independence

Today is Estonian Independence Day.

Why would a little New Mexican girl like me, care?

Well, you see, my husband --the other half of blue hour designs-- just so happens to be Estonian.

He was born and raised in Tallinn, Estonia and jumped over the pond to come to school in New Mexico many moons ago and the rest, as they say, is history...

We remain very connected to Estonia, even now, by frequent visits to see his family (all of his family is there) and also by keeping the language alive in our household: he strictly only speaks Estonian to our sons (and has since they were born), which has better enabled them to have that connection to their Estonian family and the culture in general.

Estonia has an incredibly rich, long, tumultuous and courageous history that is documented in a superb film called The Singing Revolution. 

It came out a few years ago and the trailer is below:

Today is the original Independence Day, but they have two....(yes, they have been occupied many times).

There is another, on August 20th, that celebrates their Re-Independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Much of the film, documents Estonia's struggle during the late 80's and early 90's. Norbert and his family experienced and took part in many of these events that led to their Independence, along with most Estonian families, at the time. All this makes everything in the movie that much more real because he lived through it.

This film documents an incredibly rare and magnificent occurrence, where a culture was able to be revolutionary, without violence.
(And very important to note: Lithuania and Latvia had mirrored experiences)

If you are able, I highly recommend, watching...

Elagu Eesti!

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