Folk Calendar Holidays

The notion of a folk calendar incorporates folklore connected to measuring time and celebrating holidays in the calendar: folk songs, proverbs, legends of the saints explaining how the holidays came into being, beliefs and customs, knowledge on entertainment, traditional dishes on certain holidays, magic rites and activities, weather forecasts, foretelling one’s destiny, etc.

The “Culture Chest” you are holding contains a selection of the most interesting holidays in our folk calendar, and, also of the prevailing key topics according to our four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter. Christmas – our most important holiday – has a section of its own.

Since there is a lot of material published on Estonian folk calendar we suggest you have a look at the list of literature and websites, most of which also provide info in English.