How many Russian speakers are in Estonia. My emigration to Estonia: from Volgograd to Tallinn
On the road from St. Petersburg to Tallinn, Estonia begins gradually, and if the border were conditional, as between Russia and Belarus, it would not be so easy to understand where it passes.
Well-groomed Kingisepp, the former Yamburg with a magnificent Catherine's Cathedral, Art Nouveau houses and the estate of Baron Karl Bistrom - back in Russia: the Bolsheviks gave it an Estonian name in honor of an Estonian comrade-in-arms, a German name - the Swedes in the 17th century, and so it was the Novgorod fortress Yam . The city owes its well-groomedness to the chemical plant behind the forest that successfully "fitted into the market", and even Bistrom, although an Ostsee baron, but only his ancestors were not from Estonia, but from Courland. But here, in the perspective of the highway, almost immediately behind Kingisepp, a high tower becomes visible ... There is Ida-Virumaa, or East Virlandia, the strangest county in Estonia.
Two Strongholds
This is probably the most beautiful border in the world: two medieval fortresses menacingly look at each other across the fast river Narova. Founded by the Danes in 1223, the Russians called Narva Rugodiv; Ivangorod, founded in 1492, was called Kontr-Narva by the Germans. They are very different: in Ivangorod there is a huge, squat, spacious Russian fortress winding along the hills with gray walls; in Narva there is a compact and very tall German castle. Between them there was their own "arms race": the Narva Long German is slightly higher than the Tallinn "namesake" (51 meters), and the Ivangorod fortress is protected from shelling from its top by a frighteningly high wall.
It was turbulent on the border even in peacetime: for example, once the Germans and Russians had a skirmish, and in the end the Ivangorod residents could not stand how the knights “barked the sovereign” there, crossed the river in boats, and when the fight ended, suddenly with surprise realized that they had captured the castle ... which, however, had to be returned in order to avoid a real war. For the first time the border was "erased" by Ivan the Terrible, who took Narva in 1558. Since 1581, both cities belonged to the Swedes, in 1710, Peter I took them on the second attempt, and even when Estonia seceded for the first time, she took Ivangorod with her. In general, for most of its history, the "Two Strongholds" belonged to one state and almost did not fight among themselves ... but now it's hard to believe.
What is surprising: from the low Ivangorod, Narva is viewed much better than Ivangorod from the Narva tower. Without a Schengen visa (but with a pass to the border zone!), you can see the most important sights of Narva - the castle, the huge town hall of the 17th century, the Dark Garden on the Swedish bastions, the impressive Stalinist ensemble of the main street of Pushkin and the high-rise building with a water tower on the roof, the Resurrection Cathedral and the largest Alexander Church in Estonia at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, the distant factories of Krenholm. From Narva, you can see such parts of the Ivangorod fortress, which are almost impossible to approach from the Russian side - for example, Petrovsky Caponier.
People are actively running along the Friendship Bridge just below both fortresses - Narvitians and Ivangorod residents can pass the border according to a simplified scheme.
Russian capital of Estonia
The gloomy gray Narva is not very different from the same Kingisepp or Vyborg: well, the streets are a little cleaner, the lawns are much more decent, the shopping centers are an order of magnitude larger, and the inscriptions are mostly not in our opinion, but the five-story buildings and their courtyards, the assortment and music of a few cafes, the faces of passers-by, the ubiquitous Russian speech constantly make you forget that, in fact, you are already in the European Union. It's scary to say - even the monument to Lenin is still standing! Narva is the third largest city in Estonia and is reputed to be its "Russian capital", Estonians in it are only 3% of the population, and even those fellow tribesmen take them for Russians. In the early 1990s, there were even attempts to create the Prynarovskaya republic, and only a high standard of living saved Estonia from its Transnistria.
In general, Narva has a peculiar fate: in 1558-81, it managed to be a Russian "window to Europe" - Ivan the Terrible captured it first, left it last, and all these years, Reval merchants with tears in their eyes watched how merchant ships pass them to the mouth of the Narova. The Swedes, having defeated the Russian army, also oriented Narva to the east, making it the center of a separate province - Ingermanland, stretching to the Neva and Lake Ladoga. Under the Swedes, Narva had the same status as Revel and Riga, and once had a wonderful Old city in the Swedish baroque style ... alas, completely destroyed by the war, except for its main building - the town hall. In the same region, Narva remained under Russia - only now it was called the St. Petersburg province, and with a very impressive size, Narva became a provincial town of the Yamburg district. The borders of the provinces passed literally along its outskirts, on the Estonian side Narva was overgrown with suburbs with an Estonian population. In the city itself there was a Polish church and even a church of the Ingrian Finns, but the Estonians were able to build their church only on the outskirts of Joaorg.
Krenholm and Parusinka
A little higher than Narva on the river, a hydroelectric power station is clearly visible, hiding a real waterfall. In general, there are a lot of waterfalls in Northern Estonia - after all, the Great Ledge passes here, starting under water off the coast of Sweden and stretching to Lake Ladoga: no one knows where it came from, but sheer cliffs over the sea and waterfalls on rivers are a common part of the landscape here. Narva hydroelectric power station - not on the waterfall itself, but on the channel a little lower.
Even at the time when the factories were water-powered, a powerful industrial complex grew up near the waterfall: the legendary philanthropist and finance minister Alexander Stieglitz opened a canvas manufactory on the St. Krenholm was also called Ostsee Manchester, and if Stieglitz had order in the factories and excellent salaries for those times, then the Old Believers had a cholera epidemic in 1872, which turned into the first strike of workers in the history of Russia, primarily Estonian.
Now it's the other way around. Parusinka, a distant region of Ivangorod, amazes with its gloomy color. Tall, shabby walls, amazing architecture, a dominating factory tower, a rocky bed of the Narova with a ledge of a waterfall (water is now rare here - everything goes through the canal to the hydroelectric power station) ... here you feel like a hero of Dickens' novels, here you just expect that now the smoked voices will be dragged out " Get up, branded with a curse ... ".
Krenholm is also gloomy, but it still affects the fact that this is a rather lively area in the center of Narva. There is a hospital in a luxurious building of the early twentieth century, and a factory with high towers that has not been operating for a long time resembles a Romanesque cathedral. But in general, the same world of working barracks, brick houses for the authorities and British engineers, neglected yards where Russian boys play ... The old prison is equipped Orthodox Church. The monumental Stalin-style House of Culture stands abandoned, and the park around it is overgrown and littered. But still, the most amazing thing here is not even Dickensianism, but how the border cuts two regions "on the live": on one side of it you can hear the music playing in the car on the other.
