Peipsiääre Cultural Pearl 2025 organised Kodavere Folklore Camp

From 11–15 August, the Kodavere Heritage Centre hosted the Kodavere Folklore Camp for children and young people. This year, learning the Kodavere language was combined with cooking — together with the children, they made pickled cucumbers, gooseberry jam, lemonade, barley bread, and biscuit cake.

In the folk music and movement workshops, the focus was on learning the small kannel, movement games, and dance. The central activity of this year’s camp was the makeover of the Pala bus station, which, under the guidance of street artist von Bomb (real name Indrek Haas), was decorated with murals on all its walls with the help of the children.

On 15 August at 17:30, the newly transformed Pala bus station building was “opened” with performances of stories and songs learned during the camp, followed by words of thanks to the participants.

The Kodavere Folklore Camp was part of the Baltic Sea Cultural Pearl 2025 programme.

As the holder of the Baltic Sea Cultural Pearl 2025 title, Peipsiääre Municipality will undertake a range of culture-promoting and community-engaging initiatives throughout the year. A key priority is involving the residents of Peipsiääre in the creation and implementation of various events. Most activities focus on preserving and showcasing the unique Kodavere cultural heritage and encouraging youth participation.

Among the main initiatives of the Cultural Pearl year are the Kodavere Folklore Camp, the youth-oriented P.Õ.N.E.V. Camp in Vara, and, for the first time, a two-day hackathon on the theme “How to become (culturally) rich in your home area?”

The community will also be engaged through events such as the “Living in the Countryside Day,” which this year takes place in Estonia’s smallest town Kallaste, as well as the Onion Route Café Days and the Pickle Festival. Kodavere heritage was also carried forward through the first Kodavere Dance Festival, held at the beginning of June. Additionally, efforts are underway to bring Kodavere dialect news to Estonian Public Broadcasting.

Peipsiääre Municipality is supported in implementing the selected activities by various mentors and experts. The project is co-financed by the Interreg BSR programme.

Photos: Reet Kruup / KUVAKE and Mikk Kirikal