Ten reasons why Estonia stands out from the crowd - Amazon Web ...

Estonian fashion artist Reet Aus wearing her own eco-conscious line of clothingThink green!You can become acquainted with Estonia’swholesome, distinctive cuisine in city coffeehouses or gourmet restaurants in historical manor-housestucked away in the depths of primevalforest. The local cuisine uses the world’s finestand most wholesome ingredients and organicfarming – a method which is growing in popularityin Europe, has for many years been thenormal way of life in rural Estonia.Green thinking is held in high regard here. Theuse of renewable sources of energy and ideasfor sustainable consumption come naturally toEstonians as they are a people surrounded bynature. Great strides have been made in establishingwind farms and putting recycling arrangementsin place.Green is in fashion! Literally – the garments createdby the Estonian designer Reet Aus bring anutterly unique chic to the international stage;her elegant collections, born of an ecologicalmindset and recycled materials, have attracted agreat deal of attention across Europe.Estonia is famous for its pristine wilderness andvirgin nature reserves – they are without questionamong the reasons why Estonia welcomesmillions of tourists each year. The fact that atightly packed, diverse community lives alongsideEstonia’s natural environment is the verything that makes it special. Within half an hour’sdrive of the city centre you can suddenly findyourself in the fairy-tale stillness of virgin forest,looking at an animal or mushroom you havenever seen before and feeling the tickle of firneedles and ladybirds on your skin.Gourmet cuisine, Estonian-styleMidsummer DayThe Estonians love their countryside dearly. Especiallyin the summer, a season longingly anticipatedin a country with an otherwise chillyclimate. Summer’s white nights are the mostbeautiful time of year and the longest summer’sday can last up to 19 hours. That day is 23 June– the summer solstice, known as MidsummerDay or St John’s Day. The solstice, when thenight is at its briefest and the day is at its longest,is associated with fertility. It is always celebratedin spectacular fashion and is one of themost important events of the year. Traditionallythere is a huge bonfire in the evening, homebrewedbeer is drunk and customary leaps overthe bonfire are performed. Later, at night, youaccompany an attractive member of the oppositesex on a short stroll into the forest, a customreferred to in popular parlance as “looking forthe fern blossom”.SaunaCertainly on Midsummer Day, but in fact yearround,regardless of the season or the phaseof the moon, Estonians delight in a seeminglysadomasochistic activity: they shut themselves in100 degrees Celsius – and still pleasantLeaping over the bonfire is all part ofMidsummer’s Dayairless rooms heated by hot stones to over onehundred degrees Celsius and sit in the heat untiltheir pores open and the sweat starts to drip.They then pick up a whisk of birch or junipertwigs and strike themselves all over until theirskin is red. Then, where possible, they hurry intothe nearest body of cold water and declare theactivity “most pleasant”.The hot room is called a sauna and it is verypopular in Estonia and the Nordic countries ingeneral. It’s popular because it has a cleansing,restorative action on the body. Even today folkmedicine, herbs and nature-based therapies areheld in high regard in Estonia. Shamans, healersand even witches were the people who treatedthe sick in the olden days. Most medical procedurestook place in the sauna, not just becausethe action of the sauna prompted the excretionof toxins, but also because in winter temperaturesin Estonia can in places fall below -30ºC.Watch carefully – behind an intent gaze theremay be a shaman’s descendant or even a witch.Fortunately, there are only good witches in Estonia.4 Ten reasons why Estonia stands out from the crowdTen reasons why Estonia stands out from the crowd 5