Estonian Donbass
And how did Ida-Virumaa become like this? After all, a hundred years ago, even in Narva, Estonians made up 2/3 of the population, but after the war they never returned to the ruined city. The answer is a little further towards Tallinn, in Sillamae and Kohtla-Jarve. Here the tall pipes of the Narva State District Power Plant, which provide 90% of Estonia's electricity, are left behind, and among the green fields, cozy farms, gabled churches, baronial manors, "stumps" of abandoned mills, you suddenly see real waste heaps. Ida-Virumaa is a mining region, but it is not coal that is mined here, but oil shale.
It all started with the First World War: in St. Petersburg, the 4th largest city in the then world, coal was transported by sea from England. But the war blocked the sea routes, the railways could not cope with the supply of Donbass coal, and then someone remembered that in 1902, near the Estonian village of Kukers, geologist Nikolai Pogrebov discovered a deposit of oil shale. Their production began to develop rapidly, only gaining momentum under young Estonia: after all, this gave it energy independence, and shale oil was exported. The oil shale processing plant in Kohtla-Järve even made it onto the 100-krona banknote - there was generally a typical socialist plot with a hammer in the foreground.
Kohtla-Jarve
The plant in Kohtla-Järve is still working properly, buzzing, smoking and stinking, its workshops are neat, the grass in front of them is mowed, the tower with 100 crowns still stands. Excavators climb multi-colored dumps, locomotives scurry along the railway, and although only one of the 7 mines that operated under the Soviets remains - shale oil is still being exported, and Narva GRES still does not operate on Russian gas or Norwegian oil, but on local slates.
In Kohtla-Jarve, the remains of the Old Town have been preserved - but here these are not narrow streets, castles and town halls, but only a working-class district of the 1920s and 30s, the most striking building of which is an Orthodox church in the cubist style, completely unimaginable in Russia. But most of Kohtla-Järve is such a familiar residential town Stalin era, where, again, only mowed lawns, Latin inscriptions and huge supermarkets give out that we are in the West.
Kohtla-Nõmme, Kukruse, Johvi
In neighboring Kohtla-Nymme there is a mine-museum where an elderly miner leads tourists in helmets and overalls. Kukers, now Kukruse, is a very tiny village, but it has a shale museum and an overgrown waste heap of the first mine, closed in the 1960s. Other settlements such as Sompa throughout Estonia are known as places that are dangerous for walking.
And between the villages of Ida-Virumaa stands the town of Jõhvi, unlike them. Here is already a full-fledged Estonia with a medieval church, an abundance of cafes and indicatively decorated streets, and it is quite possible to meet a person who does not speak Russian. Perhaps that is why it is here, and not in Narva, that the administration of the Ida-Viru County is located.
Russian Estonians and vice versa
But how did the shale survive the Estonians from here? Very simple: the main challenge of the USSR after the Second World War was the American atomic bomb, the country urgently needed uranium and looked for it wherever possible ... for example, they tried to extract it from shale. Therefore, people from all over the Union were sent to restore Narva and Kohtla-Jarve, replacing the indigenous population of the destroyed cities, and the city of Sillamäe grew up by the sea, now also known throughout Estonia for its Stalinist architecture: its plant was built to produce uranium and other rare elements from shale. And although the project did not justify itself, the Russian people who settled in Ida-Virumaa could not be sent back.
So they live here, half are non-citizens, but many have never been to Russia either - it is much easier for them to go to Berlin, Oslo or Rome than to Moscow. However, everyone dreams of visiting St. Petersburg at least once, but Estonians themselves adore St. Petersburg. The local Russians have a different fashion compared to the Russians - in clothes, hairstyles, jewelry, slang ... which may well be organically complemented by a St. George ribbon or a hit of the national stage on the phone. They don’t run across the street at a red light - a fine of 120 euros scares, but it’s no more difficult to see a drunk under a fence here than in Russia.
In general, Ida-Virumaa is an island: to the west they speak a different language, to the east there is a visa border, and from the north and south the sea and Lake Peipsi. Some people here respect Russia more than Russians, others love Estonia more than Estonians. Many are waiting for Russia to return to take Estonian independence - some with horror, others with hope. Both of these extremes look quite ridiculous. And they all remain Russian - in the language, in their favorite books and songs, in the immutability of the "cultural code". The ship "Ida-Virumaa" set sail from its homeland and set sail.
We have a lot of stereotypes about Estonians. Don't let me tell you! It is believed that, they say, they are slow, that, they say, they speak Russian with a big accent, that, they say, they do not like us Russians categorically, and therefore they want us in every possible way not to go to them - they even give visas with big creak. What should I say to you? Perhaps only that yes, slow. And they do not hide it themselves. I remember once writing a letter for work to one of the Tallinn museums. A day passed - no answer, two - no answer. Wrote again - no answer. It's been a week now with no response. I call and ask:
- Have you received a letter?
- Yeah!
- Why don't you answer?
- Sorry naas, we are so slow ...
This is where they all are. :)) But is it possible to treat such an Estonian trait in any other way than with humor? :) As for the accent, yes, it is, Estonians like to stretch words a little, to double consonants. But about dislike for us - complete nonsense. We did not notice a single manifestation of hostility on their part during our entire trip. Yes, and Estonians began to give visas to our compatriots very well. I myself was amazed for the first time when one of my tourists decided to get a visa on her own, received it, and then came and boasted that she had been given a six-month cartoon! Estonians! Against the backdrop of all EU sanctions!
Well, to be quite frank, the Estonians simply amazed us with their friendliness. Like it or not, but as it turned out, we were also subject to the common stereotype and did not expect such cordiality from them. I will give just one example. We go to Tartu in the evening on foot to our villa from the bus station, where we have just arrived from Tallinn. Suddenly, a taxi stops a little ahead of us. A girl comes out of there, heads towards us and says: “Excuse me, but we were on the bus from Tallinn together, and I heard that you need to go to Tahe street. I drive further past this street. Let me give you a ride. No money necessary!" And yes, I did. And before that, the driver of the Tallinn bus was concerned about how we would get to Tartu: do we need a taxi, will we be met?
