Estonia seeks UNESCO listing for St Martin’s and St Catherine’s customs

Estonia has submitted its St Martin’s and St Catherine’s Day visiting traditions for UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, ERR reports. The committee is expected to announce its decision in early December at a meeting in China.

To support the nomination, mummers visited the lower town and Toompea on Monday evening, including the government building. They entered singing, turned somersaults in front of the prime minister, told riddles and performed tricks.

“The mummers’ family always visits to bring good luck, and we brought some to the prime minister too,” one visitor said. The prime minister and others present received swats with a switch, which the tradition associates with health, strength and industriousness.

Laura Liinat, an adviser on folk culture and intangible cultural heritage at the Ministry of Culture, said the prospects for inclusion were good, while cautioning against predicting the outcome. She said the custom depends not only on the mummers who visit homes but also on the people who welcome them, describing the exchange as a form of dialogue that reflects how people treat one another.

St Martin’s Day is November 10, and mummers visit on the preceding evening. St Catherine’s Day mummers visit on the evening before November 24.