Greetings to all the members of the Alberta Estonian Heritage Society
Bob Tipman
President, Alberta Estonian Heritage Society
I first want to thank all those people who worked so hard to create the new Alberta Estonian Heritage Society. The formation of this society is very welcome and needed if we are to continue to maintain our connection with our Estonian roots and culture. It also gives us an opportunity to bring together the descendants of the pioneer families with the first generation Estonian Canadians from all over Alberta into one organization. Over the next year we will complete the work needed to make this organization official and communicate this to the other Estonian organizations and government departments. Also, we will plan events to bring our society together and enjoy our friendship and a little Estonian culture.
Our first social function is a “Jaanipaev” celebration with a family style picnic to be held at Linda Hall near Stettler, Alberta on June 25, 2005. The event begins with an early afternoon ceremony around raising the Estonian flag, followed by the games that the pioneer “Kerbes” family made famous. This includes events such as log sawing, nail pounding, rolling pin throwing (at dummies of course) and horseshoes. In the early evening the traditional bonfire will be lit and, and with the help of songbooks, we will try to recall some of the tunes that our grandparents used to sing. The pioneer descendants will be relying heavily on the more recent Estonian Canadians to remember the tunes and pronounce the words. We are hoping for a large turnout to support our new organization.
Our executive will continue with formal registration of the Society with both Provincial and Federal Governments. This will make both levels of Government formally aware of the existence of the Society and establish a mechanism to access to funding. We will also advise other Estonian heritage organizations across Canada and in Estonia of our existence so we can be a focal point for contact with any distinguished visitors, artists or musicians that may be traveling to Alberta. Everyone who attended Linda Hall for the visit from President Meri in 2000 is aware of how appreciative he was of the exceptional hospitality extended to him by the Stettler Estonian community and from the Leesment and Tiislar families.
I also want to express my appreciation for all the good work that Dave Kiil did to bring this new organization into existence. He had the help of many others, notably Helgi Leesment, Juri Kraav, Eda McClung and Toomas Paasuke. Fortunately, all of these individuals are still on the executive so we have the continuity we need to make a smooth transition into the new organization. Continuing to publish Ajakaja will be important for this new organization to keep members informed and involved in the society. Development of a web site is also planned to help better communicate the work of the executive with our members, and to provide a bulletin board for making announcements. The executive is always looking for new ideas and ways to improve our society and we would welcome any suggestions from our members.
We look forward to seeing you at Linda Hall on June 25.
