The document provides information on the culture of Estonia, including its geography, history, politics, lifestyle, music, and religion. It discusses Estonia's landscape which influenced its development. Historically, Estonia was ruled by Germans, Danes, Swedes and Russians and gained independence in 1991. Politically, Estonia is a democratic republic that joined the EU and NATO. The lifestyle section outlines traditional gender roles and festive celebrations. Music has played a significant role in Estonian culture and helped preserve their identity and language over generations.
2. Presenting The Estonian Culture In The
Following Order:
Geography - Kathi Ryan
History - Cheryl L Kelly
The Politics - Anna Maslova
The Lifestyle - Kathi Ryan
The Music - Sue Meister
The Religion - Natalia V. Jelezoglo
This presentation introduces you to the culture of Estonia.
We will show that the geography of Estonia greatly
influenced its history, politics, and people. We will share
how the Arts, Literature, Music, and Religion played a part
in shaping this diverse country, and continue to influence it
today.
3. Geography of Estonia
The two largest islands are
Saaremaa (literally, island land), at
2,673 square kilometers, and
Hiiumaa, at 989 square kilometers.
The country's highest point, Suur
Munamägi (Egg Mountain), is in
the hilly southeast and reaches
318 meters above sea level. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/europe/estonia/
Estonia is covered by about 1.8
million hectares of forest.
Meadows cover about 252,000
hectares, and pastureland covers
about 181,000 hectares http://countrystudies.us/estonia/6.htm
4. Geography of Estonia
1,400 natural and artificial
lakes in Estonia
The largest, Lake is Peipsi
(3,555 square kilometers)
Võrtsjärv is the second-
largest, lake (270 square
kilometers)
The Narva and Emajõgi
are among the most
important of the country's
many rivers http://www.expatify.com/estonia/exploring-the-lakes-and-reservoirs-of-estonia.html
http://www.expatify.com/estonia/exploring-the-lakes-and-reservoirs-of-estonia.html
5. Geography of Estonia
Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and Gulf of
Finland between Latvia and Russia.
Area total: 45,226 sq. km (smaller than New Hampshire and
Vermont combined.
Land Boundaries: 633 km Border countries: Latvia and Russia.
Climate: wet, moderate winters, cool summers.
Terrain: Marshy, lowlands: flat in the north, hilly in the south.
Natural Hazards: sometimes flooding occurs in the spring.
Geography-note: the mainland terrain is flat, boggy and partly
wooded offshore lie more than 1,500 islands.
Population: 1,340,194 est. ( July 2011)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Estonia#Population
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Estonia
6. Geography
Communication Concept Applied
The communication concept applied for geography is territorial marker according to Beebe, S.A.,
Beebe,S.J., & Ivy,D.K (2010).The Blue Book of Communication Studies (TCC Custom Edition ed.,
PP.104-105).Boston: Allyn and Bacon. “A thing or action that signifies an area has been claimed.”
The territory of Estonia covers 45,227 km2 (17,462 square mi), and is
influenced by a temperate seasonal climate
Estonia is a democratic parliamentary republic divided into 15 counties.
Autonomy declared 12 April 1917
Independence Declared officially recognized 24 February 1918
1st Soviet occupation 1940-1941
2nd occupation 1944-1991
Independence restored 20 August 1991
Area total 45,225 KM2 (132) 17,413 Sq. miles
Water (%) 4.45%
7. History of Estonia
Mesolithic Neolithic Period Bronze Age Iron Age Early Middle The Middle
period
Ages ages
1st centuries
10,000 BC 1227 BC 1800 BC 500 BC AD 1193
The earliest trace Marked by the ceramics The development of Settlement sites Two larger Last corners of
of human of the Narva Culture borders between the were build around subdivisions Europe to be
settlement Finnic people and the natural protection. appeared: the Christianized.
Balts begin Fortress were built. parish (Kilelkond) Pope Celestine III
and county called for a
(Maakind) crusade against
pagans.
http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Estonia
8. History of Estonia
Ruled by Germans, Danes, Swedes (1632), and Russians
In 1237 the Knights of the Sword were absorbed into a
crusading order called the Teutonic Knights
The Teutonic Knights ruled southern Estonia while the
Danes ruled the north
Estonia prior to the 13th century resisted the attacks of
the Vikings, the Danes, Swedes, and Russians
Text:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Estonia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teutonic_Knights http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teutonic_Knights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teutonic_Knights
9. History of Estonia
Joined the Europe Region May 1, 2004.
Estonia attained independence in 1918.
