Celebrating a Culture – an Estonian Example

My grandmother was born and raised in one of the Baltic states (Latvia), so I find myself drawn to cultural news from that area. A video has been making its way around the web recently that shows tens of thousands of Estonians gathered together to sing songs that unite them as a people. In June 1988, spontaneous night singing demonstrations took place in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania calling for independence from the Soviet Union. It was the singing of folk songs that reminded them that they are a single and unique people united together as a nation. Estonia is a Nordic country, and as you watch the video, it is obvious that they are, indeed, one people united by blood and culture.

What does this have to do with Southern culture and the goals of the Confederate Colonel project? This is about preserving a culture – A culture. This is not a “multicultural” event. Diluting a culture by mixing in other cultures does not strengthen it – mixing cultures weakens all those involved. The social diseases of “political correctness” and “multiculturalism” have as a chief goal the destruction of Southern culture and the Western European heritage that it is based on. Note that cultures can be, and often are, adopted by others who may not be native-born, but wish to assimilate into that culture. In other words, we are talking about a culture and not blood inheritance. The key point is that those born “outside” actively assimilate into the culture without the culture adapting to them. That is the only way to preserve a culture while still accepting others into the native land of that culture.

(Note: The sound drops out in the last few seconds of the video.)



This is a trailer of a film about The Singing Revolution:

The Lyrics

Keep in mind that these lyrics were done as a literal translation, and words and cultural memory don’t always make a smooth transition from one language to another.


Isamaa Ilu Hoieldes
(Cherishing the Beauty of the Land of my Fathers)

Keeping the beauty of fatherland.
Fighting against the enemy:
Pay attention, pay attention,
Pay attention, pay attention!

If you believe in yourself,
In opinions of the wise,
In shoulders of the strong,
In mightiness of the elders,
In nimbleness of young men,
In sisters, brothers,
Above all in yourself,
Then you get better life.

If you believe the talk of the wolf,
Fear the yelps of the dogs,
Hear the curses of the masters,
Complains of the underlings,
Bitings of the greedy,
Admonishments of the low ones,
Scolds of the blind,
Then you get nothing.

If you sink into lies,
Stooping into dreams,
On all fours under the order,
Bowing under the rouble,
Then you get fleas in groin,
Itches in your heart,
Halters on your head, bones in your stomach,
Then you go to hell.

If you believe in yourself,
Then you believe in the folk,
In the farms, in the wiseness,
In the teaching, in the rights,
In the birch grove of home place,
In the swallow by the clouds,
Then you get mighty spirit,
Then you get better life.

Also, here is an interesting blog article about this event.

About Stephen Clay McGehee

Born-Again Christian, Grandfather, husband, business owner, Southerner, aspiring Southern Gentleman. Publisher of The Confederate Colonel and The Southern Agrarian blogs. President/Owner of Adjutant Workshop, Inc., Vice President - Gather The Fragments Bible Mission, Inc. (Sierra Leone, West Africa), Webmaster - Military Order of The Stars and Bars, Kentucky Colonel.
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One Response to Celebrating a Culture – an Estonian Example

  1. As I read through this again, I see where I should have emphasized something, but didn’t.

    After saying, “This is not a “multicultural” event.” I should have pointed out that not only is this not a multicultural event, it is in response to the forced injection of Soviet culture into the nation and culture of Estonia. Why is that we, as a people, seem incapable of understanding the importance of maintaining our culture and our heritage and defending against the attacks from Cultural Marxism? Why do we continue to commit cultural suicide?

    “Any society which suppresses the heritage of its conquered minorities, prevents their history or denies them their symbols, has sown the seeds of their own destruction.”
    Sir William Wallace, 1281

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