Saturday, July 4, 2009

July 1999

Right before we left town, I found this letter from 10 years ago:


July 7, 1999

Dear Family,

Hi everybody! How are you? What an amazing week we've had here ... Tantsupidu, Tantsupidu, Tantsupidu (Dance Party) and Laulupidu (Song Party).

These festivals are amazing! I've never seen anything like them Sat AM, all the mish. from Tartu came up - and we went to the big soccer field - and watched the most beautiful dancing. Thousands of people - adults, children, teens - all dressed in their
clothes (each region has their own clothing) they did polkas, spindles (that took up the whole field), folk steps, waltzes - It was beautiful. At the beginning of each dance all the performers would line up at the top of the stadium and run down the stairs from all directions onto the field. It was amazing.

I even cried during the finale - Maila said that the Estonians used these dances to keep their nationality - that the Soviets couldn't understand their words - and they would sing and dance to songs that said that some day they would be free - and as I sat there my heart was filled with so much love for them and admiration for being who they are - and standing up for themselves.

It started to rain during the last 10 min. of the program and I think Sis. Beckstrand and I were the only ones at the stadium without an umbrella. But it didn't stop the people dancing. They just smiled harder and laughed more.

Then, that night we went to the Laululava or Lauluvaljak where they did the
dedicatory prayer (when Elder Nelson dedicated Estonia) and they did a "pass the
torch" like at the Olympics and they lit it at this tower. And then all 28,000
singers sang the Estonian national anthem. I decided at that moment that when the day comes that I have to leave it is going to be one of the absolute saddest days of my life. I really love these people so much, so much. I don't think I've ever felt this kind of love in my heart. Pres. Lennart Mari (our friend from February) spoke - said that songs have always been an Estonian form of expression and that if we listened our hearts would change. They did a bunch of classical songs and then a few Estonian songs.

One they did twice and on the 2nd one Hele Jaar - this lady in the branch - pulled Sis. Beckstrand and I up and grabbed our hands and started singing with them - She said that they had a Laulupidu when they first got their freedom - and people sang all night.

Then we squeezed on a bus - and they were so full of people. This old man in the back started singing a song and swaying back and forth (he was one of the performers and before I knew it, the entire bus was singing and swaying. I could hardly believe it. The quiet, usually silent, Estonian buses were laughing loudly, singing, and swaying. Truly a wonderful experience.

1 comment:

  1. I actually was thinking about that squeezed bus moment just the other day when we were coming home from the fireworks in DC. I could still see it all in my mind.

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