And this happened very often in Estonia.
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Well, since we are talking about the attitude towards Russians in Estonia, I will tell you one story. While in Narva, a city on the very border of Estonia and Russia (I will talk about it later), we met there a Russian woman, an employee of one of the museums. And she told us about the local and very complicated system of citizenship. It is no coincidence, apparently, that we had all these stereotypes about Estonia, because three types of citizens still permanently live in the country, so to speak: citizens of Estonia, citizens of Russia and stateless people with so-called "gray" passports. This woman was just one of the latter. But, importantly, according to her, it was her own choice, because gray passport holders also have their advantages. For example, in order to travel to Russia or the European Union, they do not need a visa either there or there. For Estonian citizens, as we know, a visa to Russia is needed, just as we need it to enter the European Union. Also, gray passport holders do not need a visa to enter those countries with which Estonia has a visa-free regime. The exception here, however, is the United States, where you need to apply for visas. But the United States is always so "exceptional" with us.
True, the owners of gray passports also have their own “minuses”. For example, they do not have the right to vote in elections to the Estonian Parliament and in presidential elections. But they can vote in elections to local authorities. Also, these people can buy housing, for example, apartments, but they cannot buy land - a summer cottage, for example. They can work in Estonia calmly. The most interesting thing is that this woman has two children. She raised one without a husband, and since he was born on the territory of Estonia, and she does not have any citizenship, her son automatically received Estonian citizenship. But she gave birth to her youngest daughter from her new husband, who has Russian citizenship, and her daughter also automatically received Russian citizenship from her father. True, when she becomes an adult, she will be asked to choose which citizenship she wants: Russian or Estonian.
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In general, in order for those Russians who have been living in Estonia for a long time to receive Estonian citizenship, they need to pass an exam in knowledge of the Estonian language and learn the Estonian constitution. We have long had persistent rumors that this language exam is terribly difficult, and that, they say, even Estonians themselves cannot always pass it. It turned out so, but in part. The bottom line is that the tests for this exam are based on knowledge of the correct, literary Estonian language. In many areas of the country, especially in villages, people communicate in their own dialect, building phrases not as correctly as required by the rules of the Estonian language. Basically, the same as ours, yes. Nobody canceled the dialects. From there, rumors are spreading about the incredible complexity of the exam and that Estonians themselves cannot pass it. And try, for example, to ask some tractor driver Petya from the village of Berezkino in the left corner of the Ivanovo region to pass an exam in the literary Russian language? I dare to assume that he will not hand it over.
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Russians and other foreigners in Estonia, in order to pass this exam, in principle, can be like courses. Yes, and now it seems to be much easier for those who have lived there for a long time to obtain Estonian citizenship than it used to be. Another thing is that in the same Narva and its environs, the Russian population is 90%, everyone here speaks exclusively Russian, even, as our interlocutor told us, meetings of the city council of deputies in Narva are held in Russian (not all deputies speak Estonian). and it is simply more convenient for them to communicate in Russian). And it turns out that there is no language environment where people could communicate in Estonian. And do they need it?
Now in Estonian schools, including in Narva, 12-year education. And if we talk about the language, then in Narva all teaching is conducted in Russian, moreover, there are very few normal teachers of the Estonian language there. True, knowing this, the Estonian government invented such a project. Schoolchildren who wish can go to other regions of Estonia in the summer or on vacation, where there are many more ethnic Estonians, live there with families, immerse themselves in Estonian traditions and customs, this helps them integrate. True, not everyone takes advantage of this opportunity. And vice versa. Estonian schools have a rule according to which you can choose to study an additional language. And now more and more Estonian students, in addition to English, choose Russian as their third language. Of course, this is not at all connected with great tender and sincere feelings for our compatriots, but due to the fact that our countries border on each other, and everyone is well aware that knowledge of the language is necessary to establish normal, primarily commercial relations with neighbors. This is logical!
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Indeed, a lot of young people speak Russian in Estonia now. We have met many of them. Some people speak with an accent, some don't. There are those who are fluent in English, they understand Russian, but do not speak it. In any case, we did not have any problems in communicating with the Estonians, since we always managed to communicate with them either in Russian or in English. And people of the older generation knew Russian without exception. In general, we did not notice any special oppression of the Russian language in Estonia. On the contrary, even signs on shops and other establishments were duplicated in Russian in many places.
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What else can I tell you about Estonians? Due to the fact that we traveled to Estonia for work, we had to communicate with them quite often and hear about their peculiarities of traditions and customs. For example, it was a discovery for me that Estonians are one of the most melodious peoples. No, I assumed that they were very musical - after all, the Singing Field in Tallinn was not built by accident, but that's so much ... It turned out that a long-standing Estonian tradition is choral singing. He is over a hundred years old. And that very Singing Field gathers half of the entire population of the country for the annual holiday. Just imagine, 30,000 people sing in the choir alone! Not bad, right?
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Estonians are also famous for their needlework, namely knitted woolen clothes. It has practically become the hallmark of their country. For example, in old Tallinn, even in summer, there are many shops selling the most beautiful knitted hats, sweaters, sweaters. And by the way, I even bought myself one wonderful hat and spent the winter in it with pleasure. So, there is an opinion that knitted patterns were specially invented for Estonian sailors by their wives. If their sailor husbands suddenly get lost at sea and moor after storms to unknown shores, they will be able to immediately determine by the patterns on the clothes of local residents whether they are at home or not. :)
Well, at the end of this article of mine about Estonian traditions, I only have to tell about their houses - not the same ones made of glass and concrete that are now being built everywhere in all cities, both here and there, but about the traditional ones that the Estonians built, and where they have lived for many centuries. And in order to learn more about their traditional way of life, we went to the outskirts of Tallinn, where the Estonian Open Air Museum is located. Yes, that's exactly what it's called.
