The role of Estonian cultural societies operating throughout the world as keepers of Estonia is becoming increasingly important. In Riga, representatives of cultural societies from Krasnoyarsk to Prague were together.
Cultural societies want to involve more young people in their activities, but in the east it is more complicated than in the west, because there are few Estonians living there.
Czech Republic In addition to Estonians, a Czech who has learned Estonian is also participating in the activities of the Estonian Club. An Estonian room was created for the children.
“The Czech Estonian Club is different in that we had a lot of estophiles; at first I was alone in Estonia. There have been 50 translations of Estonian fiction, including Tammsaar’s works,” said Iivi Zajedova, head of the Czech Estonian club and board member of the Estonian Cultural Association.
The societies themselves are of very different sizes. There are about half of the members of the Association of Cultural Societies, about twenty of them are operating abroad. However, the total is difficult to say.
“I suggest there may be between 200 and 300. Not all societies are registered, not all are umbrella organizations. Some societies mean that people get together with someone, they talk and sing,” explained Katrin Maiste, CEO of the Estonian Institute.
After one month, the Estonian Institute invites you everywhere to study or teach the Estonian language. Thus, it is hoped that a total of three million Estonian language learners will be recruited in one week. And more young people living abroad could be invited to a camp in Estonia.
“The community to the west is definitely growing, quite young and active. But the community to the east is also very important to us,” Maiste admitted.
And there is, unfortunately, a tendency for Estonians to grow older, their children have grown up and a lot of root migration does not take place there.
The cultural autonomy of Estonians operates, for example, in the Crimea. The memories of Leongard Salman, who left us this year, reflect the story of Estonians there.
“We are welcoming not only Estonians, but also half Estonians and those who are not Estonians at all,” added Erich Kalling, chairman of the Estonian Cultural Association of Sevastopol.
The Estonian society operating in Latvia complains that they have no money to buy modern Estonian literature in their libraries and that the large building owned by the Estonian society in Riga is half empty.
“A big house has become a huge economic burden for us because a house that is over a hundred years old requires a great financial contribution,” said Toomas Kalda, the chairman of the Latvian Estonian Society.
It is important for both the Estonian state and Estonians living abroad that none of them would lose contact with Estonia. And here the societies also expect more support from the Estonian state. The Government’s Global Estonia program is ready to provide it, Minister of Population Riina Solman confirmed.