Serfdom to Soviets: Estonian Farms

 

An Estonian serf family home, circa 1800.

Hello again, Blogonauts!

We haven't left Tallinn, but we have slipped momentarily away from the city center.

Today I spent much of the day wandering the grounds of the Eesti Vabaõhumuuseum. (Say that 3 times fast! Heck, say it even once slowly!).

Rest easy... I'll save you the trouble. That particular bowl of alphabet soup translates into the Estonian Open-Air Museum. It's a luscious mixture of woods and fields nestled alongside Tallinn's bay, and this vast park holds dozens of relocated farm buildings from many parts of Estonia (and covers many eras of its agricultural history).

But this is no haphazard collection. Each set of buildings has been curated to show how a farm family would have lived over the last 300 years. (The exhibits even carry visitors forth through the era of Soviet collective farming.)

Let's highlight a few.

The building above dates from the early 1800s and served as both the family's primary home and a barn for keeping livestock. (Variations on this architectural theme persist around the museum, although the interior became less squalid as prosperity increased.)

A summer kitchen from the early 19th century

Farming in Estonia fit within the feudal system of social order, similar to that in Russia. Lords of the manor required serfs to work the land on their behalf. Serfs, particularly those in eastern Europe were not simply peasant farmers; their lives were similar to slaves. If the land changed hands, the serfs were still bound to serve the new lord.

Later farms employed fences. The roofs were thatched even into the 20th century.

 

But by the early-to-middle 19th century, the feudal system was abolished. Over time, farmers purchased their land for themselves, and they became more prosperous. The same style of farm buildings persisted, but the interior squalor improved.

About half-a-dozen irrigation windmills were relocated to the museum.

 

By the 20th century, with Estonia's independence, the lives of farmers improved, although they still worked long hours, endured harsh winters, and exhibited self-reliance.

A freeholder's farmhouse, dating from the pre-Soviet Estonian Republic (1920-30)

 

The farmhouse's dining room

The farmhouse's living room

 

But I was surprised to learn of an entirely different community of farmers, religious exiles, with their own styles & practices: The Russian "Old Believers."

In the 1600s, reforms within the Russian Orthodox Church (possibly to promote Russia's greater embrace of European culture) created an ecclesiastical schism that persists to this day. Because they were considered heretics, the Old Believers faced government oppression. As a result, waves of Old Believers exile communities have sprung up in many countries of eastern Europe, and even as far as the USA. Estonia's Old Believers communities have centered around Lake Peipsi. (Imagine what auto-correct tried to change that to!) 

Windows on Old Believers' houses show their Russian heritage

Religious iconography is very common in Old Believers' homes

An Old Believers' dining room, with a religious icon draped in the corner

Finally, let's turn to the Soviet era of collective farming. Instead of individual families running farms, groups of farmers worked the land together and lived in purpose-built apartment buildings. One of those apartment buildings was brought to the Museum.

Farming Collective Apartment Building

 

There are 4 apartments in this building, each decorated to reflect a different era of family life during collective farming's heyday. It began with optimism, proceeded to overcrowding, then on to despair after the fall of communism, and in the apartment redecorated in 2019, an entirely modern well-appointed unit that we could easily see existing in any city in the US.

Now, this was not simply a walk through history. These are working farms!

This and its hutchmate were the largest rabbits I have ever seen!

It's nearly winter here, so the gardens are all tidied up. But there are still farm animals, both caged and roaming about. (I caught one pair of goats trying to eat snacks that had been left in a baby stroller.)

And of course, speaking of snacks, here's a mini-gallery of tonight's dinner. I dined at Troika, a Russian restaurant in the center of Tallinn's Old Town.

Grilled Pork Chop with Mushrooms, Potatoes, & Cherry Tomatoes (and sweet mustard)

I hope you are as full as I was after eating that meal! As for now, I'm off to bed. (Estonia's time zone is 7 hours ahead of EDT.) Again, if you leave me a message on the Jaunticles website, please include your name or a recognizable alias. (Some aliases are more easily recognized than others.)

Blog to you later!

Larry