Traditions and spiritual festivals

Autumn is also a season full of events celebrating local culture. Since 2009, Narva has been the country's autumn capital and offers a varied programme of cultural and gastronomic events. All over Estonia there are events ranging from rural fairs and tastings along the Onion Road to music and film festivals that enliven smaller towns and islands.

For lovers of spiritual celebrations related to the cycle of life and the protection of nature, 10 November is Mardipäev, the Estonian Martinmas, a festivity rooted in rural culture and celebrating the end of the harvest. Children, led by a 'Mardi-father', dress up in dark clothes, fake beards and animal masks, and go from house to house singing, making riddles and receiving sweets. Their arrival is considered a good omen for the following year's harvest. On 25 November, Kadripäev, St Catherine's Day, is celebrated, dedicated to the protection of farm animals, especially sheep and cows. Children, led by a 'Kadri-mother', wear light-coloured, feminine clothes, sing traditional songs and bring good wishes for health and prosperity. At this time, according to the popular calendar, one enters 'soul time', the time of the souls, when it is believed that the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead becomes thinner.