Estonian Song Festival, national awakening and Tallinn

Postcard from Kirsti in Estonia, 2nd of four that came in one day this week...

Estonian Song Festival postcard, Postcrossing EE98144

Ever seen 18,000 people singing together? You can, at the Estonian Song Festival, a major open-air choral  concert held at the Song Festival Grounds every five years in Tallinn, the country's capital. The highlight is the performance of the joined choirs, with about 18,000 participants up on stage at the same time. There are usually up to 30,000 participants at each festival, which is a great showcase for Estonian music and culture.

The first song festival was held in 1869, coinciding with Estonian national awakening. The event was organised by Johann Voldemar Jannsen, a journalist and poet who played an important role in national awakening. In the 19th century, Estonia was a province of a Russian Empire with German upper class landlords ruling the locals, who were peasants. Estonia declared itself an independent republic on February 24, 1918.

Here's a video from the 2009 festival


Mu isamaa on minu arm (Estonian Song Celebration) 2009 from YouTube

Estonian stamp, Postcrossing EE98144

I'm not sure what these are, but they're cute, aren't they?

Incidentally, old and new coexist in the Estonian capital Tallinn. The old town is a World Heritage site and the city itself is is ranked as a global city, which means it is considered an important hub in the global economic system. Tallinn is also among the top 10 digital cities in the world (do you use Skype? It was born in Tallinn!) and is the European Capital of Culture for 2011, along with Turku, Finland.


Related links
Tallinn City Tourist Office website
Digital Tallinn (virtual guide to the city), very cool, you can download wallpapers and get take a virtual tour and get 360 degree views of various locations with its interactive map
Historic Centre, old town of Tallinn (Unesco World Heritage list)
Tallinn European Capital of Culture 2011 website
Turku Eurpean Capital of Culture 2011 website

Netherlands, Calvin and Hobbes

Sent from s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch)

Postcrossing NL-591502

Dutch heart stamp

The words on the card mean "Greetings from Eindhoven", a city in the south of the Netherlands near the Belgian border. I've driven past on the highway but never been there. I know they have a famous soccer team and it's known as the Brainport of the Netherlands. Over 3 per cent of the province's gross income is spent on research and  development.

The card is from Hema, a Dutch chain store that sells food, cheap household goods and stationery. The Wikipedia write-up says some of the most famous Hema products in Holland are warm smoked sausages and pies. I never did see any food, though, when I shopped in Hema in  Brussels.

This stuffed toy picture reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes, my all-time favorite comic strip! It featured a boy Calvin and his stuffed toy tiger Hobbes, who was never as sweet as this photo of course.

The comic by the reclusive Bill Watterson was syndicated for just 10 years until the cartoonist stopped drawing it. The final strip appeared on December 31, 1995. Watterson, although he did not appear much in public and was seldom interviewed, was well-known for his views on licensing and commercialization. He thought cartoonists who merchandised their works were sell-outs and he said so, certainly not winning him any friends although he was well-respected in his genre. He won his battle against publishers regarding merchandising Calvin and Hobbes, so the extremely popular comic was unusually never turned into stuffed toys, mugs, T-shirts, hats, bags, you name it - at least not legally.

Watterson kept strict control over his comic so when he stopped drawing it, it died with him, unlike some other comics that live on through the pen of cartoonists other than their creators. In 2009, the book "Looking for Calvin and Hobbes" was published. Author Nevin Martell documents the life and times of the comic and its creator, interviews Watterson's friends, fellow cartoonists and even his mother. The book could have been named "Looking for Bill Watterson" instead because Martell really journals the great lengths he went to to hunt down the elusive Watterson. He finds him but  never gets to talk to the man himself.

On July 16, 2010 the United States Postal Service released a Calvin and Hobbes stamp, one of a set of 5 stamps honoring comic strips. Lookee... I want one!

USPS July 2010 Sunday funnies comic strip stamps, via stampnews.com

Thanks for visiting!


related links
♥ a rare interview with Bill Watterson by The Plain Dealer in 2010, 15 years after end of Calvin and Hobbes
♥ licensed prints of Calvin and Hobbes strips by GoComics
♥ Calvin and Hobbes (Wikipedia)





by liberal sprinkles