Forcibly incorporated into the USSR in 1940.
The last Russian troops left in 1994.
Regained its freedom in 1991, with the collapse of
the Soviet Union.
Estonia has been free to promote economic and
political ties with Western Europe.
http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcestonia.htm
Image:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Estonia
10. History of Estonia
In the 16th century both Sweden and Russia wanted Estonia.
The Swedes captured Tallinn in 1561.
1721, Russians defeated the Swedes and they became the
ruling power under the “Peace of Nystad”.
1940,Many Jewish and Estonians were deported to Siberia.
“Conformation” of independence August 20th 1991 and still
celebrated to this day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Estonia
Jaan Anvelt
IMAGE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution
Image-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JaanAnvel
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/estonia_tallinn_old_town.htm
11. History
Communication Concept Applied
Image:http://www.chicagopianos.com/estoniahistory.htm
According to History's Communication concept is
individual culture according to Beebe, S.A., Beebe,
S.J., & Ivy,D.K (2010).The Blue Book of Communication Studies (TCC
Custom Edition ed., PP.32-35).Boston: Allyn and Bacon. “Individual
culture is a culture that values individual achievement and personal
accomplishment.” Which I have demonstrated in the pervious slides
by going back into the history of Estonia.
A country that has been defeated several times,
resisted the attacks of the Vikings, Danes, Swedes, and Russians
taking away from their homes, thrown into camps by the USSR.
Estonia is now a very strong and independent country.
12. Politics and Government of Estonia
A democratic republic with parliamentary representative of a
multi-party system.
Declared independence from Soviet Union in 1991,the new
constitution came into effect in 1992.
Andrus Ansip is the prime minister since April 2005.
Legislative power is vested in the parliament.
Executive and legislature.
A member of European union and NATO. http:// www.mapsofworld.com/estonia/politics-and-government
Image from : www.travelblog.org Image: http://www.valitsus.ee/en/government/prime-minister-and-ministers/andrus-ansip
13. Politics and Government of Estonia
The Main Parts in the Parliament Include:
Estonian Centre Party
Estonian Reform Party
Union of Pro Patria and Res Public
Estonia Greens
People’s Union of Estonia http://www.kookynet.net/10-baltics.html
(http://www.mapsofworld.com/estonia/politics-and-
government/
14. Politics and Government of Estonia
The President is elected by the Parliament.
The presidency is a five-year term.
If he or she does not secure two-thirds of the votes after three
rounds of balloting.
An electoral assembly (made up of Parliament plus members of local
governments) elects the president, choosing between the two
candidates with the largest percentage of votes. http://www.president.ee/en
Current president Hendrik Ilvesh was re-elected in the first round of
presidential elections in Parliament
His second five-year term in office was beginning October 10, 2011.
Text:http://www.president.ee/en
http://www.president.ee/en
http://www.president.ee/en
15. Lifestyle of Estonia
Estonia historically kept the same very traditional gender roles as
they did in the past:
Women’s Disadvantages:
Woman make considerably smaller wages.
Woman have limited opportunities in the labor market.
http://www.jewishfilm.org/filmfest/09/calendar.htm
Woman have limited access to power and management. http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Estonia.html
Woman have a hard time combing work life and home life.
Men’s Disadvantages:
Men have low life expectancy
Men have low educational level
Men have limited opportunities in the labor market
http://shaan.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c774753ef0154337083d1970c-popup
http://wikigender.org/index.php/Gender_Equality_in_Estonia
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9teen87/page65/
http://wikigender.org/index.php/Gender_Equality_in_Estonia
16. Lifestyle of Estonia
Festive Celebrations:
Traditional weddings are two or three-day events which include large
amounts of food, drink, and games.
Birthdays are celebrated with large parties.
Christenings and confirmations are also celebrated with large parties.
The most important holiday is Christmas. Just like a America they
have Christmas trees that are decorated, and a traditional dinner is
served.
New Year's Eve is a part of the Christmas holiday, they go into sauna
before midnight to cleanse the body and spirit for the upcoming year.
http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Estonia.html
http://www.folk.ee/kultuurilaegas/en/aai_index/rti_rahvatants_ja_tantsupidu/rti_m6iste
17. Lifestyle of Estonia
Clothing in the 19th century was divided into three parts:
Festive-which were only worn during festival and handed down from
generation to generation. Styles varied by region.
Visiting clothes- that were worn for errands in town such as business in less
festive manner.
Work clothes-are worn every day, made of poorer material.
