Estonia leads the world in mosquito swatting
Estonia became new world champions at the extreme spot of mosquito swatting in June 2010, after an Estonian man, David Gavidas, swatted 38 mosquitoes during a world championship attempt in the Estonian town of Tartu.
Participants had to swat as many mosquitoes as they could while standing in a square metre of grass, having worked up a sweat to tempt the mozzies.
The winner, who completely overshadowed the previous record holder Finland’s score of just eight, said "My arms and legs hurt and itch since the competition but otherwise I'm fine."
Estonia’s one day coffee shops
Every summer inhabitants of the Estonian island of Hiiumaa throw open their doors and their gardens to set themselves up as one-day coffee shops.
The event takes place in the capital of Hiiumaa, Kärdla, known for its coffee drinkers since the 19th century. While other islanders were still drinking sour milk and birch juice, the residents of Kärdla were already roasting a brown coffee-type beverage.
Today in the first week of August householders bake cakes and serve coffee and tea to visitors to the islands, this year on 7th August 2010.
Estonia are world class wife-carriers
So successful are Estonians at the international sport of wife carrying that there is even a wife carrying hold known as the `Estonian style’ (the wife hangs upside-down with her legs around the husband's shoulders, holding onto his waist).
Wife carrying competitions are believed to have started in Sonkajärvi, Finland and the winner is the couple who completes the 253.5m course that includes sand, water and fence obstacles, in the shortest time. There is just one prize in the world championships, that Estonians won for ten successive years from 1998 – 2008, and that is the wife’s weight in beer.
The rules are fairly simple, the wife must be over 17 years old and weigh 49kg or carry a weighted back-pack, the only equipment the carrier can only wear is a belt and helmet and finally, the couples have to have fun.
Spa-crazy
Estonians love saunas to such an extent, that they have built them into buses, floating rafts and even into a cistern of an old fire-engine. The best known floating sauna is called Püha Müristus (Holy Moses) and is on the River Navesti in Soomaa National Park, http://bit.ly/PuhaMuristus
The Barrel Sauna is popular among Estonians and is a barrel shaped wooden sauna that can be transported wherever the sauna lover goes, such as the heart of a forest in winter, or alongside a ski track.
Tallinn, the home of the Christmas tree
The first recorded public display of a Christmas tree was in 1441 in the capital of German Livonia (now Estonia and Latvia) in the town square of Reval (now Tallinn). The custom was to dance around the tree at Christmas time, to celebrate the festive season and then burn it down.
The Brotherhood of the Blackheads, a guild for unmarried merchants, first erected the tree for the holiday period in their brotherhood house. One the last night of celebrations the tree was taken to the Town Hall square where the members of the brotherhood danced about it with local girls, before setting fire to it.
When Estonia was hit with the force of Hiroshima
Not only is Estonia the world’s most meteorite struck place in the world, but the Kaali meteorite crater on the island of Saaremaa was the last giant meteorite in the world that fell into a high density area. The power of the blast and energy of the impact is comparable with the Hiroshima Nuclear bomb.
As it entered the earth’s atmosphere the meteor broke up into up to nine massive pieces. The impact left a main crater 110m in diameter, 22m deep and at least eight other craters with diameters of 12 – 30m and a depth of between 1 – 4 metres.
The Kaali Lake and meteor site are now popular tourist destinations.
End.
For further information about Estonia or to discuss press trips, please contact Enterprise Estonia’s UK representative:-
Mary Stuart-Miller, 01403 738844, mary@mstuart-miller.co.uk
