During the last days of school our volunteer Margarita shared how Christmas is celebrated in her country Estonia.
The presentation started off by discussing the meaning of Christmas. Students were asked to write down what Christmas means to them, and then they got an opportunity to see how Margarita’s friends from Estonia answered the same question.
Some of Margarita’s friends answers:
«Christmas for me is a time of peace and love. This mainly means spending time with family and friends and eating delicious food (and of course drinking glühwein). Christmas time also meant a lot of snow but nowadays its unfortunately just a dark time, nevertheless Christmas also entails spending time outdoors in the nature 🎄» – Katarina, sister
«Christmas means it is time to be grateful for the people in my life and make them feel appreciated!» – Anete, friend from dance class
«Christmas means to me that I can be with my family. It’s a gift giving time. Gifts as in spreading joy and happiness. Gifts as in maybe giving money or food to those who are in need. Also giving gifts that come from the heart, maybe something small but meaningful. Being nice and spreading love to all.» – Mirjam, friend from school
She shared with the students that people usually have real Christmas trees at their home, instead of fake plastic trees that can be bought from the store. She showed pictures of her family going to the forest to pick their own christmas tree. As in Estonia there is a lot of forest (50% of the total area is covered with forest) it is common to have a real tree. It is legal to take the tree from the public land, just have to fill in the form online and pay a small fee for it. People living in the city center, who can’t go to the forest themselves, usually buy the tree from a market or a pop-up store where real christmas trees are sold.
Margarita also showed pictures and explained how traditions related to Santa Claus are different from Spain. The main difference is that to receive a gift from Santa Claus it is needed to do something to earn your present. For example to read a poem, sing, dance or do whatever one can think of to receive the present.
She also explained that it is really popular to eat gingerbreads during christmas time in Estonia. People eat a lot of gingerbread, but also it is more fun to bake and decorate them thierselves.
Margarita showed some statistics that Estonia is one of the least religious countries in the world (only 14% of the population consider themselves that religion is an important part of their daily life). So the religious part of Christmas is not that important for estonians. Nevertheless, some families go to church on Christmas Eve.
In Estonia there is a tradition, where kids believe that if they behave well and are good, elves, the Santa’s little helpers, will bring them some sweets or candy into their stocking every morning for 4 weeks before christmas. It is a nice tradition to keep alive, as it is a dark time, not a lot of sunlight, this small gesture really sparks up the day. It also gives a good feeling to give and receive something small every morning.
Christmas is really a time of giving and spending time with your close ones. Our Erasmus volunteers Ana and Margarita wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
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