22.8: Anyone for onions??

Today I rode to Lüübnitsa again to attend a fish and onion festival that was happening today. There was certainly more traffic on the roads. Fortunately there is a bicycle track that runs between Räpina and the Lüübnitsa turnoff, so I didn’t have to share the road too much. Lüübnitsa was looking quite different today! Upon arrival at ~10.30 the fields around the town were fast filling up with cars and there were people everywhere. The festival was laid out in the centre town, with a central stage and numerous aisles of people selling onions, dried fish, home made kali and other drinks, food, souvenirs and bric-a-brac. After I had checked out all the stalls, I bought a kali and some little fried fish (called tindiports) and went to watch some of the performances on the stage. Kali is a type of fermented bread drink, with a flavour similar to Estonian black bread, I know that might not sound that appealing but I quite like it. It’s also usually non-alcaholic at around 0.5%. On stage there were various groups performing including choirs (male and female), a lute orchestra and a variety of different dance groups, some traditional Seto style and others performing a variety of styles, including the ladies from the Räpina salsa club. The local orthodox bishops also gave a speech. For lunch I had a barbecued pork skewer with chips and cabbage. I found a nice shady spot to sit after lunch and continued watching performances until about 6pm, when I decided it was time to ride home. After freshening up at the hotel, I went back to the Puuriida pubi for dinner.

Into Setomaa

Turnoff to Lüübnitsa

Garlic and onions

Onions

Bric-a-brac

Onions on large drying rack

Räpina salsa group

Kodukali ja tindiports

Orthodox bishops

Seto dancers

Choir

I've also uploaded some recordings I took of one of the choirs, to listen, press the play button below...


A little more information about Lüübnitsa: There are numerous small towns on the eastern bank of Lake Peipus inhabited by Russian Old Believers. Lüüblitsa and a couple of other small villages nearby are the only villages to be inhabited by old believers in Setomaa, and are probably the most southerly. Old believers fled to Estonia from Russia in the 17^th century to escape persecution and predominantly settled on the banks of Lake Peipus, as well as some of its islands. They are colloquially referred to as ‘Onion-Russians’, in reference to their superior onion-growing skills. Currently there are 11 congregations with 15,000 members in Estonia. There are various differences between these old believers and their modern orthodox cousins, with various unique (and ancient) traditions along with a different translation of their holy text. Some of the stricter believers consider that shaving ones beard is a sin and prohibit drinking coffee and smoking. So there you go. I should point out that some of this information is based off some rather ambiguous information panels, so it may not be 100% accurate.