We celebrated Jaanipäev on the eve of this important Estonian midsummer holiday. Our Canadian friend Bill got us an invitation to a Jaanipäev event at the Estonian Embassy in Budapest. The Ambassador of Estonian, H.E. Mr. Miko Haljas & Mrs. Marika Haljas, were generous hosts. There was delicious food, drinks and entertainment. Later last year the Ambassador had opened a new location for the embassy in a tree-lined neighborhood in Buda.
The entertainment was best! But not just any entertainment. Lauri Saatpalu and Peeter Rebane of the rather famous Estonian band Dagö was performing. This was an amazing feat! How the Ambassador got Dagö to visit Hungary on Jaanipäev is unbelievable. Diane and I got to talk with Lauri and Peeter. They were humorous about the fact they were in Budapest performing for people that knew nothing about them--save a small group of us that very much appreciated their performance.
Steven met a colleague at the party—an Estonian! We stayed late into the night sitting near a tiny Jaanipäev fire…but it was still nice to be by a fire on a cool summer night drinking a beer and talking with friends.
The night ended when the Ambassador kindly asking us to leave. He was very nice about it and seemed a little sad that he had to close the party down before dusk and dawn cross-over which is a symbolic time during Jaanipäev.
Lauri Saatpalu and Peeter Rebane from the band, Dagö.
Our Jaanipäev fire.
(photo taken from our mobile phone)
1 comment:
Cool!
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