The 23th June is the Day of Victory. This official holiday is ment to remind of the battle of Võnnu - the crucial battle in the Estonian War of Independance 1919.
To celebrate that took place a military parade in Tallinn - I heard … from a friend … who went there … and spent hours in the rain … to watch poor Estonian soldiers standing in the rain, getting wet, waiting for the president …. Seems i haven’t missed too much.
I did what a lot of Estonians do in their free time in ’summer’ (f*** this is no summer here! it is still far to cold to really deserve this name!! yes, i confess, it annoys me.): I left the city, heading for a nice place in the countryside. I had barbecue with some friends and then we went to a typical estonian Jaanipäeva-Party.
We arrived when the competitions for children were already in full swing. They were followed by folkdance and then - the most important part of the whole party - the county official lit the Jaani-fire! It took some time because it had been raining until few hours ago (as I said: ’summer’).
The whole time was playing estonian popular music (ahhhhrg! but that was only my opinion: the locals liked it … seems I will never be Estonian…), people were dancing, drinking, talking, having fun.
We left early in the morning, the sky was still a little bit light, the fire still burning. And on the way home you can feel it: the little magic of Jaani-night.