 2014, Laas immediately offered his support and encouragement. Laas, joined by other senior EKN members, Reet MartenSehr, Marta Kivik, Anne-Liis Keelmann and Tõnu Altosaar, mentored and guided the new council through significant early challenges. Today, EKN has restored its place as a re spected leader among the Central and Eastern European communities in Canada – thanks in large part to Laas’ ongoing guidance and active mentoring. In 2021, we find ourselves in a world that is full of uncertain ty. At the same time, our community faces existential challenges unlike any we have faced since our community was first established in the late 1940’s. Laas and his wife Ellen’s volunteerism and service to our community in Canada and worldwide, has inspired new generations of Estonian Cana dians to contribute to its growth and development. Today’s community volunteers who volunteer so much of their daily lives to keep our heritage schools, scouting, summer camps, churches and other cul tural groups alive, deserve our appreciation.
Most recently, Laas has, yet again, stood to defend our col lective values by rejecting the racist and homophobic positions promoted by Estonia’s populist far-right EKRE, despite the very real threat of backlash from this fringe movement’s supporters in Estonia and with in the Canadian-Estonian com munity. Adopting and advocating for principled positions is never easy and is almost always a lonely endeavor, absent of glory or accolades. The defence of our values and norms is thank less, but is fundamentally criti cal to keeping our community from falling apart. It is here, on the front lines, where Laas Leivat has stood and fought for us, for decades. It has been a personal honour and privilege for me to continue standing with him. While advancing age may physically slow some of us, there is no indication that at 80, Laas Leivat is planning any kind of retreat from the battle to defend our values and norms. On the contrary, over the past year, he has bravely waded into the thick of it. Thank you Laas, for your years of sacrifice, service and for being an inspirational men tor. It is on your broad shoul ders upon which we continue to stand. Happy 80th birthday!
and victorious athletes, and wore them for pagan celebra tions. For Estonians, these types of celebrations were likely the first occasions in which people made flower crowns. It’s a prac tice that appears in Latvia and Lithuania, too, where makers try to source as many different types of flowers as possible for each crown. These days, we see flower crowns at Estonia’s song and dance festivals and, of course, Jaanipäev. What’s an easy way to make one? First, take some floral wire of a moderate thick ness, measure the circumference of your head, then cut two lengths of wire to the size of that circumference so it’s not too tight, and not too loose either. Wrap the wires together, tightly around each other. Take the first flower and place it
length-wise along the edge of the wire, and wrap some floral tape around it. Go around the ring of the crown and layer each new flower over the stem of the last one to make it abun dant in its appearance. 3) Eating koogel moogel: Koogel moogel started as a des sert made by Jewish people in eastern Europe – with the potential of it being used to treat a sore throat, too – and has since been whisked into Estonia’s culinary traditions. For a nation that places greater emphasis on savoury foods by and large, it makes sense that a dessert that doesn’t require much advanced planning is so popular. It’s troublesome when you’ve cooked up a fancy dinner but totally forget to plan a dessert to finish off the meal. However, if you’re staring into your
fridge or pantry wondering what to do, some fresh eggs and sugar are all you really need.
MARCUS KOLGA
Take two eggs and separate the yolks into a bowl. Some people prefer to use the egg whites, while some may use the whole egg. Anything goes. Add a teaspoon of sugar for each of the eggs, and add other flavour components if you wish, like cocoa powder, honey instead of sugar. You could even add milk, or toppings like nuts. Use a whisk to vigorously mix it all together until the consistency is smooth. Though, you can also whisk it less if you prefer a bit of a crunch factor from the sugar. Like anything youthful, be spontaneous about it, and do it according to what suits your tastes best.
Photo: kiiking.ee
