Our town is very small, it is small even for such a tiny country as Estonia is. No doubt, it has some history behind, not as rich as our neighboring Narva or Tallinn, the capital city, but today my post is not about history but about one new tradition we started just some years ago.
It is lighting candles in public places on the 1st Day of Advent.
No doubt, there is absolutely nothing special in it for most of you, but our town is a specific place in some way.
Our town centre with the Town Hall.
In some words - it is historically a place where the majoryty of population is Russian or better say - Russian speaking (I know that for many people lots of other nationalities of ex-Soviet Union stand behind the word "Russians") It means that the population of Sillam盲e (it is the name of our town) is mostly Orthodox while the country is Lutheran.
The Orthodox Church
The Catholic Church in our town.
What does this situation mean for us? Actually - a lot of advantages because we have a chance to celebrate Christian holidays twice as Lutheran and Orthodox churches have them in different days - not bad, is it? 馃榾
But about the tradition. Here is the Advent candle in our school.
To be honest, I had to look the word up in the Internet and now I know that "Advent means 'coming' in Latin and is seen as the coming of Jesus into the world".
What is Advent?
Advent is a season observed in many Christian churches as a time of waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas day and ends on Christmas Eve. (source - the Internet)
So, last Saturday was the first day of Advent, and one of my colleagues invited me to make her a company to go to the town centre to see the ceremony of lighting the Advent candle. It is traditionally held in the square near the Center of Culture and the Town Hall.
We came a bit early and had time to walk around. It was about 3 pm, and it started getting dark and the dull day was turning into night (oh, people from southern countries, you do not know how depressing so short light parts of a day can be!)
Not a good quality of the picture below, sorry, but I want to show lots of birds flying along the shore.
Some of the birds were resting on or near the small pond by the sea.
How can anything happen without jackdaws and crows?
Some more shots - and it is time to go back to the square.
My college is definitely having fun! 馃榾
It got dark very fast. They start the ceremony at 3.30 pm with greeting from the local authorities and then a concert prepared by the town amateur dance groups and singers.
For the children (and not only for them), the most expected moment was when the lights on the Christmas Tree had to be lit up.
You must say, "The Christmas tree, light up!" three times to make the miracle become true!
But it is time to return home.
The way through the park.
And then along the central street. I love the reflection of the decoration lights on the glass of the bus stop.
All the photos were taken by me (those with me - by my colleague on her camera) on my telephone Huawei P9.
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