here - Eesti Rahvaluule

By the Tartu-Võru road, approximately a kilometre after Maaritsa,
there is a modest granite memorial stone in memory of
forester Kaider Kütt. On the stone there are symbols typical to
Estonian gravestones, a cross and a tree (birch) and also an engraved
gnome: Here stranded a ship of life.
It is rare that a death site becomes also the burial place of
the departed as, for example, is the case by the Rõuge-Sännä
road in Võrumaa where a schoolchild’s life came to an end.
Beside the Tartu-Tallinn and Tartu-Viljandi roads people have
planted around the memorials decorative grade pygmy trees
which grow in a “mourning” shape.
The memory of crash victims has also been honoured with
items directly symbolising the casualty. Such items are most
often tyres on which the names of those killed in the accident
may be written, or which serve as flower beds for annual plants.
The tragic event is also demarked by license plates or parts of a
car (steering wheel, etc.) to which people take flowers and lighted
candles. Candles are lit and flowers are taken to the death site
on the birthdays and death anniversaries of the victim; obituaries
and notices announcing the anniversary of the death are
published in newspapers.
332
Here stranded a ship of life. Courtesy of M. Kõivupuu, 1998.
Marju Kõivupuu