Clothing in Estonia today:
Traditional woman wear wide skirts, long sleeve blouse with embroidery on the
cuffs.
Traditional woman wear aprons and cover their head, if they are married.
Traditional woman unmarried wears no apron and only ribbons in their hair.
Non traditional men, some woman wear western clothing.
http://wayback.archive-
it.org/2217/20101208164759/http://www.albertasource.ca/abestonians/cultural/customs_clothing.html
18. Lifestyle Of Estonia
Communication Concepts Applied
According to the blue book of communication studies, TCC
custom Edition ed,pp.20).Boston: Allyn and Bacon, "Nonverbal
Communication communicating by the means other than
written and spoken language.”
The following slides demonstrated Nonverbal language by:
Celebration of song and dance.
Celebrations of dressing up and having fun.
Decorating for holiday events.
Celebrating with family and friends.
19. The Music of Estonia
The Music of Estonia: How Verbal Communication through Music and
Song Influenced the People of Estonia:
Music has been an important part in preserving Estonian nationality.
Songs have been handed down from generation to generation. This look
at the music of Estonia, especially through their use of songs will show
the importance of verbal communication among people. As stated in The
Blue Book of Communication Studies (Beebe S, A., Beebe S, J., & Ivy
2010 p. 61) “Words are powerful”.
Also from The Blue Book of Communication Studies (Beebe et al., 2010
p.62-63) we learn in The Nature of Language that “People use Words as
Symbols”, and also that “People Attach Meanings to Words” I will show
that through their music and songs, the people of Estonia created strong
symbols that brought them together as a nation with one shared idea,
their deep desire for national freedom from Soviet Occupation. These
symbols went on to create a deeper meaning to all of them.
Image: http://tobreatheasone.wordpress.com/2009/06/
20. Early Music of Estonia
♪ The earliest mentioning of Estonian singing and dancing dates back
to Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum (c.1179). Saxo speaks of
Estonian warriors who sang at night while waiting for an epic battle. The
Estonian folk music tradition is broadly divided into 2 periods. The
older folksongs are also referred to as runic songs, songs in the poetic
metre regivärss the tradition shared by all Baltic-Finnic peoples.
Runic singing was widespread among Estonians until the 18th
century, when it started to be replaced by rhythmic folksongs.
Professional Estonian musicians emerged in the late 19th-century at the
time of Estonian national awakening. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Estonia
http://palun.blogspot.com/2008/03/regilaul.html
21. Music Of Estonia
Estonian Culture and the Importance of Music:
Estonian culture is that of a nation of a little more than one million people.
Along with the language, this culture is the main vehicle for Estonian
identity, hence the respect which Estonians feel for it.
The most striking example of the culture of ancient Estonians is their
regivärss, i.e. rhythmic verse, as well as their aural tradition of folk song
where each line is repeated several times with variations on a theme.
Nowadays, such ancient culture is rarely encountered, exceptions being
the island of Kihnu and the Setu border region, but such culture is
nonetheless preserved and research is carried out on it.
Estonians have one of the biggest collections of folk songs in the world,
with written records of about 133,000 folk songs.
Written for the MFA by Mihkel Mutt, writer and columnist
http://estonia.eu/about-estonia/culture-a-science/estonian-culture.html
22. Music Of Estonia
The Song Festival Becomes a Role Model:
♪ The term “the singing nation” expresses well the Estonian identity that has
united the nation in its struggle for national independence before 1918 and during
the period of the Soviet occupation. (1941-1991) In 1988 began the so-called
“Singing Revolution”, based on the Song Festival tradition, when hundreds of
thousands of people gathered in the Song Festival Grounds to make political
demands and sing patriotic songs.
More than 300,000 people participated in the huge event entitled “The Song of
Estonia” in September 1988, and for the first time the re-establishment of Estonia’s
independence was openly demanded.
♪ There is a belief that the Estonian’s sang themselves
free from the Soviet Occupation.
http://estonia.eu/about-estonia/culture-a-
science/song-and-dance-festivals.html
http://estonia.eu/about-estonia/culture-a-science/song-and-dance-festivals.html
23. Religion of Estonia
The dominant religion in Estonia is Evangelical Lutheranism. Estonians were
Christianized by the Teutonic Knights in the thirteenth century.
During the Reformation, Lutheranism spread, and the church was officially established
in Estonia in 1686.
Among other religions in Estonia in the early 1990’s there were eighty-three Baptist
congregations with about 6,000 adult members, as well as about fifteen Methodist, and
several Seventh-Day Adventist congregations.