In general, what is interesting, the culture of Estonians for a long time had a pronounced character of the peasantry. Of course, cities were also built in Estonia, but for the most part people settled on farms and manors, that is, on estates. The Estonian Open Air Museum has collected more than 70 original buildings that used to belong to specific owners. And we, taking an audio guide, first of all, went to see the Sassi-Jaani farm of the early 19th century. This kind of farm was built in Western Estonia. Serfs lived here, who, together with the farm itself, belonged to the landowner's manor. They grew and made everything necessary for life themselves. Moreover, the peasants had to pay an annual corvee to the manor, and not a feeble one: 300 days a year the peasants worked for the landowner and only remained for themselves. In addition, they had to hand over grain and hay on account of the court fee, sheep, chicken, eggs, straw, hops, store grain, and also pay a poll tax. In general, what ultimately remained for the peasants themselves, history is silent. But judging by the appearance, the farm flourished quite well. It consisted of a residential barn, a barn, a barn and a summer kitchen-hut, where they brewed beer, cooked food and washed clothes.
Residential barn.
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Shed.
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Barn.
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There were three rooms in the barn: a crate for storing clothes, wool, linen, yarn and needlework accessories; a grain barn for grain, flour, beans, peas and lentils; and a food barn for storing meat, fish and dairy products.
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Summer kitchen - hut.
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He was younger than Sassi-Jaani and represented the way of peasant life at the end of the 19th century. True, like the previous farm, this one paid a cash rent to the church manor. It occupied 30 hectares, of which nine hectares were occupied by fields. In general, starting from 1856, Estonian peasants were already able to buy farms themselves, but rarely did any of them succeed. The fact is that most of their income was spent on paying rent. Of course, they set aside every free penny in the hope of someday buying a farm, but ... And yet, even though the peasants still mostly rented farms, they already tried with might and main to keep them in order, brought cleanliness and beauty, and even planted gardens . For example, the living quarters in Köstriasem were already separated from the part of the farm where cattle were kept by a pretty wicker fence. The farm consisted of a residential barn (about the same as in the Sassi-Jaani farm, but with larger windows).
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Consisting of two rooms of a barn for grain and other edible supplies, a cage, a barn, where a cowshed, a sheepfold and a pigsty were located under one roof, and a summer kitchen, in which food was prepared for the family all year round, boiled potatoes for pigs, made soap, heated water for washing, etc. etc.
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And the next farm we came to - Nuki farm - seemed to us especially interesting, because there you could see how the poor lived on the farms. Those people who had no land at all were called beans in Estonia. Since the beans could not feed themselves by agriculture, they had to work as day laborers on landowners' manors, farms and construction sites, dig ditches, and engage in manual labor: women, for example, spun yarn, knitted, embroidered and sewed, and men became carpenters or shoemakers. Nuki farm is, in essence, the only chicken hut with one upper room (there were a vestibule and a pantry) and a residential part with a stove. Next to it was a tiny vegetable garden where the beans grew their own potatoes and vegetables. They could have several small domestic animals, such as chickens or goats, very rarely a cow, even more rarely a horse.
In the house of beans, which we saw in the museum, its last mistress lived until 1970 (then she was already 78 years old), and the situation, both inside and outside, practically did not change. So, it is this house that is considered the most unique here.
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And now let's move from Western Estonia, where we just walked and examined the farms, to move closer to Tallinn, to Northern Estonia.
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Here, I'll tell you straight, already in the 19th century everything was much more civilized, and the reason for this was the proximity of the sea and the highway Tallinn - St. Petersburg. Buyers brought meat from fattened cows and other products to the market in St. Petersburg. The sea, on the other hand, has always made it possible to earn money on ships, to see other countries and find out how life is being established there. In general, if in Western Estonia the peasants at the end of the 19th century still lived on rented farms, then in the North the majority had already bought them out. Moreover, they even began to build here not only from wood, but from limestone, that is, if I may say so, the houses have already partially become stone.
The first such North Estonian farm that we visited was called Pulga.
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At one time, he owned a land plot of 30 hectares, 5 hectares of which were occupied by fields. But the most interesting thing is that many of the buildings of the farm were built just from flagstone - a threshing floor of a residential barn, a smithy and a summer kitchen-bath. Especially in comparison with the wooden residential rigs of Western Estonian farms, these looked clearly better and more fundamental. Also striking are the stone fences, in which stones are used interspersed with limestone slabs.
Farm Pulga, as I have already said, consisted of a residential barn.
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Two barns (one-story and two-story), a barn, a barn, two haylofts.
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Summer kitchen-bath.
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And forges. We were particularly impressed by the forge. It was built entirely of limestone without the use of mortar. And, interestingly, it is the smithy that is considered the oldest building on the farm. She is already about 300 years old, and nothing - she stands and does not fall!
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But, what is most amazing, despite such a clear external advancement of the dwellings of the Pulga farm, in winter the residential barn here was still heated in a black way. Yes, in the truest sense, the stove did not have a pipe! In front of the residential part of the barn there was a pantry, from where double doors led to the residential part. So, the outer one, in fact, was a kind of half-door. It was just through it that smoke was released when the stove was heated.
So, when we saw a residential building located next to another farm - Kharyapea - we were even surprised. Härjapea turned out to be a farm bought from a manor in the 1890s. He had 44 hectares of land, including 13 hectares of fields. Such a farm was considered medium in size. But let me finally show you what a residential building looked like on such a farm.
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True, the situation in it dates back to the 1920-1930s, but it is still quite interesting. By the way, the house itself was also rebuilt in 1920. Despite the fact that the descendants of serfs lived in it, they were considered wealthy people. Yes, you can judge for yourself: the house has an attic, a tiled roof, plank sheathing, a large glazed veranda. The house has several rooms, a living room, a children's room. The owners of the house obviously visited St. Petersburg more than once, because many things in the atmosphere were brought from there. For example, ceramic-tiled stoves, a soft sofa, a Persian carpet and a piano. By the way, it's funny, but I asked the caretaker of the house, did the peasant owners really know how to play the piano? "Yes you! she replied. - Of course not! The piano was for them an indicator of prosperity! In other words, the rich former peasants were showing off, as now, they would probably be showing off with the sixth iPhones.
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By the way, what is interesting is that Johannes Orro, a native of the Härjapea farm, that is, the direct owner of the house, rose in his career to the rank of major of the border guard of the Republic of Estonia, was the owner of a bakery and several cafes in Tallinn, in general, he really was reputed to be not a poor man.
And now let me show you a typical Northern Estonian fishing farm, for example, the farm we saw in the museum, Aarte.
