Independence Day

Cheers for the Estonian Independence Day! (Starring: spicy sprats on rye bread, filled eggs with egg-spratpiss (salty brine) filling, pickles with chillies (pickled by my mother), Moe vodka (from ecologically clean Estonian grain only), fresh tap water (the purest in Estonia) and, as a decoration, some snowdrops (galanthus) I picked in from of my country house earlier today).

Photo and food by Vahur Afanasjev, 24 February, Tartu.

Weird and Beautiful Ice Vehicles

"Karakat" or "karakatitsa" is a self made vehicle for on-ice fishing. The huge tires (often the inner tyres of large airplanes) make the karakat unsinkable, so one can go winter fishing even if ice conditions are tricky. Each year a Karakatitsa Festival is held in Kallaste.

Karaktitsa is not the only option - some use custom made hovercrafts.

Photos of the Karakatitsa Festival by Vahur Afanasjev, 22 February 2014 in Kallaste, by the Lake Peipsi (Peipus), in the area mostly inhabited by Russian speaking Old Believers who fled to Estonia from repressions in Czarist Russian in 16.-17. century.