In 1992 there were 153 Lutheran congregations in Estonia with an estimated 200,000
members.
Aleksiy II, who had been born in Estonia and had served there as a metropolitan.
However, in April 1993, he agreed to grant the Estonian Orthodox Church autonomy.
John Paul II during a tour of the Baltic states in September 1993, and the Dalai Lama
came to Estonia soon after independence, in October 1991. The Jewish community has
a synagogue in Tallinn.
Immediately after the hostilities in Estonia ended in November 1944, the EAOC Synod,
who stayed in their country, appealed to the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan
Alexis of Leningrad and Novgorod, to accept them and all the clergy and laity of the
Estonian Orthodox Church in canonical communion with the Mother Church
http://www.photius.com/countries/estonia/society/estonia_society_religion.html
Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonian_Evangelical_Lutheran_Church
24. Religion of Estonia
According to the 2001 Estonia Census the following are a list of Estonia’s
religious denominations and the number of followers of each
congregation.
Evangelical Lutheran 13.6%
Orthodox 12.8%
Christian (including Methodist, Seventh-Day Adventist, Roman
Catholic, Pentecostal) 1.4%
Unaffiliated 34.1%
Other and unspecified 32%
None 6.1% (2000 census)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonian_Evangelical_Lutheran_Church
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonian_Evangelical_Lutheran_Church
25. Religion of Estonia
The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELC) was constituted in 1949, when the
previous church hierarchy, Eesti Evangeeliumi Luteriusu Kirik, headed
by bishop Johan Kõpp, had escaped to Sweden
in 1944. When the Soviet Union invaded Estonia
in 1940, most Christian organizations were
dissolved, church property was confiscated,
theologians were exiled to Siberia, and
religious education programs were outlawed.
World War II later brought devastation to many
church buildings. It was not until 1988 that church
activities were renewed when a movement for
religious tolerance began in the Soviet Union.
Although women had studied theology at Tartu
University in the 1920s and some had sought ordination http://www.indexmundi.com/estonia/religions.html
as priests, it was not until 1967 that the first woman,
Laine Villenthal, was ordained.
26. Religion Of Estonia
Communication Concepts Applied
My Communication concept is expert power
according to Beebe, S.A., Beebe,S.J., & Ivy,D.K
(2010).The Blue Book of Communication
Studies (TCC Custom Edition ed.,
PP.153).Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Cultural Values is a given group of people
values or appreciates, with such a rich diverse
culture Estonia has several types of religion
and through my research I have demonstrated
this in the previous slides.
http://www.photius.com/countries/estonia/society/estonia_society_religion.html
27. Conclusion
We hope that through our presentation on Estonia you have a better
understanding about this small but diverse country. Our goal was to share how its
culture has been strongly influenced by its geography, history, politics, and the
mixtures of religious beliefs; we also shared how the Arts, Literature, and most
importantly Music has helped shape this country, and continue to influence it still
today.
The main points were presented by:
Geography - Kathi Ryan (slides 3-7)
History - Cheryl L Kelly (Slides 7-11)
The Politics - Anna Maslova (Slides 12-14)
The Lifestyle - Kathi Ryan (Slides 15-18)
The Music - Sue Meister (Slides 19-22)
Estonia Coat of Arms
The Religion - Natalia V. Jelezoglo (Slides 23-26) http:www.flagshag.com
28. Questions
1. What was the “Singing Revolution” in Estonia, and how did
singing unite the people of Estonia?
2. Name some of the countries that ruled Estonia, and when did
they regain their freedom?
3. Where is Estonia located, and what countries border it both by
land, and sea?
4. Who elects the President, how is the election decided if no
person gets a majority vote, and how long is the term served?
29. References
Text reference:
Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Ivy, D. K. (2010) The Blue Book of Communication Studies (TCC Custom Edition, pp.20-153)
Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Website reference’s
http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcestonia.htm
http://countrystudies.us/estonia/6.htm
http://www.expatify.com/estonia/exploring-the-lakes-and-reservoirs-of-estonia.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Estonia#Population
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Estonia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Estonia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teutonic_Knights
http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcestonia.htm
http://www.7is7.com/otto/estonia/ruhnu_lighthouse.html
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/estonia_tallinn_old_town.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution
http://www.chicagopianos.com/estoniahistory.htm
http://www.mapsofworld.com/estonia/politics-and-government
http://www.valitsus.ee/en/government/prime-minister-and-ministers/andrus-ansip
www.travelbog.com
http://www.kookynet.net/10-Baltics.html