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These fishermen's farms were small and usually consisted of a dwelling house, a barn, a barn, several sheds for nets and a smokehouse. The fishermen had only a few hectares of land, and on it the fishing family grew potatoes and other vegetables. They received grain from other agricultural farms in exchange for fish. In general, it was quite common that the fishermen did not even have a horse, not to mention other livestock, but every family always had a boat. Of course, the main income for the fishermen was fishing, they also earned extra money on ships and construction sites. In general, what is interesting is that the Estonian fishermen who lived on the shores of the Gulf of Finland actively communicated with their “Finn colleagues” for hundreds of years, and as a result, their language and culture became very similar. Even their houses, although, seeing them from the outside, you can’t tell, they built according to the Finnish type.
House.
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Shed.
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Barns for boats.
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But most of all, the similarity of cultures can be traced in their way of life and cuisine. Before the First World War, the inhabitants of the coast bought a significant part of the necessary goods in Finland. For example, checkered fabric, copper coffee pots, rocking chairs, kick sleds, coffee and delicious dried fish. At that time, the inhabitants of the central part of Estonia had never heard of anything like this. What if, at the end of the 19th century, the inhabitants of the coast took over from the Finns to drink bean coffee. In other parts of Estonia, it spread only by 1920-1930. Yes, and Estonian fishermen also baked Finnish bread, with a hole in the middle. It was prepared three or four weeks before going on a long voyage, and dried, because ordinary rye bread got moldy in the sea. They ate this bread, dipping it in tea, coffee or water, because dry bread was so hard that it was possible to break teeth on it.
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Well, to finish talking about the farms, I will tell you about one more, about the farm of an artisan, or rather, a blacksmith - Sepa. Usually beans became blacksmiths, because, as I wrote above, they did not have land and had to master some kind of craft. It must be said right away that the blacksmith’s yard was usually located near the road so that one could drive up to it on a horse, his dwelling was modest, and the blacksmith himself, according to the farmers, belonged, so to speak, to one of the lower classes.
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They were considered unpromising grooms, and indeed, the poor.
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But in the second half of the 19th century, agriculture began to develop rapidly in Estonia, and the scope of work for village blacksmiths increased, especially since peasants began to use more durable tools and agricultural machines to cultivate the land.
Forge.
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Windmills.
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By the way, you won’t believe it, but most of the millers were also beans. For example, the Nätsi windmill, which stands in the museum, used to belong to Ants Kümmel. He ground flour on it not only for himself, not only for his fellow villagers, but also for the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. A fee was charged for grinding - octopus. So, for grinding 9 poods of rye or 8 poods of barley (1 pood = 16.4 kg), Ants kept 6.6 liters of grain for himself. During the autumn season, with favorable weather, the mill worked day and night, with the exception of Saturday and Sunday nights. To power it, sails or shields were fixed on its 8.40-meter long wings, and with the help of a lever, the mill was turned in the direction of the wind. With a good wind, it ground up to two tons of grain per day and worked so intensively that its rotating wooden parts could begin to smoke!
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Watermills were also in use in Estonia. Moreover, they began to be used even earlier than wind turbines, apparently from the 13th century. And six centuries later major rivers In mainland Estonia, there were already entire cascades of water mills, where they ground flour, sawed boards, carded wool, made yarn and performed blacksmithing.
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For the farmers, the mills were a place where they could meet and socialize with other farmers. In some places where there were no special folk houses, rehearsals of local brass bands and choirs were even held at the mills.
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Now let's move on to the most interesting. Sutlepa Chapel. This is a real wooden chapel of the 17th century.
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On one of its boards above the front door we found a carved inscription: "1699".
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It was built on the territory where the Estonian Swedes lived (and they lived on the Estonian islands already from the 13th century, where they retained their free status and did not mix with the native Estonians) and is considered one of the oldest wooden buildings surviving in Estonia. This chapel is still active, and services are held in it on major church holidays.
But in general, although officially the Sutlepa chapel is considered to be built in the 17th century, in fact, in 1837 it was completely dismantled and reconstructed, and its interior is more typical for the first half of the 19th century than for the end of the 17th. Since then, the pulpit, the throne, the altar curtain, the octagonal stand for the font, the image of Christ hanging above the altar, and tin wreaths on the walls have been preserved - in memory of the dead sailors.
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Village Shop Lau. In general, rural shops appeared in Estonia in the second half of the 19th century. But the one we examined in the museum worked in the 1930s.
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And its exposition (yes, yes, the store was open, moreover, everything that was exhibited there could be bought!) belonged to the heyday of the Estonian economy - to 1938. Two aunts, Pauline Meinberg and her daughter Alice Tickerberg, were in charge of the store that year. It was under them that the sign “Koloniaal-kauplus A. Tikerberg” appeared on the facade of the store building, that is, “Colonial Goods Store”.
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It was possible to buy kerosene, salt, sugar, tea, cocoa, coffee, raisins, rice, sweets, herring, fragrant soap, thread, needles, buttons, lamp glasses and wicks, dishes, tobacco and cigarettes, ropes, harness, wax , tooth powder, postcards and fabrics. In general, everything that can be useful to a villager. Moreover, the hostess Pauline conducted cooking courses for local women - apparently, so that the goods dispersed more quickly. :)
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The owners themselves also lived at the store. They owned three rooms and a kitchen.
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True, then they rented one of the rooms to the tailor's family, and they continued to use the kitchen together. By the way, the tailor in the village was considered a very wealthy man, he even got the first radio.
Well, we bought a couple of delicious cakes from Paulina and went for a walk around the museum further.
Kuye School. After the educational reform of 1867, a decision was made to build rural schools everywhere in Estonia. One school was to be built for every 300 adults, and the teacher was required to be qualified. The land and building materials for the schools were allocated by the landowners from the nearest manor. Kuye School, which, by the way, is now working with might and main Education Centre Museum, was erected in 1877-1878.
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During the construction, they proceeded from the standard project established for schools in Tsarist Russia: the building was supposed to have a large classroom with five windows.
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A three-room teacher's apartment with a kitchen, storage rooms, a canopy and a cloakroom - a workshop.
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The school was a two-year school, and a few years after the opening it became a three-year school. From 45 to 80 students aged 10-17 years old studied at the same time, girls and boys were approximately equally divided. The academic year began on October 15 and ended on April 15. All the rest of the time, the children helped their parents in the field and around the house, grazed cattle. Education was compulsory from the age of 10. Half of the students (who are older) went to school once a week, the rest - every day. The distance to the school was five or six miles. Those who lived further stayed at the school to spend the night - for this, in one of the teacher's rooms there was a special sliding bed.
