Iseseisvus päev

I have always liked Independence Day in Estonia.


The military parade, the President´s speech and the First Lady evening are certainly something common to all major national celebrations around the World.

Iseseisvupäev is more about the idea of a small nation gathering together around its own symbols instead.

We are small, but we are proud to exist.
That’s the message that I have always got seeing people invading the city center in blue-black-white ribbons and flags.

I come from a big country.
Not in terms of land.
Our ‘boot’ (‘lo stivale’) is narrow and mountainous.

The fact is that we are a lot.

I only got accustomed to the idea of a big empty space when I started to travel on Tartu mantee to reach my partner’s family country house somewhere half a way.

No villages for kilometers.
No lights at night.
Only some houses and some chimneys smoking.
Then land and woods and land again.
How could it be?

Estonia is a bit bigger than Denmark: on almost the same surface there are only 29 people per square meter compared to Denmark’s 128. Does it give enough the idea about how much open space such a small country can offer?

Therefore the event of gathering together must be special.

On a pretty nationalistic point of view, Estonians are proud of their symbols and what they represent.

I feel kind of jealous about this especially when I look back at my own country.

Of course drawing a comparison between a 60 million country and a 1.3 one can be awkward.
We have so much variety as far as regards regional traditions, dialects, habits etc. . We have been gifted with a dense heritage the World envies us in terms of culture and peculiarity.

But sometimes what is a virtue can also be a limit.

We are so much various though so much divided at the same time.

It’s very hard to draw together Italians around what is considered really ‘Italian’ and make them agree on it.
A bald-headed guy tried to do it autocratically for 20 years and ended his days hung-up in a gas station.

We have a flag as every country.
However we are proud to show it only during football international events to celebrate National squad’s achievements.

Some political parties have been offending the Italian tri-colors quite light heartedly during the recent years.
I believe there would not be a party here which could seriously claim a single vote after insulting the Estonian flag.

At a first glance, to the just-landed visitor, the Independence Day could appear as a big, rhetoric and militaristic masquerade. However, behind a façade common to many similar events, there are really good vibes.

Estonians do not have so many holidays to celebrate during the year. Their hard-working culture allows few national holidays that you could count them on both hands’ fingers.

After New Years’ Eve, this is the very first public holiday when shops and businesses shut down earlier.
Compared to Italy’s notorious Spring Breaks (a.k.a. as ‘ponti’), Estonians have a long way through Spring until Jaanipäev, the Midsummer Day. And you cannot call it really ´Spring´.

Each building shows the tri-colors since early morning. You feel the atmosphere is different and you want to be part of it.

My very first Indipendence Day was spent like many other Estonians, in Vabaduse väljak, watching the parade and listening absorbed to the national anthem.
It was a moment I can honestly say I felt a shiver running down my spine.
The silence.
The cold and snowy square, just the music and people singing, neither whispers nor noises.
The flags waving in the freezing wind.
In that very moment I realized how sacred and important can be this national day in a small country as Estonia.
And I wished we could have something similar in Italy which would gather us together proud of being Italians. Just for one day with no divides, tearing us apart arguments, mutual accusations, historical and political angers.

It´s true that adults sometimes should learn from children.

This is a young country, born in 1918 and reborn in 1991.
It has enthusiasm, optimism and that kind of life vision deprived of secularization.


Head Iseseisvuspäeva Eestisse!