When the sun has dipped below the horizon for the first time above the Arctic Circle, it’s time for us to reflect on our trip to the land of Kvens. Before the trip commenced, we didn’t know pretty much anything about the culture. Sure we read and studied, but despite […]
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Pyssyjoki (Børselv – or Gun River, as we like to call it) is only a village occupied by a handful of inhabitants and a handful of refugees, but for one magical weekend it explodes with Kven party people when the annual Kipparin festivaali takes place. We wanted to take part […]
The Kvens are difficult to spot. They live in a vast area here and there along Northern Norway, and are hard to count due to no official definitions of who is a Kven. We drove from Troms to Skibotn (Yykeänperä in Kvensk) to meet the world’s youngest Kven. Noora Ollila […]
We have arrived to Northern Norway! Our first mission is to find out, what does Tromsø know about the Kvens.
One of the biggest Seto events is the annual Kingdom Day (Kuningriigipäev). On this special day Setomaa declares independence and chooses a new king amongst Setos (well, king’s substitute to be precise – the actual king Peko is still very much alive and sleeping in Pechory’s monastery caves). Wait what? […]
”The Setos don’t have a future here.” Before the WWII, Estonian border used to stretch all the way over Setomaa. Then, suddenly came the war, along came the Soviets, and the Russian border was moved slightly to the left (pun not intended). Estonia gained its re-independence in 1991, but the […]
Lönnroots’ grand idea is to visit (nearly) every Finno-Ugric nation, explore the culture and to compose a new song in that language. So we did. Oh man. We didn’t even try to sing the leelo-way, because the polyphonic singing tradition is so difficult, that we would’ve just messed it up […]
We are not Estonians nor Russians. We are Setos. Our schedule for the weekend was so free from interviews, that we had time to go on an adventure around Setomaa, by car. Three guys and one car flew across forests, by white storks and through little villages stopping wherever something […]
One of our ultimate goals is to meet a Seto-activist – and we bumped in to one immediately. Ahto Raudoja is not only the leader of Seto Institute, but also the boss of a roof manufacturing company. We hitched a ride with him to check out his typical working day. […]
Sex, drugs & rock’n’roll! Well, except for sex and drugs, and more folk than rock. But otherwise: yeaaa, hardcore, party on, woohoo – and all that jazz. You get the picture. Jaani and I went to Värska to pre-check out the boogie for the actual trip. The location was not […]