The training was free. But since it had just been made mandatory then, many parents thought it was stupidity, that their children were more needed at home and tried not to let them go to school. For such parents, fines were provided. According to the decision of the school court, which included the owners of the volost farms, for the absence of classes by a child, his parents were obliged to pay 5 kopecks for each missed day. In addition, there were detention rooms in schools, where parents of children were imprisoned, who interfered with their studies, but could not pay a fine.
Of the disciplines, they taught the law of God, reading and writing (calligraphy), reading and writing in Russian (in 1892, Russian became the official language of instruction), geography, singing in four voices, and, if desired, also German. The marks were as follows: 0 meant "does not understand at all", 1 - "barely understands", 2 - "bad", 3 - "average", 4 - "good", and 5 - "excellent".
Usually, school teachers had other duties besides teaching: clerks, assistants to the parish priest, who on Saturdays and major holidays preached to students and servants from the manor, baptized children and buried the dead. They led a local choir, a theater group, collaborated with teachers from other farms, sometimes engaged in agriculture, school gardening and horticulture.
This is how the life of a teacher and rural schools in Estonia used to be. Very interesting, right?
Orgmetsa fire shed.
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There were also such on large farms in the 1920-1930s. After all, they built something most often from wood, and fires were not rare. Such fire sheds were erected by rural fire societies. Members of the societies conducted exercises and knew who should perform what task in the event of a fire. They had their own uniforms and even held parades on holidays. As for the barn, this is a real prototype of a modern fire station. It contained hand pumps, wagons, barrels of water, fire hooks and more. The hoses could be dried in the tower, where a fire bell also hung. Any person who noticed the fire could call it. The key to the fire shed was kept in one of the neighboring houses, and firefighters could travel up to ten kilometers away. They, of course, rode draft horses to put out fires, which the inhabitants of the farm provided to the firefighters in turn.
Friends, you probably already realized that we spent more than one hour in the Estonian Open Air Museum. Everything was so interesting there that the time flew by unnoticed. It was already the middle of the day (and we walked around the museum almost from the very opening), and we looked at hardly half of the exposition. Unfortunately, we could not stay at the museum until the evening, they were already waiting for us in another place (advertiser, yes!), Therefore, no matter how sad we were, we had to “curl up”. So, the traditions and life of the southern, eastern and insular Estonians, as well as the Russian farm, which was also in the museum, completely passed us by.
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True, we still examined one more object. We simply could not pass by him, especially since I personally read a lot of interesting things about him even before we got into this museum. The old roadside tavern Kolu, which is still in operation today.
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Taverns appeared in Estonia already in the Middle Ages. Moreover, interestingly, they were originally conceived not at all for a snack of passing travelers, but in order to sell the products of distilleries that worked at the manors - wine, beer and vodka. But gradually the taverns became so popular that travelers were offered food and accommodation there.
End in comments...
Estonia recently held parliamentary elections. W The Russian-speaking Center Party came in second with 25 percent of the vote. However, the slogan"Estonia for Estonians" and nationalists still in favor. Professor of the Department of European Studies spoke about this on the air of the video channel of the site St. Petersburg State UniversityNikolay Mezhevich.
What choice did Estonia make?
— Nikolai Maratovich, and togas parliamentary elections in Estonia, were they unexpected for you and for Estonians?
- I think that for you, and for me, and for the voters of the Republic of Estonia, there was a significant element of surprise.
— In what?
Four parties were represented in the parliament. Now there will be six parties. This is a pretty significant increase. The Social Democrats lost their votes. It is a rather young party, with a young and energetic leader, who took a position in the field of foreign and domestic policy almost the same as the entire right-wing coalition.
Accordingly, this is also a surprise. It is also unexpected that with the obvious victory in the personal championship of the prime minister and the political leader of the reformists, the overall situation of the reformists turned out to be, to put it mildly, not brilliant.
That is, there is no great confidence in the coalition in power, it has fallen significantly. One can say that all four traditional parties are facing a challenge. This is a challenge to society due to the lack of novelty in programs, attention to issues of social life and the national economy. The last two points apply, perhaps, to everyone except the centrists.
– Mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar confidently won in the individual competition. His Center Party also achieved great success, but still gained 2 percent fewer votes than the Reform Party. Why couldn't they come out on top?
- In the individual championship, Savisaar really retained his positions, even improved, and there was no radical victory for the centrists. Sociological research data showed that the centrists would gain more votes than before. And so it happened. But no one promised absolute victory. An absolute victory in the conditions of a parliamentary republic is 50 percent plus one vote, that is, the opportunity to form a parliamentary coalition of oneself.
If this happened, then the President of Estonia and the entire composition of the Parliament would have to admit that this is absolutely the first political force in terms of rank, although they were constantly oppressed, accused of all sins, up to treason. The winning party appoints the prime minister. This did not happen, so it is likely that we will face a somewhat new coalition, in which the traditional right-wing parties will add new right-wing parties to themselves, and thus be able to ignore the centrists in principle and further.
- And what are these new parties? Are they any different from traditional right-wing parties? Why did they take votes from the Social Democrats?
- There is a formula "50 shades of gray", and this is "50 shades of right." That is, they are right-wingers, and conservatives, and nationalists. These are new leaders, although the same dish, but with a slightly different sauce. In fact, they are all right-wing, and these are new ones with elements of ultra-rightism. In fact, their slogan is "Estonia for Estonians".
In general, now we can say that two more ultra-conservative nationalist parties have been added to the two traditionally right-wing parties.
- They went on under the slogan "Estonia for Estonians"?
Yes, that was their main slogan. In general, there is only one slogan in foreign policy: "Estonia is a besieged fortress, Moscow is an enemy." Therefore, we must prepare to defend the country, we are threatened, all our problems are exclusively of Moscow origin. Moreover, these are all problems in the past, present and future - they are all Moscow. In short, everyone is to blame, from the Pskov principality to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
The Center Party proceeds from the fact that Estonia can effectively develop in the economic and political spheres if it establishes mutually beneficial partnership relations with all its neighbors. From the point of view of Savisaar and the whole party, Estonia will then be able to be effective.
