Hi guys! It is Niina and you are watching Fairychamber Channel.
Welcome to
Mythmas once again.
New myth
During 12 Days before Christmas.
Today´s topic is not really a myth.
It continues
my famous yt-series
about Estonian pagan holidays.
Today talking about Winter Solstice/ Christmas.
Like in several countries in Estonia
people celebrated Winter Solstice
before the arrival of Christianity.
Winter Solstice was celebrated between 20-22nd of December.
During
Winter Solstice
sun of course is as far from the earth as it can be.
Solstice was celebrated
as a holiday to welcome back the sun. Because after that
sun would come more closer each day.
In modern day Estonia Christmas Jõulud
is celebrated between 23-25th of December
and what I have researched Estonian
Christmas traditions they are very similar
to Finnish holiday traditions.
At least in my mind
in Estonia there are more authentic
pagan/winter solstice traditions than in Finland.
This is mostly because Finland
was longer time period under Lutheran (or in generally Christian)
influences than Estonia.
In Estonia Winter Solstice/Christmas is Jõulud
so it has the same origins as Finnish word
for Winter Solstice/Christmas "joulu".
They are both Germanic origin
and have originally meant Winter Solstice.
In Estonia there is also older name for
Winter Solstice and that is Talvistepuha
which means winter holiday/winter festival.
This might have connection to Latvia
where people celebrate Ziemassvētki.
Which is Latvian version of Christmas
but it literally means winter festival.
In Baltic countries
Christmas is not
very Christian holiday
because
Baltic countries are rather non-religious.
Neither are Scandinavian countries.
In all these countries the name for Christmas
has more
connections to
the pagan origins of Winter Solstice.
In Estonian
folk calendar
It officially started from the day of St.Thomas
21st of December
and it ended in Epiphany
January 6th.
In Estonia there was (and is)
lots of traditions connected to
Winter Solstice and Christmas celebrations that are connected to sun worship.
Generally in many parts of northern Europe
sun was worshiped as feminine
source of life.
In Estonia there was a tradition
to keep fire in the fire place
during the time of
Jõulud.
At least during the Jõulud night.
Fire was the symbol of the returning sun.
I found a record that
back in the days in Estonia
there was a belief that sun slept through winter. So in away sun went to hibernation.
In many cultures across the world it was believed
that during winter sun would become sick
or would not be feeling well.
I find this quite interesting idea if
sun went to hibernation. These beliefs have also
varied in different areas.
Both in Finland people celebrated Jako-aika (Finnish) Hindedaeg (Estonian)
literally means dividing time. It was the
darkest time of the year.
From September to December.
In Estonia there are lot´s of pagan
festivals that
were connected to this time period.
Such as Mardipäev and Kadripäev.
Jõulud or Talvistepuha
was the culmination
of Hindedaeg.
It meant that this dark time is now passing and sun will return.
It was believed that day of ST.Thomas December 21st
started the time of rest.
It started the Jõulud peace.
By that time all food had to be prepared
beer had to be made
animals had to be slaughtered.
It was also believed that there was lots of
invisible spirits around Jõulud .
Both nasty demons and good spirits.
When people wanted to..
forgetting my words...
fucking Finnish...lol
attract good spirits.
People wanted those
spirits to stay with them.
One Estonian pagan traditions
was to make a big human-sized doll
that was taken
from house to house
to bring luck for people.
I´m not 100 % sure
about this so this is my personal speculation but
I think this doll ritual might have connection to pagan goddess worship
and ancient goddess cults in Estonia.
It was believed that especially broomsticks
attracted spirits.
Maybe because people thought that evil spirits might steal their
broomsticks and fly around doing evil deeds.
This is why broomsticks were kept very clean.
If we leave these old traditions behind
and chat about modern Jõulud celebration.
In Estonia Jouluvana brings the Christmas gifts.
Who is the Estonian version of Santa Claus/Father Christmas and
he is accompanied by päkäpikk the elf.
Same way as in Finland is Estonia
there is announcement for Christmas peace in
24th of December.
I wonder if this has connections to Finland the
way before Christianity was introduced there was announcement for Kekri peace.
Maybe some of my Estonian pagan viewers can
help me with this.
Little sidenote here
in Estonia the announcement for Christmas peace started 350 years ago.
In Estonia some of the traditional
Christmas foods are blood sausages,
Christmas beer
and ginger breads.
Same way as in Finland in Estonia
back in the days there was belief that people should
leave food for the table for the Jõulud night.
Because spirits of the passed away
relatives would enjoy their
Christmas dinner during the nigt.
In Estonia there was also belief that
in Christmas one should eat very well.
Pagan custom that was practiced in both Finland and in Estonia
was to spread straws all over the floor.
Then every one would roll and play in them.
Straws were symbols of the sun
also in agricultural society they were
symbols of the land as well.
This is why in Estonia and in Finland
it was very common
to make f.e Christmas tree ornaments from straws.
Apparentally in Estonia folks also made straw crowns (that were hanged into ceiling)
and this tradition arrived to Estonia from southern Finland.
All these "straw decorations"
they have slowly
disappeared from both countries.
Slightly different reasons for that though
Finland now days is not really based on agriculture
and in Estonia all the
pagan customs related to Jõulud.
They were all banned during Soviet era when celebrating
Christmas as a Christian and/or pagan holiday was forbidden.
But what I have followed
Estonian life style many of these
traditions have been brought back within
recent decades. Straw in back in fashion.
Like in most European countries in Estonia
Jouluvana brings gifts in December 24th.
In Estonia kids
put shoes in their windows
and in Jõulud morning there is candy.
Brought by the elves.
Another pagan Christmas tradition that is still practiced in Finland
and is still practice in Estonia as well
is of course Christmas sauna.
In Estonia people have traditionally gone to
Christmas sauna or warmed up sauna
for the Winter Solstice.
Way newer tradition compared to Jõulud sauna is Christmas tree
well..newer and newer
first Christmas trees arrived to Estonia in 19th century from Germany.
Even more recent tradition
comes from Scandinavia...maybe from Finland
is pre-Christmas parties
which are
celebrated first week of December.
No matter culture or country
Christmas always tends to be a mixture between
pagan and Christian traditions.
Estonia of course is well-known for being the most atheist country in the world.
As far as I know in Estonia
Jõulud is about spending time with your friends and family
same way as in Finland.
Estonian Jõulud traditions they are very similar
to Finnish Christmas traditions.
Yet they of course have their own Estonian
touch.
My Estonian Jõulud memories come from my teenage years
when I traveled to Tallin with my mom many times
and we bought almonds and walked around the Christmas market.
Thank you for watching guys.
Give this video thumbs up if you enjoyed it.
Subscribe to my channel if you are interested to
learn more about myths around the world.
Remember to watch tomorrow´s Mythmas! Bye bye )O(
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