Tomorrow if you happen to be in Tartu, you're invited to drop in at my pop-up Finno-Ugric café. The gulyás is ready. The lángos is made on the spot, as well as the Mokša pastries.
At 13:00 we'll give a short concert in various Finno-Ugric languages as well. 💞
fb.me/e/iCuiiLu5P
I had a blast talking to Merilin Pärli about Hungary, Finno-Ugric stuff and everything in between.
I was especially happy that Novaator chose to highlight minority-language urban culture. Tis the good stuff! 😍
novaator.err.ee/1609760838/u...
etymologies that make my brain go 🫠
02.07.2025 21:42 — 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The flag of Siberian Seto people.
In the turn of the 19-20. century, Setomaa (Southeast-Estonia) was so overpopulated that many left and tried luck in Siberia.
Many came back, but a few hundred still live there and keep contact with Motherland through friends-relatives, such as Aare Hõrn (pictured).
whenever I feel like life is hard, I remind myself that at least I'm not studying Forest Nenets
16.04.2025 09:56 — 👍 20 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
A few pictures of our concert at the Fenno-Ugria Night of Tallinn Music Week.
It was physically demanding for me to perform (I was just released from hospital), but emotionally well worth it - both as an artist and as audience, not to mention member of the big Finno-Ugric family. 💕
Oh, look, my band's playing at Tallinn Music Week!
We are Kännu Peal Käbi, and we play in various Finno-Ugric languages.
This time it's gonna be Erzya, Moksha, Livonian, Ingrian Finnish and Võru.
Fenno-Ugria Night is going to be a blast, just like last year.
tmw.ee/events/fenno...
hear hear. It was a lovely piece.
19.03.2025 11:16 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
13. Four are stomping, a thousand dancing, what is it?
A horse's legs and tail
12. The handless-legless is building a bridge, what is it?
Ice
11. The older brother stays with legs tied up, the younger one goes towards Moscow, what is it?
Fire burning
10. Across the field runs a wet, tacky bear, what is it?
Fog
9. The handless-legless rises up, what is it?
A penis
8. In the middle of my field lies a Tatar scarf, what is it?
Rowan berries
7. I may die on my back, I may die on my head, lyr-lyr-lyr, it cries, what is it?
Leaves on trees
6. Although I'm beautiful, they don't call me a maiden, who am I?
A turnip (???)
5. If its belly is full, it cries, if it's starving, it doesn't, what is it?
A bucket
4. Black but not a crow, horned but not a cow, what is it?
An insect
3. The village is crowded, yet the rooster does not sing, people do not get up, what is it?
A cemetery
2. A bear runs around in the forest, what is it?
Lice
Today cleaning my inbox I came across some Mari riddles. Let's see if you guess them right!
1. On top of the stove lies a buzzing sausage, what is it?
A cat
The Finno-Ugric Disco is back in Tartu!
Crow Day, second Saturday of April, is a traditional Khanty-Mansi holiday to celebrate the return of the crows to the taiga.
We'll celebrate the coming spring with a good rave - who knows, maybe with Khanty-Mansi disco hits as well! 🪩
Recharging after this dreadful week:
- hot drinks in Setomaa's loveliest café (Taarka Tarõ) with a hot Seto guy and cats
- burning a maaselits doll full of bad wishes in Lüübnitsa
- eating Udmurt pancakes (табань) then singing, dancing and playing for hours with Udmurt and Seto friends
after this week, I can relate
03.03.2025 09:05 — 👍 9 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
There you have it.
As I said, I left out the Samoyeds and focused only on Finno-Ugrians (the main branches among them).
All of these peoples deserve many-many more words - but I'll surely talk about them still in the future.
Feel free to ask any questions!
Khanty and Mansi have been especially interesting to Hungarians - unfortunately almost all contacts have ceased by now.
Russia really screwed these peoples over: the ecocide on their native land is beyond words, and depression and alcoholism is rampant among them. Hard to say anything positive.
Mansi!
The other Ob-Ugric language, with about 6000 speakers. Closest relative of Hungarian. Similar to Khanty, however they live in villages.
I don't pretend to understand their mysterious and fascinating culture, but anytime I meet one, I feel like I'm almost meeting someone with magic powers.
Khanty!
Yes we've crossed the Urals and are in Siberia now.
Khanty are about 20 000 living in the Western Siberian taiga or the oil cities that emerged in the region.
Up until the 20th century, they lived a very traditional, nomadic life, hunting-gathering and roaming after their reindeer.
In a strange moment of history, a bunch of Udmurt grannies represented Russia at the 2012 Eurovision. They finished at 2nd place.
They sang in Udmurt, which nobody recognized, so the Westerners thought it was Russian, and the Russians thought it was English. 😶 www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgUs...
Udmurt!
About 300 000 in Udmurtia and nearby, they're...
...well, the nicest, cutest, coolest, easiest-going, most hospitable, easiest to access Finno-Ugric small nation. They have amazing youth culture, killer music, fashion and everyone loves them.
They also have the most redheads in the world.
