A day of grief

Meelis asks me why he is flying his Estonian flag at half-mast. I don’t know, and he says 14 June 1941 – leinapäev - is when the Soviets started deporting more than 10,000 Estonians to Siberia. This occurred almost a year after the Soviet invasion of Estonia on 16-17 June 1940, by secret agreement with Nazi Germany. Our grandfather, Johannes Napp, was conscripted into the Red Army, to be never seen again by our immediate family.

Raising the Estonian flag at the 105th anniversary of independence (from ERR)

On occasion, all Estonians are legally required to fly the flag: independence (24 February), victory day (23 June), and the re-independence (20 August). One may as well also fly it on Flag Day, on 4 June. I missed this annual parade in Otepää, and Meelis’ daughter sent me a video of the procession to St Mary’s church, kids wearing teeshirts in the Otepää colours of white, yellow and black.

In Meelis’ case, he flies the national flag every day. When asked by the police, he said things like it is important to remember Estonia’s history, and to celebrate freedom. The concern of the law was that flying the flag at night is forbidden if it is dark and cannot be seen. Being solution oriented, Meelis bought a solar light, and every night, the flag is lit. He was the first to fly the flag every day (and night) in the township, and now there are half a dozen other households that follow suit.

Actually, Estonians may as well fly the tricolour every day. Following are some other dates where flag flying is encouraged, or is customary:

·       3 January – Commemoration Day of Combatants of the War of Independence

·       2 February – Anniversary of the Tartu Peace Treaty

·       14 March – mother tongue day

·       23 April – veterans' day

·       Second Sunday in May – mothers' day

·       9 May – Europe day

·       1 June – children's day

·       24 June – midsummer’s day

·       1 September – day of knowledge

·       Second Sunday of September – grandparents' day

·       Third Saturday of October – Finno-Ugrian day

·       Second Sunday of November – fathers' day

·       Election and referendum days

And there are certain rules. Hoist the flag from sunrise, or no later than 8am, and lower it at sunset, but no later than 10pm - except at midsummer when the flag must remain flying all night. No wonder Meelis just put up a light.

We talk about the importance of remembering the past on a morning walk to the local ski-jump training area. Arriving at a grassy slope, there are five ski jumps of different lengths and heights. The four-year-olds start by zooming down a track for skis without jumping, to get used to the feel. Then there is a slightly longer jump where the children, still small, take to the air, learn to travel a few metres, and then land, without crashing. And a slightly bigger one where the good jumpers can exceed 15 metres in the air.

This is where it starts getting interesting, and Meelis, aged 9, had a scary landing, and that was the end of his brief ski jumping career. Those who stick to it learn to lean forwards, spread their skis into a V shape, their arms stretched out behind, and they fly through the air until landing is necessary, one knee forward, the other back, and with any luck, a smooth return to terra firma. And then to figure out how to stop without crashing into something.

One classmate of Meelis’ age progressed to the 40-metre jump, and on a day when Meelis was helping out, the young chap landed badly and broke both legs below the knee. Thankfully, an ambulance arrived shortly afterwards, and later the young athlete returned to winter sports, though of the cross-country skiing type.

We walk to the top of one jump and look down, thinking I would not do this at any age, or for any money. For the jumpers or other skiers who do well in international competition, celebrity is their reward, and in the case of a female skier, she was given a house opposite the Tehavandi sports complex in Otepää. Double Olympic gold medallist Kristina Šmigun-Vähi who triumphed in cross-country skiing in 2006 in Turin, Italy, later sold the house, and had a family. Today she is a centre-right politician.

Our tour over, I drive to Tartu, thinking of an earlier generation who lost their lives in war or Siberia, a small Estonian flag spread out over the hatch at the back of the car, and alongside, the Otepää flag, a white field on top of yellow, separated by a thin, black horizontal stripe and in the middle, the bear’s head, after which the township is named.