Free Estonian Word

In late 2021, I made a shocking discovery: My local Syrian baklava shop in Providence, Rhode Island had a Latvian Auseklis motif in its logo. As a Latvian-Estonian-American, I had to investigate. I walked into the store, ordered some baklava, and asked staff behind the counter: “What star is this?”...

In times of peace, it’s easy to forget how important the ties that bind us can be. In times of global strife and uncertainty however, the significance of our relations with our neighbors, and our alliances with like minded people, quickly return to the forefront. A few weeks ago, I...

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency TASS recently that, to achieve peace, NATO must “withdraw” from the Baltic states. Russian officials have made plenty of threats over the years. If it is more than just rhetoric, and we take the comment at face value, it would...

Estonian/Finnish artist and dancer Anneli Kanninen invites you to the world premiere of her latest work. HOMEing is a personal exploration of what it means to grow roots in a new place. Arriving in a new country, culture and a language, how does one start building home, while remembering what...

On April 4 Estonian artist Kristi Kongi opened her first solo exhibition „Twilight in the Garden“ at Friedrichs Pontone Gallery in New York City. Kongi paints abstracted landscapes through contrasting, bright colors and geometric shapes. Her work emphasizes the beauty of nature through a fragmented lens. By focusing on the...

February 20, 2025 The war in Ukraine began with Russia’s unprovoked and catastrophic invasion on the morning of February 24, 2022. The symbolic significance of this date, Estonia’s Independence Day, commemorating liberation and freedom from Russia, is alarmingly clear to Estonian-Americans. Estonians endured almost 50 years of Soviet occupation and...

Tommy Cash and his song "Espresso Macchiato" clinched the top spot at Eesti Laul on the night of February 15 and will go on to represent Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland in May. Cash won an overwhelming majority of the vote – 83 percent – beating 15...

For second and third-ge-neration Estonians living abroad, maintaining a connection to their linguistic and cultural heritage can be challenging. Recognizing this unique need, a specia-lized Master's degree programme “Estonian and Finno-Ugric Languages” (EFUL) has been launched at the University of Tartu to empower these individuals to rediscover, embrace, and deepen...

If 2024 was a political blockbuster, then 2025 is already becoming an epic barnburner. With the second Trump presidency underway, everyday politics seems very different from ever before, even making his first term seem sedate by comparison. Just weeks into the new term, there has been a breathtaking litany of...

The Boston Baltic Film Festival (BBFF) returns for 7th season with new Estonian films on February 28 - March 17, 2025. Most Estonians know the touching song that is always performed at the song festivals, “Ta lendab mesipuu poole/ He flies toward the honey tree…” But few people know the...