Even as a young man, in 1987 Edgar Savisaar came out with the same slogan, with the program of an independent Estonia, which was supposed to become a bridge between East and West. He actively promoted this idea, in many ways he led his country to independence, and without bloodshed. In Latvia and Lithuania, there were victims associated with those political transformations of 1990-1991. Not in Estonia.
- How many now in Estonia living non-citizens?
15-year-old Estonian Rauno is afraid to enter the “Russian” districts of Tallinn: “We don’t go there if we don’t know someone there. Otherwise, we might just be beaten for being Estonians. If you go there, it is better not to have something something that can betray you as an Estonian and dress like a Russian: a black jacket, a short haircut. I don't understand why Russians are so aggressive."
The main clientele of alcohol stores speaks Russian
In 22 years of independence, Estonia has come a long way, becoming one of the countries of Eastern Europe that have advanced the most along the path of European integration. It is customary to cite Georgia with its futuristic police stations as a model of Westernization in the former Soviet space, forgetting a much more relevant example - Estonia, which during this time has practically become an equal part of Europe.
Here are some interesting examples of modern architecture: 
Infrastructure at the European level: 
bike paths: 
Separate garbage collection: 
beautifully restored wooden building: 
Modern houses are built in the Scandinavian style: 
Old soviet five-story buildings pass through overhaul with insulation and replacement of the entire exterior and redevelopment of the interior: 
Estonia's economic situation is better than that of its neighbors in the region, as evidenced by the adoption of the euro. The visuals are also impeccable, with the country more reminiscent of its northern Scandinavian neighbors Finland and Sweden than the former Soviet republic.
The main problem of the country, according to many Estonians, is the fundamentally non-integrable Russian minority. Soviet Union collapsed, leaving behind evidence of attempts by Soviet leaders to change history in almost all of its territory. 25% of the Estonian population are ethnically Russian. Or rather, Soviet - after the fall of the authorities that sent them here, they became relics of the past, alien both to Russia and to their new homeland.
After being in the Estonian environment, getting into the Russian region of Lasnamäe is akin to a cold shower: dangerous-looking groups of short-haired young people in tracksuits, as if transferred here from the Russian 90s, chanson playing loudly from broken "Lada" with St. George ribbons and Russian flags, traditionally boorish salesmen and alcoholics of different ages: 
Yuri, who permanently lives in the Lasnamäe area, says: "Of course, I want Russia to get Estonia back!" "Why don't you want to move to Russia until then?" "Well, I'm already used to it here" Yuri does not speak Estonian, although he has lived here almost since birth, and is not an Estonian citizen. As he claims, from the principle: "Well, why do they treat us like that?" In what exactly the attitude is manifested, he, however, found it difficult to explain: 
Yuri
A huge Russian-speaking minority appeared in Estonia as a result of the national and industrial policies of the USSR aimed at assimilating Estonian culture and identity and developing giants like the Riga Automobile Factory in Latvia. Large groups of Russians - military and civilian specialists - were sent to Estonia for distribution. The Estonians themselves consider the presence of Russians one of the worst consequences of the occupation. It is difficult to argue with the fact that it was precisely the occupation - just visit the occupation museum in Tallinn, which gives a ruthless account of the executions, evictions and deportations to which the Soviet authorities subjected the Estonian people. Or you can just go outside of Tallinn and see, among the bucolic landscapes of rural Estonia, indistinguishable from the same Scandinavia, with buckwheat fields, pine groves and farms, an alien monster suddenly protrudes: the ruins of a giant concrete cowshed. The product of a completely different mentality - the State Planning Committee of the USSR, according to the projects of which in different parts Union, identical production complexes appeared, designed to be included in the general chains of production and distribution. "We built an industry for them, invested so much money!" is a frequently heard argument of Estonian Russians. An industry that was never needed by a small Baltic country and which, as a result, was abandoned immediately after the collapse of the USSR. Sanitation of the country from traces of the presence of the Russians is still ongoing, but the abandoned concrete colossi of the Soviet era are already less common than a few years ago.
The Russian-Soviet diaspora is the same alien invasion of the social sphere of Estonia, but it is not so easy to get rid of it. Despite the repression that the Estonian population was subjected to during the period of occupation, the country is ready to accept Russians - if they at least learn Estonian to an intermediate level, which is a requirement for obtaining citizenship. What looks like a completely obvious and normal requirement does not seem so at all to Estonian Russians, who perceive it as a manifestation of discrimination - locksmith Gennady from Lasnamäe never thought about learning the Estonian language, and he does not need an Estonian passport. Most people like him in Lasnamäe are bus drivers, porters, dock workers and other workers of physical strength, as a result of which all the integration efforts of the Estonian authorities are shattered by the stubbornness and misunderstanding of the Russians.
Gennady - public drinking of alcoholic beverages is prohibited in Estonia, but few people stop it
In practice, Russia does not welcome the legal return of still Soviet citizens to their homeland, placing all sorts of obstacles to the so-called NEGROs - Russians who have identity cards of non-citizens of Estonia. Despite this, according to Estonians, Russian government allocates tens of millions of euros a year to reinforce the isolation of Russians in Estonia and spread "Russian influence".
Church in Lasnamäe visible from afar
One of the latest evidences of this was the new church of Alexy II, which was opened with pomp twice in the same Lasnamäe. The rector of the church refused to talk to us, referring to the fact that "there is no blessing from the press service." The church is located on the outskirts of a new residential complex, which looks quite contrasting: crosses, eternal old women, frightened whispered prayers and incense against the backdrop of pure forms of western high-tech:
Despite the church, Estonian Russians also have complaints about their former homeland: “You don’t have a household culture there at all! The grass in the yards is not mowed. Take a scythe, go out and mow it! a middle-aged Russian woman asks me accusingly. I am at a loss with the answer - I do not want to point out that landscaping and lawns are the result of the Estonian organization of housing and communal services. Estonia is undoubtedly Europe, and I get the final confirmation of this by asking two different people about the future of the Russian diapora in Estonia. Estonian Mati says, choosing his words carefully: "This may sound rather rude and categorical, but it seems to me that politicians in Estonia have lost touch with the people. In any case, she has become weaker."
Russian owner of an antique shop in Lasnamäe: "Politics is a delicate thing, thinner than when a mosquito is pissing!" Laughing deafeningly at his own joke, he leaves.
Increasingly, articles can be found on the Internet and in the media that in 2020 life in Estonia will become unbearable, poverty and hunger will come. But according to official data, the standard of living in this country is quite high. The level is 1000 euros, and the minimum wage is 3 times higher than in other states former USSR.
Watchtowers of the Viru Gate in Estonia
This average value is obtained if we take into account the wages of ordinary workers, which is 800 euros and management, officials, etc. with a paycheck of 3,000 euros, and 1000 comes out. Salaries in Estonia have an increase 2 times higher than in other developing countries Baltics: Latvia and Lithuania.
Estonia in 2020 is considered the leading country in terms of the number of new companies opened per population, as the state authorities created a simplified system for doing private business. This has become practically the only opportunity for the Russian-speaking population to stay in Estonia, since they are hired for public service only with knowledge of the national language and a passport.
In addition, residents who do not have are not allowed to vote and perform military service, in other countries of the European Union this is allowed. 
An Estonian passport allows free visa-free travel within the EU, and also makes it possible. In Estonia, the Russian-speaking population is rather poorly organized, which can be influenced by strict laws designed to nationalize society.
Work week in this country is much longer than in the rest of the European Union. Its duration is adopted at the legislative level. This is one of the conditions of the EU and the International Monetary Fund. But, even without taking this fact into account, Estonian residents work a little more than EU citizens, but less than the population of the former Soviet republics who are forced to do this by a banal lack of funds. 
In Estonia, the prices for food, consumer goods and the provision of services in settlements are very similar to those in Moscow. Many urban residents have acquired household plots, which will allow them to slightly improve their financial situation in 2020. Since there are no shops with cheap goods in Estonia, food is more expensive than in Europe, but at the same time it is of the highest quality.
Most of the goods and products sold in Estonia are produced in the EU. Their packaging is reminiscent of trade marks of the past, familiar to all Estonians from childhood.
Estonian education
The Constitution of the state states that all children under the age of 17 are required to receive. To do this, local governments must monitor school attendance by students, and parents must provide favorable conditions for doing homework. Failure to comply with this regulation may even result in administrative penalties.
The Estonian education system includes state, public and private educational establishments. In this country, as well as on the entire Baltic coast, the Anglo-Saxon system is used, which evaluates knowledge on a five-point scale.
Children should receive knowledge in schools that are close to home. Estonia is one of several EU countries where the education system is financed from state budget.
Education in Estonia can be obtained in Russian. This can be done by studying in private and public institutions.
The most popular university in Estonia in the city of Tartu
Approximately 20% of all Estonian children aged 7 to 19 are educated in Russian. It doesn't matter what school they go to, but children are required to receive a certificate of completion of education. All students in without fail should be educated from 1st to 9th grade, with the language of instruction in educational institutions chosen by their owners or local authorities.
At the senior school level, the language of instruction is determined in accordance with the Law on Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools. They assume that all state institutions, even Russian-speaking ones, are required to teach 60% of subjects in the national language. The remaining 40% of the training program is allowed to be taught on any other.
Gymnasiums, which have replaced ordinary schools, are an important element in the structure of secondary education in Estonia.
Very famous Tartu Gymnasium
In 2020, the amount of study time will be 35 hours per week. Compulsory disciplines, which are determined by the state curriculum and make up 75% of the total, are supplemented by subjects chosen by the students themselves. They are equal to 25% of the total.
Also in Estonia there are gymnasiums that focus on certain disciplines, for example, mathematics, chemistry, foreign languages and etc.
In 1997, the USE was introduced for secondary schools.
After passing them, graduates are issued a Certificate of complete secondary education, which makes it possible to enter higher educational institutions.
Further education in Estonia can be obtained in two types of universities:
- Applied higher education institutions.
- Universities.
They differ from each other in that in the second case, training takes place at three levels in several areas:
In the first case, training takes place only at one level, but since 2005, applied higher education institutions can introduce a master's degree with special opportunities. In addition, there are professional educational institutions, which, in fact, are not universities, but provide training in some applied disciplines. higher education.
Real estate in Estonia
Since the standard of living in the European Union is significantly higher than in the CIS countries, utility bills can reach up to 250 euros per month. At the same time, the minimum wage in Estonia is 320 euros. without knowledge of the local language is difficult.
It becomes especially difficult in the autumn-winter period, when heating is turned on and costs rise significantly. But according to official statistics, the cost of utilities in relation to salary in Estonia is slightly less than in the rest of the European Union. 
Depending on the location of housing, its price per square meter also changes. The most expensive is in the capital. Some properties can be valued at 2,000 euros per square meter. Moreover, in neighboring Latvia and Lithuania, similar housing is more expensive than in Estonia.
For example, in Ukraine, such real estate can reach up to 2,800 euros per sq.m. In Poland, the price will be approximately 3100, and in Germany 3300 euros. In Scandinavia, housing with similar characteristics will cost 6220 euros per sq.m., and in the UK 24520.
Taxation
Since the popularity of Estonia as a state for conducting international and European transactions is constantly growing, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the taxation system of this state. There are no similar tax collection systems in the European Union, since only in Estonia there is no income tax if it is not shared. 
In any case, Estonia is part of the European Union and must comply with EU directives. Do not consider this country as an offshore zone or tax haven. It is a low tax jurisdiction. Estonia does not control the currency, and residents are allowed to keep their capital in any banks in other countries without restrictions.
Corporate tax is withheld from the distribution of profits between the founders. In the case when the income is invested in the entrepreneurial activity of the company, the tax is not paid.
The tax rate is 21% and is withheld from dividends paid to residents and non-residents. The same sequence is observed when dividing profits among individuals states with a low level of tax collection. In Estonia, these are countries where income tax is lower than income tax. To pay others legal entities 15% tax is withheld.
The Russian income tax is higher than the Estonian one and therefore 15% tax is withheld from the dividends of such companies.
Liviko plant in Estonia
The value added tax in Estonia is 20% for most goods and services. VAT does not apply to the sale of goods, works and services for export. Also, the sale of medicines within the country is not taxed. An Estonian company is not immediately registered as a VAT payer. Registration of a company in the Tax and Customs Department is carried out in case of exceeding the sales volume of 250,000 kroons.
Payroll taxes in Estonia are 33%. They include 20% for social security and 13% for health insurance.